Ralph Reed announced Wednesday he is resigning as executive director of the Christian Coalition, an 8-year-old religious conservative organization he helped build into a major force in Republican politics.
Reed told a news conference he is leaving in September to form a political consulting firm to be named Century Strategies. It likely will have its headquarters in his native state of Georgia, with offices in Washington and elsewhere, he said.Reed, 35, has told friends he might some day run for political office, but he told reporters Wednesday he had no plans to do so and expects to work as a consultant for campaigns in 1998, 2000 and beyond. He also said he hoped to assist nonprofit organizations looking to increase their membership and fund-raising.
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson founded the Christian Coalition after his unsuccessful 1988 campaign for the Republican pres-idential nomination. Reed has been the executive director and day-to-day manager of the coalition from the outset, building a reputation as one of the conservative movement's shrewdest strategists.
In his eight years at the helm, the Christian Coalition's budget has swelled from $200,000 in 1989 to $27 million last year. The group is widely considered the most politically influential of the major religious conservative organizations.
Reed said when he took the job religious conservatives "were often treated as marginal or nominal forces in American politics." Now, he said, these voters are "one of the most potent and well-organized forces in all of American politics."
While its tax-exempt status prohibits it from directly endorsing candidates, the Christian Coalition has become a major influence in GOP affairs.