Ex-Aide Says Robertson Had ‘Presidential Fantasy’ 7 Years Ago

A former producer for Pat Robertson said the television evangelist was convinced seven years ago of his special qualifications for the White House and joked about filling his Cabinet with members of his ministry.

Gerard T. Straub, who returned to secular television after working for Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network from 1978-1980, said what was playful then is “frightening” to him now.

The Rev. Marion G. (Pat) Robertson has explored in the last 12 months his chances for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination. He will “clarify his position” on Sept. 17 during a three-hour, nationwide television broadcast, although a spokesman said this week that Robertson will probably stop short of announcing that he is a candidate.

In a book to be published next month, Straub recalled discussions he had with Robertson in 1979 before the minister’s weekday talk show:

“During private moments in his dressing room before the taping of ‘The 700 Club,’ Pat shared with me his presidential fantasy and his firm belief that he was the one person uniquely qualified to lead this nation.

“In lighthearted moments, we actually matched up ministry officials with various Cabinet-level positions. The staff bully would become the secretary of defense and the head accountant would be running the Treasury Department in the Robertson Administration.”

‘Daydreaming’ Then

That was “daydreaming,” Straub said, at a time when the religious right was only starting to make itself heard nationally.

Based on his experience with Robertson, Straub said in an interview in Los Angeles that he thinks the Baptist minister, as President, would probably surround himself with well-qualified advisers, “but at the bottom line they would have to profess that Jesus is Lord.”

Straub, 39, works at CBS Television City as supervising producer for the daytime soap opera “Capitol.” In the interview, Straub called Robertson “brilliant and extremely persuasive,” a person who “can relate to a television camera better than most actors I’ve worked with.” (Robertson’s “700 Club” topped religious program ratings with 28.7 million viewers in a special A.C. Nielsen survey last fall.)

But Straub’s book, whose conclusions are disputed by a CBN spokesman and another former “700 Club” producer, depicts Robertson’s political aims as contrary to freedom and tolerance.

“Robertson,” Straub wrote, “wants his brand of Christianity to gain control of the nation so that the government can be put back into God’s hands and then properly exercise its responsibility to punish evildoers--both the evil individuals within the country and entire countries that are considered evil.”

Straub said in the interview, “Robertson can’t come out and say that, but I have no doubt that he believes it.”

‘700 Club’ Producer

In his 2 1/2 years at CBN’s Virginia Beach, Va., complex, Straub said he was producer for “The 700 Club” for nine months and was a programming administrator before that. He said he also launched the cable network’s small news operation and created the concept for its Christian soap opera, which ran for a couple of years.

Straub said he was fired by CBN in September, 1980, because of an admitted affair with a female employee while he was estranged from his wife, and for not telling Robertson the whole story weeks before during a private talk with the CBN founder-president.

He said he wrote his book, “Salvation for Sale” (Prometheus Books), not with malice or revenge “but from a desire to shed some light on the dark side of religious life.”

However, Benton Miller, CBN manager of media relations, said Straub’s statements “strike me as what you might expect from a disgruntled employee.” Miller said he did not think Robertson would want to dignify the book by commenting.

The assertion that Robertson wants to gain control of the nation to punish evildoers is “one of the biggest examples of (Straub’s) vengeful spirit,” Miller said. The CBN spokesman also said that Robertson’s “brand of Christianity” is not peculiar, as indicated by the variety of Christian churches that have worked in CBN projects.

Miller also noted that Straub’s publisher “does not have a history of being sympathetic to Christians or Christian values.” Prometheus Books, Buffalo, N.Y., publishes primarily books of “philosophical skepticism,” according to a spokesman. Its president is Paul Kurtz, a leading proponent of humanism and editor of Free Inquiry magazine.

Another ex-producer of “The 700 Club,” who left the program only two months ago, said he could understand how Straub could believe what he does about Robertson. “But that doesn’t mean that they’re true,” said Terry Heaton in a telephone interview from KLTV, Tyler, Tex., where he is news director.

Threatening Language

The language of faith can sound “very threatening to people who don’t understand what it means,” said Heaton, who said he produced “The 700 Club” the last four years.

“There is a move to return America to Judeo-Christian roots,” he said, adding that the words covenant, promise and oath used in American democracy “are meaningless words unless combined with the faith of people who founded this country. The very freedoms which allow Jerry Straub to print his book come from the Christian roots of this nation.”

Straub, who was at CBN before Heaton arrived, was raised a Roman Catholic and once studied for the priesthood. Straub said he left a career at CBS-TV in New York for a CBN job after he was convinced that he had a “born-again” experience. While at CBN, “I marched right along with my fellow soldiers in Christ’s army,” Straub said.

