News Journal, August 13, 2008

Lieutenant governor candidate Matt Denn wants to help faith-based programs get more federal and private funding, he said in a campaign announcement Tuesday.

Denn, a Democrat, said if elected he would call upon the governor to designate one member of his staff to work exclusively with churches and community organizations to apply for federal assistance. He said if the new governor would not assign someone to aid churches, he would place a member of his own staff in the position.

His opponent, Republican Sen. Charlie Copeland, said reaching residents through church- and community-based groups is an effort he has supported for years. He sees Denn’s announcement as “political pandering” to try to attract traditionally conservative voters.

Copeland said he has a long history of working with community and religious leaders to develop and fund programs that assist those in need. He described using faith-based programs as a traditionally Republican approach and said it was a long stretch from Denn’s usual “big government solves all” stances.

Denn announced this portion of his campaign platform in a teleconference that also included Wilmington religious leaders Rev. Christopher Bullock of Canaan Baptist Church and Bishop Thomas W. Weeks of New Destiny Fellowship.

Funding church programs is important, Denn said, because in many neighborhoods churches are the organizations that people reach out to in time of need.

Denn said Delaware should be prepared to work more closely with the federal government after Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said recently he would renew efforts to fund faith-based programs if elected president.

He pointed to previous efforts by the federal government to fund faith-based programs that allocated $289 million for state-level grants, only $100,000 which ended up in Delaware programs.

“We in Delaware need to be positioned to take advantage of a renewed federal focus on faith-based initiatives,” Denn said.

Delaware is one of 15 states that don’t have a state worker dedicated to helping churches seek federal and private funding.

Denn said he, like Obama, is familiar with constitutional law and would not support any efforts that would violate the separation of church and state.

Bullock said churches like his chose to build congregations and invest money in neighborhoods that are lower in economic condition.

“We help folks all the time,” Bullock said. “The bottom line is we need help so we can help folks that are less fortunate or stuck in situations that are oppressive.”