Prominent Pastors Resign From Katrina Fund, Question Fiscal Oversight

c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The co-chairs of a religious advisory committee to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund have resigned their positions, saying checks were distributed without their knowledge in the $20 million effort to help Gulf Coast churches. Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Dallas megachurch pastor, and the Rev. William H. Gray III, the former […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) The co-chairs of a religious advisory committee to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund have resigned their positions, saying checks were distributed without their knowledge in the $20 million effort to help Gulf Coast churches.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Dallas megachurch pastor, and the Rev. William H. Gray III, the former president of the United Negro College Fund, said in interviews Thursday (July 13) that they were no longer comfortable leading the committee that has advised religious aspects of the fund established by former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.


The co-chairs of the fund, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and former Commerce Secretary Don Evans, issued a statement thanking Gray and Jakes for their work but declined further comment.

But both Jakes and Gray questioned the fund’s fiscal oversight.

“We wanted to make sure that these monies were handed out to the people who actually, legitimately needed them,” said Jakes, pastor of the Potter’s House. “Before we could finish that system and that process, checks were flying out the door and it was just, to me, an uncomfortable situation.”

Jakes said, “I just couldn’t lend my support to a system that bypassed the very board that was appointed to assure that it was effective.”

Gray said that at least five of nine members of the fund’s Interfaith Advisory Committee have resigned, along with the chief staffer in the New Orleans office they had set up. Bill Pierce, a spokesman for the fund, said he could only confirm the resignations of Gray and Jakes.

“It’s a philanthropic FEMA,” Gray said, referring to criticism of the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Katrina last year.

“How do you put together a top-level board like this and then subvert the process on them?”

After holding several large-scale meetings with clergy in the affected region and reviewing grant applications, the advisory committee recommended 38 churches that should be considered for grants ranging from $35,000 to $200,000,Gray said. After review by fund officials, Gray and others intended to have staffers visit the houses of worship to verify their needs before money was disbursed. But the money apparently was disbursed before those visits took place, according to Gray.


“The next thing we know, we’re getting calls from people saying, `I got a check for $35,000,”’ said Gray, pastor of Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia.

Asked about the charges by Jakes and Gray, Pierce said he wouldn’t go beyond the statement issued by Herman and Evans. But he confirmed that grants had been approved.

“I believe, so far, 38 grants have been approved, and I don’t know exactly how many of those … checks have gone out the door,” he said. “The process is a rolling process.”

He said the $20 million earmarked to help religious organizations is part of approximately $130 million that should be disbursed by year’s end to states and various organizations.

In their statement, Herman and Evans cited the “invaluable” contributions of Jakes and Gray to the fund.

“The foundation they laid over the past few months to begin disbursing interfaith grants is and will continue to be a critical part of the success of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund’s efforts to help faith communities in need,” they said. “The Fund will continue and finish what the Bishop Jakes and Reverend Gray have started and we wish them well.”


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