But after being ousted from CBN, Straub said he returned to a Christianity that “is more mystical and has freed me from the guilt complexes I received from fundamentalism.” Straub charged that the Bible “was treated with cultic fascination” at CBN.

Straub said he can understand why a new organization called Fundamentalists Anonymous, which seeks to counsel former members of fundamentalist churches, might be helpful to some people. “I went for a long time thinking, ‘Well, what if they are right?’ When you hear so many people confidently say they know God’s will, you doubt your own ability to question,” he said.

Straub claimed that when Robertson outlined his God-given visions for the ministry to CBN executives, Robertson did not tolerate debate or dissent on the basic idea or spiritual premise “because (such questions) are considered steppingstones to doubt.”

But Heaton said: “I never recall one instance where people felt they had to shut up because this was the prophet speaking. There would certainly be discussion. One of Pat’s favorite lines drawn from Scripture is that in a multitude of counselors there’s safety.”

Telephone Call From God

When Robertson would say that God had directed him to do certain things, Heaton said, outsiders might innocently think it was something like a telephone call from God.

But Heaton explained that “with years of experience you get to recognize the direction of the Lord. The head of a ministry is the one who sets the vision. When that happened (with Robertson) there was great rejoicing and the feeling of, ‘Let’s get on with it.’ ”

Straub claimed that during his last month at CBN he was often followed by colleagues and his phone calls were monitored. He alleged that CBN had a moralistic atmosphere that resulted in some people being fired for smoking. Employees who took an occasional drink of beer or wine at home “felt compelled to hide the evidence” when they entertained fellow staffers.

(When it was reported earlier this month, including in The Times (Aug. 3), that Robertson had drunk a beer with his meal during a press convention, Straub said he was stunned. “I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

(However, Robertson press spokesman Joseph Gray said that Robertson actually drank non-alcoholic apple cider. Gray said the error arose because the menu listed ale as the beverage and a speaker commented at the time that Robertson took a drink “along with the rest of us.”)

Straub said that a young man he hired was told by a vice president that he suspected two men at CBN of being gay. Straub said the vice president was wrong about one man and did not know that the staffer to whom he confided his suspicions was also homosexual.

“He wanted my friend to act as an undercover cop and gather the incriminating evidence needed to rid the place of these two sinners,” Straub wrote in his book. “Fortunately, the young man was a good actor and was able to keep a ‘straight’ face during the entire meeting,” he said. The young man no longer works at CBN, Straub said.

Sin Handled ‘Very Discreetly’

Heaton, on the other hand, said he could remember no instances of CBN employees trying to ferret out sinners in the ranks. “There is going to be sin; you can’t avoid that,” he said, “but where there was, I thought it was handled very discreetly and in a very biblical manner.”

Heaton added, “There are unique pressures working in a ministry because of people’s expectations.” Christians of good will can debate whether it is wrong or permissible to drink alcoholic beverages, he said, but because some Christians are offended by it, strict abstinence is the policy.

But Straub said the CBN concern with appearances also meant that divorce was hardly ever an option for employees “no matter how intolerable the situation became.” Divorced employees were acceptable only if they were divorced prior to becoming “saved” as a “born-again” Christian and joining CBN.

Straub said two of the executives who confronted him about his affair and fired him are now divorced themselves and are working for other Christian ministries.

Straub said that after he left CBN, he went to work for the “General Hospital” daytime drama at ABC, then for “The Doctors” on NBC before it was canceled. While visiting CBN’s headquarters three years ago, Straub said, he was offered a job producing a prime-time series--but on the condition that he reconcile with his ex-wife and remarry her.

Ironically, Straub’s ex-wife, once a skeptic who disliked Straub’s evangelical fervor, stayed in Virginia, became a believer and works now as a camera operator for the “700 Club.” “It can happen to anyone,” Straub said.

Straub’s book criticizes some of Robertson’s faith-healing claims and fund-raising techniques, but the producer dwells mostly on what he calls the “close-minded” fundamentalist view of a supernatural battlefield where nothing is simply coincidental and the devil is always looking for a wedge.

Upon receiving a promotion after four months at CBN, Straub’s supervisor placed his hands on Straub’s head and prayed that God protect him in his new job.

“He advised me to picture myself with a large bull’s-eye on my back, because that’s how Satan saw me and he wouldn’t rest until he hit his mark by bringing me into sin and out of CBN, thereby depriving God of my creative talents,” Straub wrote.