Faith-Based Initiative Gains Unusual Leader

President Bush sought Friday to jump-start his beleaguered bid to give religious charities a larger role in public life, naming a Democratic follower of Mother Teresa to run the effort and proclaiming that there is “a tremendous opportunity” to solve social ills with faith-based approaches.

The White House picked Jim Towey, an advocate of the elderly who has worked closely with Democrats and Republicans, to help salvage the stalled effort, which has been one of Bush’s top domestic priorities. The appointment comes as the White House and key senators are close to agreeing on a compromise bill that would provide new tax incentives for charitable donations and possibly some new funds for community-based services.

But the emerging accord will steer clear of last year’s controversial “charitable choice” proposal, which raised fears that the church-state wall would tumble down and that religious employers would be exempted from civil rights laws in their personnel decisions.

“We have a tremendous opportunity now to take the spirit [of faith-based organizations] and apply it to problems like poverty and addiction, abandonment and abuse, illiteracy and homelessness,” Bush said at a White House ceremony to introduce Towey. “These are incredibly tough problems. But I believe with the help of faith we can solve the problems.”

Towey, 45, who spent a year living and working in a Washington hospice for AIDS patients, ran Florida’s health and social services agency under Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles in the mid-1990s. But Towey’s 22-month stint, marked by his activist leadership style, ended in a partisan brawl when the Republican state Senate refused to confirm him.

He is considered an unusual public figure, more comfortable in sandals than wingtips. A devout Roman Catholic, he has a sense of humor some might consider irreverent.

In a 1995 interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Towey declared, “My career goal is to go to heaven.”

Towey has managed to forge close relationships with Democrats and Republicans alike, including Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother. He sought out Mother Teresa in Calcutta in the 1980s, beginning a long association in which he volunteered hands-on care and legal advice for her ministry. In 1996 he founded Aging with Dignity, an advocacy group for senior citizens.

“He brings to the job managerial skills and a servant’s heart,” Bush said Friday. “He will be a great director, and I look forward to working with him to advance a bold initiative.”

Towey “understands there are things more important than political parties, and one of those things . . . is helping to heal the nation’s soul,” Bush said. “There is nothing more important than helping the hopeless see hope, helping the addicted see a better life.”

Accompanied by his wife and four young sons, Towey responded, “I’m deeply grateful to God and to you, sir, for entrusting me with this honor to serve my country, particularly those Americans who are hurting and in need. Mother Teresa introduced me to this joy that comes from befriending those in need, and discovering their tremendous dignity.”

Towey will fill a vacancy left by Democrat John J. DiIulio Jr., who resigned last fall after struggling with Congress and religious conservatives about the direction of the initiative.

Bush also announced the formation of a new White House advisory council, headed by domestic advisor John Bridgeland, that will oversee Towey’s office.

Critics of the initiative seized on the reorganization as a sign that the White House initiative, which was launched with great fanfare early last year, was being downgraded. “After 12 months of criticism from the right, left and center, it’s been downgraded to part of an office on volunteerism,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a watchdog organization. “It looks like Towey will have his work cut out for him.”

But Bush said the relief efforts sparked by last fall’s terrorist attacks provided fresh evidence of the importance of faith-based and community organizations: “They provide help,” he said. “They have helped heal the nation’s wounds.”

Eager to achieve even a scaled-down victory, White House strategists have been working toward a compromise initiative that could sail through Congress.

A sign of the emerging consensus emerged last month, when a coalition of churches, civil libertarians and other groups agreed on three elements of a compromise: charitable tax deductions for filers who don’t itemize; requiring religious groups to set up separate operations to handle their social services; and encouraging private-sector donations to faith-based groups.

On Capitol Hill, Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) are completing negotiations with the White House on a $10-billion plan that would include tax incentives for charitable giving and a “compassionate capital” fund to aid grass-roots, faith-based efforts. It also would reaffirm existing law that prohibits the government from discriminating against organizations based on their religious names or their use of religious icons.

But notably absent from the emerging deal will be the “charitable choice” provision that critics feared would allow faith-based organizations to discriminate in employment and blend the provision of social services with religious practices.

“This is going to be a consensus bill with overwhelming bipartisan support,” said Dan Gerstein, a Lieberman spokesman. “There’s nothing in here that’s going to antagonize people.”

Some supporters of the more sweeping approach, however, expressed disappointment.

“You take half a loaf of bread when you can get it, realizing that you’ll just continue to work for more,” said Stephen Lazarus, senior policy associate with the Center for Public Justice.