The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has published a review of the first year of operations of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, noting that regulatory changes may be its future focus. [Please take a moment to vote in our informal poll on churches and political activity] Can an Office Change a Country? reviews the ups and downs of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives’ first year. The review was sponsored the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life and written by Kathryn Dunn Tenpas of the University of Pennsylvania, currently a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution. The office, created just over a year ago in the first month of George W. Bush’s presidency, has suffered from a variety of problems, including unclear responsibilities, inadequate staffing and budget and lack of autonomy for its Director. The report notes that John DiIulio, the first Director did not have “the power to develop and execute political strategy,” and that his desire to take the time necessary to build consensus was overridden by senior advisors to the President and Republicans in the House of Representatives, who wanted to push H.R. 7, a broad expansion of "charitable choice" that sparked wide spread opposition from a wide variety of groups, including OMB Watch. Lack of coordination inside the White House was also a problem, and DiIulio “was not briefed nor did he work in concert with other key components of the White House organization,” such as legislative affairs, communications and public liaison. However, shifting priorities may have been the most serious problem affecting the office. Although the President quickly fulfilled a campaign pledge by creating a special office to push faith-based initiatives, the report notes, “the faith-based initiative quickly took a back seat to tax cuts and education-accountability proposals.” In fact, the President’s tax cut package failed to include key tax incentives for charitable giving that were spelled out in the Executive Order creating his faith-based initiative. DiIulio resigned as Director after six months, and Jim Towey, the new Director, was not named for another six months. However, Senior Domestic Policy Advisor John Bridgeland has oversight of the office, in addition to being in charge of the President’s new volunteer initiative, the Freedom Corps. With this realignment, and the White House’s agreement to a Senate bill on the faith-based initiative that does not include many of the objectionable portions of H.R. 7, the future focus of the White House Office may be on regulatory implementation of charitable choice in the four laws where it currently exists. The report concludes that, “These less visible, less controversial efforts to encourage faith-based organizations may well prove to be more effective than any additional legislation.” Read the full PDF downloadable copy of the report.