Religious groups organize to lobby

ANNAPOLIS — When members of Arbutus United Methodist Church want the governor to know they oppose gambling or support health care reform, they can simply buttonhole Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. after Sunday services.

Still, Maryland religious groups — many of whom oppose the governor’s plan to supplement education funds with slot machine revenue — seldom leave such issues to casual encounters, instead using a well-organized system that works the General Assembly as do other advocacy groups.

“I am hardly ever [approached],” Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican, said of his post-worship encounters. “It would be OK, but mainly people just thank you for coming.”

Religious organizations represent hundreds of thousands of members (and potential voters) whose collective voice can resonate loudly and clearly in the State House.

“We ask people within the local churches if they will send an e-mail in or write a letter to their legislator,” said Don Schroeder, bishop’s deputy for public policy for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, “but we do not approach them when they come into church.”

Dick Dowling, a registered lobbyist for the Maryland Catholic Conference, said the group influences legislation through his network of associates who make phone calls, send e-mails, publish a voters’ guide and sponsor meetings to get lawmakers’ attention.

The Maryland Catholic Conference, which represents 295 churches in and around Baltimore, the District and Wilmington, Del., opposes slot machines, abortion, capital punishment, human cloning and same-sex “marriage.” It supports using more state funds for public education and health care.

The Rev. Gregory B. Perkins, outgoing president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, said his group uses an assortment of lobbying techniques.

“One pastor might deal with these issues; I am sure that is one way,” he said, “But, as a body, we simply call them together and meet with them.”

Regardless of its technique, Mr. Perkins said, the alliance is adamant about getting lawmakers’ attention this year.

“We will fight for [an] increase in drug treatment,” he said. “We will fight to deal with the problems of the juvenile justice system. We will fight to give all of our citizens decent health care” and increase education funding without slot machine revenue.

Sumayya Coleman, legislative advocate for the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, said her group urges Mr. Ehrlich and lawmakers to implement stricter gun-control laws, institute a moratorium on the death penalty and allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

“They should be treated as residents,” Mrs. Coleman said. “When they have lived in Maryland a number of years, they act as a citizen in paying taxes, and they give to the community. So to continue to charge these astronomical [tuition] fees and treat them as if they are out-of-state residents is unfair.”

The state budget is a key concern among the 280,000 members of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, Mr. Schroeder said. “We will be following the department heads when they come forward in the hearings and discuss how they are going to handle the budget cuts,” he said.

David H. Conn, director of government relations and public policy for the Baltimore Jewish Council, said he visits Annapolis when the General Assembly is in session to talk with legislators “at every opportunity” — in hearings, offices and hallways — but never during synagogue. “The main reason is, people are primarily in synagogue during Sabbath, and our religion prohibits us from doing work [then],” he said.

“Our faith teaches that social responsibility involves the constructive development of the world and the support of civic intuitions maintained by funds raised in an appropriate way,” Mr. Conn said, explaining Jewish opposition to slot machines. “The Jewish tradition and its laws are clear on the issue of gambling, and our rabbis unanimously agree that Judaism would oppose expanding gambling.”

The Rev. Lee Hudson, director of the Lutheran Office on Public Policy in Maryland, said the group has long opposed state-sponsored gambling and capital punishment and supports a ban on assault weapons.

“We are concerned about the effect of a gambling expansion on society’s vulnerable people, especially on elderly people, young people — who are a target market for the gambling industry — and disadvantaged folks,” Mr. Hudson said.

“We have expressed concern for weapons regulation and public safety for over a dozen years,” he said. “It is our concern that this type of weapon is not intended for recreation or hunting. They were developed for military or law enforcement use.”

Beryl R. Smith, director of public policy and lobbyist for the Presbytery of Baltimore, said her group also is concerned about health coverage, assault weapons, renewable energy and child care.