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a
Christian Coalition to ’energize’
supporters for Bush, GOP victory
By Eun-Kyung Kim
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — Don’t dis
count the impact the once-mighty
Christian Coalition could play on
the elections. While the organiza
tion of conservatives may have fad
ed from public view, their tena
cious core of ground troops could
help deliver states to Republican
George W. Bush.
The organization’s source of
power lies
in its 70
million
voter
guides.
Coalition
members
also have
been key in
establish
ing voter
registration
drives and
mobilizing
churches to get involved.
“We plan to play a big role this
year,” Roberta Combs, the execu
tive director of the Christian Coali
tion, said Thursday.
While Democratic presidential
nominee Al Gore relies on a vast
network of union workers to help
get out the vote across the country,
Republicans in recent years have
counted on the Christian Coalition.
Still, Texas Gov. Bush, who has
focused on appealing to moderate
Republicans, hasn’t aggressively
wooed the organization, which was
pushed into the background at the
Republican National Convention
this summer.
Bush also has turned down a
chance this weekend to address
several thousand Christian Coali
tion members at the group’s annual
convention.
Earlier this week, Christian
Coalition founder Pat Robertson
called the decision by Bush to skip
the convention “very risky,” but
Combs said she’s confident “our
people really know where he
(Bush) stands on the issues. He’s
very conservative.”
Bush aides said the candidate
would be too busy preparing for the
first presidential debate Tuesday.
Political analysts figure Bush
doesn’t need to attend.
“Where else are these people go
ing to go?” said John Kenneth
White, a politics professor at
Catholic University of America.
“If there are to be three straight
presidential losses, that would be
very frustrating for the Christian
Coalition,” he said. “They (Repub
licans) lost two to Clinton and they
want the presidency back.”
The Christian Coalition has been
plagued in recent years by leader
ship changes and internal strife has
hurt the group’s ability to raise
money.
Despite its lower profile, it
would be a mistake to write off the
Christian Coalition, said John
Green, a specialist in religion and
politics and director of the Univer
sity of Akron’s Bliss Institute. The
group’s membership — estimated
at more than 1.2 million — could
generate enough votes in Florida
and other battleground states to de
liver Bush the presidency, he said.
“If the election ends up being as
close as people think it will, the
Christian Coalition, even in its
weakened state, can probably have
some influence,” Green said. “I
would caution people to not write
the Christian Coalition off just be
cause they haven’t been making
headlines.”
A recent Pew poll taken earlier
this month found that about 22 per
cent of registered voters consider
themselves “evangelical Chris
tians.” The same survey reported
about 63 percent of voters said they
had a favorable view of evangelical
Christians. That’s up from 41 per
cent who had a favorable view in
1996. Six in 10 Democrats and in
dependents had a favorable view,
while three-fourths of Republicans
had a favorable view.
Attendants possibly provoked man
who attacked fellow passengers
By L. Anne Newell
Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY — A 19-year
old Las Vegas man who flew into a
rage during a Southwest Airlines
flight to Salt Lake City and died af
ter being subdued by passengers
was partially provoked by the flight
crew, some passengers told police.
The Salt Lake City Airport police
incident report, obtained Thursday
by The Associated Press, said when
police boarded the airplane Aug.
11, they found Jonathan Burton un
conscious in the center aisle, one
passenger’s foot placed on his neck,
another on his head and two more
on his arms.
He was unconscious and bleed
ing from the mouth with a “huge
knot” and “discoloration” on his
forehead, the report said. Police
handcuffed him and two officers
carried him off the plane, hitting
Burton’s head as they placed him
on the ground.
The report said Burton became
combative about 20 minutes before
the flight was scheduled to land,
hitting some of the 120 passengers
aboard the 737 and pounding a
hole in the locked cockpit door.
“Several passengers stated that
the flight crew antagonized the
young man and that intensified his
anger,” the report said. Names of
the passengers police interviewed
were removed from the copy of the
report.
One passenger contacted Thurs
day agreed that flight attendants
may have provoked the man after
his initial outburst.
Anne Crawford, 41. of Barstow,
Calif., said that after Burton at
tacked the cockpit door, passengers
succeeded in getting him back to
his seat and calming him. Then the
flight attendant loudly announced
another passenger, an off-duty po
lice officer, would take care of the
situation, Crawford recalled.
“She was standing next to me
when she was making the an
nouncement and I was just cringing
in my seat because they had pretty
much calmed him down,” said
Crawford, who was seated two
rows behind Burton.
Burton punched the officer in the
face, Crawford said.
“He was calm, he seemed like he
was going to relax, but then he
went into this fit again,” she said. “I
was just wondering how much
training Southwest gives to help
deal with these situations.”
{ { He was calm — he
seemed like he was going
to relax—but then he
went into this fit again.
Anne Crawford
passenger, Southwest Airlines
yy
Linda Rutherford, a Southwest
spokeswoman, said flight atten
dants are not trained for specific sit
uations such as the Burton inci
dent, but are trained to deal with
general emergencies.
“We feel our flight crew did ex
actly what they needed to do get
that plane on the ground, and that
the passengers who were restrain
ing Mr. Burton did what they
thought they had to do to keep him
from moving again,” she said.
Burton died at LDS Hospital in
Salt Lake City about an hour after
being taken off the plane. An autop
sy by the Utah state medical exam
iner’s office concluded the actions
of the passengers killed him, but
the U.S. attorney’s office has de
clined to file criminal charges, say
ing the death was an act of self-de
fense.
An FBI spokesman said the re
port was unlikely to affect the
agency’s investigation unless the
U.S. attorney decided to press
charges.
“I don’t think we’re going to pur
sue it much further,” said Bill
Matthews, special agent for the
FBI’s Salt Lake City division.
The report says the pilot report
ed the man pushed his upper body
through the hole he made in the
cockpit door and muttered, ”... fly
this plane ...” It also cites passen
gers as saying Burton was pacing
back and forth and screaming ob
scenities before he attacked the
door, making comments such as,
“Someone needs to fly this plane,”
“The drugs aren’t mine” and “It’s
not the drugs.”
The autopsy showed small levels
of cocaine and THC, the active in
gredient in marijuana, in Burton’s
blood, but not enough to have af
fected his actions.
Burton’s family has hired an at
torney for possible legal action.
That attorney and Burton’s family
did not immediately return phone
calls Thursday.
Crawford denied passengers
used excessive force to restrain
Burton.
“Was there force? You bet. He
was strong, he had the strength of a
madman. Under normal circum
stances he wouldn’t have been able
to fight them, but he was fighting
off a dozen men,” she said.
“They did what they had to do. I
honestly wish that I could thank
each of them individually for what
they’ve done. They got hurt too.”
The police report said two pas
sengers suffered minor injuries, in
cludipg the off-duty police officer,
who had to have stitches to his face,
while others were splattered with
blood. The flight attendants asked
to speak to a chaplain after being
questioned'by the FBI.