Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 3

NATION Friday, February 20, 1998 A3 Promise Keepers Cutting Paid Staff as Revenue Drops By Tom Kenworthy The Washington Post DENVER Promise Keepers, the evangelical men's movement that drew more than a half -million people to a march and revival last fall in Washington, is so strapped 'financially that it will stop paying its employees at the end of March. The Denver-based organization, founded eight years ago by former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney, has expanded swiftly across the country, generating operating revenue of nearly $100 million as recently as two years ago. But officials told the 345 salaried workers Wednesday that they are losing their jobs because of a rocky transition from heavy reliance on rally entrance fees to funding through contributions. Steve Ruppe, a Promise Keepers spokesman, said the decision to end the organization's estimated $20 million annual payroll does not mean an end to its mission of making men better husbands and fathers, or to the ambitious plans announced by McCartney in October to expand aggressively abroad. "We believe this is just a transitional period and that in the foreseeable future we will be able to stabilize our revenues and increase them to the point where we can bring (paid) staffers back on board," Ruppe said.

"Our donations are higher now than they have ever been, but they are replacing a much larger revenue stream." In the past, the $60 fees paid by attendees at Promise Keepers' trademark stadium rallies have provided about 72 percent of the group's annual revenue. No figures are available on how far operating revenue has fallen since the organization announced the shift to contributions, Ruppe said. McCartney, who founded the group in 1990, presided over growth that by last year had produced an organization with a $1 million headquarters building here, eight regional offices around the United States, merchandise sales of $16 million in 1996 and the staging of 22 stadium rallies that attracted 1.1 million men that same year. About 245 of Promise Keepers' employees have worked in the head quarters, raising money, publishing the group's bimonthly newsletter, doing audio and video production work and performing administrative functions. Another 100 have been sent to build relationships with local ministers throughout the country, in pursuit of the organization's goal of having a men's ministry in all the nation's 300,000 churches by the year 2000.

McCartney, in a statement commenting on the layoffs, declared that he remains optimistic about the future despite the setback. "I have a broken heart," he said. "But I don't have a discouraged heart. I have a heart that is filled with hope." said it is too early to gauge what the impact will be on Promise Keepers' senior leadership, whose salaries in 1996 ranged froih $132,000 for the top executive to $75,000 and up for most of 11 vice presidents. McCartney himself receives no salary, although he paid speaking fees for rally appearances, Ruppe said.

In 1996, McCartney's total compensation from Promise Keepers, including fees and benefits, was $41,000. Albuquerque Journal i ii 1 1 1 1 irianimlirrrlilliiiin-' G. Liddy: Disclose DNC Tapes Watergate Burglar Fighting '73 Ruling nf. By Kalpana Srinivasan Tfie Associated Press WASHINGTON More than 25 Selected fall winter merchandise WOMEN'S CASUAL SPORTSWEAR FROM FAMOUS MAKERS Misses Petites Women's World MEN'S CONTEMPORARY SELECTED WOMEN'S FALL ENTIRE STOCK OF WOMEN'S MEN'S FALL ENTIRE STOCK OF CHILDREN'S SWEATERS WINTER SPORTSWEAR COLLECTION? SLEEPWEAR SHOES FX 1 I Mil Selected knits, Choose from ft- Does not ar m. -if I wovens, pants include on-going styles sleepwear, robes loungewear.

more from your favorite ml si contemporary designers. si' hi years after the break-in and cover-up, Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy is renewing his fight to make public the contents of secretly recorded conversations from Democratic National Committee headquarters. Attorneys for Liddy argued Thursday before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals that an order barring testimony from those who were privy to the bugged telephone conversations should be lifted. They say a 1973 ruling should not continue to suppress description of the tapes' contents, which Liddy would like to use to defend himself in a defamation suit.

"That order has been interpreted as precluding any disclosure," said John B. Williams, Liddy's attorney. In their petition, Liddy's lawyers argued that making the testimony public is also "essential to a full understanding of this unprecedented chapter in American history." President Nixon was forced to resign in 1974, two years after the Watergate break-in, because of his role in the cover-up. A lawyer for Spencer Oliver, who headed the Association of State Democratic Chairs in the early 1970s and who would have used the bugged telephone, disagreed with Liddy, reasserting that any such testimony would invade his client's privacy. "It's time that these people, whose privacy was invaded, not have to -continuously monitor courts all over the United States of America," said R.C.

Slagle III, Oliver's lawyer. Earlier this year, Ida Wells, a secretary for the DNC, petitioned the court to reverse its suppression order and allow testimony about the contents so she might use them in a lawsuit against Liddy. Wells sued Liddy in U.S. District Court in Maryland for defamation. She alleges that Liddy, in speeches on his radio show, has suggested that she procured prostitutes for visitors at the DNC.

ol Liddy supported her petition to have the 1973 order lifted hoping to use the material to defend himself --r but he asked that it be lifted without restriction, allowing testimony about anything overheard on the Japes. Wells recently withdrew her peti-tion, but Liddy pressed on, asking jthe court to reconsider its 1973 ruling. Liddy's attorneys argue that the border only applied to the trial in 1973 and no longer holds. Clinton Names McGovern Ambassador The Associated Press BALTIMORE President Clinton carved out an ambassadorial job in Rome for George McGovern, former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate. nominated McGovern as U.S.

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