Let me acknowledge from the outset that I’m not one for conspiracy theories. In fact, I’ve never particularly cared for the idea that there’s a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” because that suggests the network of conservatives that drive political discourse and the GOP agenda are somehow acting in secret. They’re not.
That said, there is something a little scary about the Council for National Policy, which has nearly unrivaled influence, is extremely right-wing, and has an unusual penchant for secrecy. If Bush were seriously concerned about “shadowy” groups’ role in the political process, he’d have to start here.
U.S. News & World Report noted yesterday that next week’s “real convention” will be a gathering of “true-blue conservatives [who] are getting together in Gotham City to flex their own ideological muscles and exert their own influence on the GOP.”
The supersecret Council for National Policy, founded at the onset of the Reagan era, will be meeting in New York at an undisclosed location in hopes of avoiding protesters. The thousand member group includes political heavyweights like John Ashcroft, Bill Frist, and Tom Delay, religious leaders from Pat Robertson to James Dobson, media moguls like Steve Forbes, and conservative billionaires Howard Ahmanson and Nelson Bunker Hunt.
Conservative Republicans boast that the council’s meeting is the “real” convention. “It’s the old smoke-filled room, but I wouldn’t say it’s corrupt,” says a source. “Rather it’s just where the work gets done.”
Exactly what kind of work is getting done? Well, that’s hard to say.
No one really knows what happens when these wealthy, powerful right-wingers gather in their proverbial smoke-filled room. We do know that the CNP was co-founded by Tim LaHaye, who provides the Biblical analysis for the popular, right-wing “Left Behind” novels and who has worked to advance the religious right’s agenda for decades.
We also know that the CNP’s membership reads like a who’s who of the right’s most powerful players. In addition to the names mentioned in the U.S. News & World Report piece above, readers may recognize names such as Jeffrey Coors, Grover Norquist, Phyllis Schlafly, and Oliver North. Recent guests of the group include notables such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales.
Even our friend George W. Bush met behind-closed-doors with the CNP in 1999. When asked for a tape and/or transcript of Bush’s remarks, both the campaign and the group refused — hardly the kind of move that instills confidence.
Perhaps the best mainstream report on the CNP came from ABC News a couple of years ago, which described the Council as “the most powerful conservative group you’ve never heard of.”
When Steve Baldwin, the executive director of an organization with the stale-as-old-bread name of the Council for National Policy, boasts that “we control everything in the world,” he is only half-kidding.
Half-kidding, because the council doesn’t really control the world. The staff of about eight, working in a modern office building in Fairfax, Va., isn’t even enough for a real full-court basketball game.
But also half-serious because the council has deservedly attained the reputation for conceiving and promoting the ideas of many who in fact do want to control everything in the world.
Fueling questions about its secrecy, those who know about the CNP don’t like to talk about it.
Darla St. Martin, associate executive director of the National Right to Life, would only say, “Since everyone else is so skeptical [about speaking], I don’t think I should.”
Even Judicial Watch’s Larry Klayman, the watchdog and open government proponent, would not comment, a spokesman said. His busy schedule — four depositions in two days — precluded a short telephone interview.
Gary Bauer, the former presidential candidate and ubiquitous media presence, asked a spokesman to decline a request for an interview about the CNP, citing the group’s long-standing policy against press publicity.
With this in mind, few will probably take note of the CNP’s meeting next week, which will coincide once against the GOP’s national convention. It is, however, sure to be interesting.
If, by chance, any of my New York readers were to somehow have access to the CNP’s gathering and could record the proceedings, be sure to let me know.