Christian Coalition admits error in voter guide

Saturday, November 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The Oklahoma Christian Coalition has admitted that it made a mistake when it reported in its Voter Guide that Sen. Lewis Long had voted to repeal laws against sodomy and bestiality.

Long, D-Glenpool, lost re-election to his Senate seat by fewer than 300 votes after the coalition's ``score card'' was distributed to churches on the Sunday prior to the Nov. 7 general election.

``I only lost by about 270 votes, so I would only have had to turn less than 150 around to win,'' Long said.

The score card contended that Long supported ``legalization of sodomy and bestiality'' in a 1996 vote while his Republican opponent, Nancy Riley, did not. But the guide noted that Riley never voted on the question because she was not a member of the Legislature.

Long said he believes the Christian Coalition's erroneous Voter Guide may have cost him the election.

``Their whole objective is to elect Republicans and defeat Democrats,'' Long said. ``It's just blatant outright untruths.''

The Christian Coalition publicly apologized to Long on Friday, but Long said he has no intention of dismissing a libel suit he has filed against the organization.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, alleges the Voter Guide subjected Long to public ridicule and damaged his ability to earn a living.

``If I ever see a dime out of this, it still won't be for the money,'' Long said. ``My motive here is to let the public know that this group _ this group that calls itself Christian _ is not trustworthy.''

A statement released Friday by Ken Wood, executive director of the Christian Coalition, said: ``Regretfully, the Oklahoma Christian Coalition made a mistake on its 2000 voter guide (regarding) the issue of decriminalizing sodomy and bestiality.''

``The coalition extends a public apology to Senator Long and his family,'' Wood said in the release.

He said the error resulted from confusing Long's vote with the vote of former state Sen. Ed Long, an Enid Democrat.

``Had the Christian Coalition detected the error before the election, it would have immediately ceased distribution of the voter guide for Mr. Long's district,'' Wood said in his release.

A provision on bestiality and sodomy was included in a lengthy bill before the Legislature in 1996. It was intended to repeal portions of old state law and modernize the criminal code.

Brent Olsson, attorney for the coalition, said the group made an honest mistake in its guides, which ``monitor thousands of candidates.'' He called the mistake a ``scrivener's error, where I would say that the credibility is as good, if not better, than most media reporting.''

``The reason they are apologizing is because we've got them cold,'' said Steve Hickman, Long's attorney.

``They lied, and it cost him his Senate seat,'' Hickman said. ``They did what they did, and they need to pay the consequence.''