Mikey Weinstein, the Albuquerque businessman who fought evangelism at the Air Force Academy, is opposing his one-time ally, Rep. Heather Wilson, Albuquerque Republican.

Weinstein is hosting a $250-a-ticket fund-raiser at his home next Wednesday for Wilson's Democratic opponent, New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a 2004 Democratic presidential contender, is scheduled to attend. The invitation says in part, "I want to have the opportunity to tell you personally why my family and I are never again supporting Heather Wilson and why we are fully supporting Patricia Madrid. . . ."
The invitation represents the final break with Wilson by Weinstein, a registered Republican who worked three years as a White House lawyer under President Ronald Reagan. Weinstein is now director of business development for Perot Systems Department of Energy Programs and he is the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
Weinstein said he was an early supporter of Wilson, a fellow graduate of the Air Force Academy, and held fund-raisers for her. His son Casey was an intern for Wilson and she escorted Casey across the stage when he graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2004.

But Weinstein said Wilson never did enough to change the conditions for non-Christians at the Academy, which he describes in a federal court lawsuit against the Air Force as a pattern of senior officers and cadets trying to impose evangelical Christianity. That included one chaplain who, at a Protestant worship service, encouraged cadets to tell those who did not attend the service that they would "burn in the fires of hell." Cadets were pressed to attend religious services, Weinstein says. Casey Weinstein said he was called a "(expletive) Jew" and accused by some cadets of killing Jesus, according to the Denver Rocky Mountain News.

Throughout his fight, Wilson told him she was "monitoring" the situation, Weinstein said.

On the other hand, Madrid has "not been afraid to stand up," he said. "There comes a time when silence is betrayal," said Weinstein, quoting Dr. Martin Luther King. "Heather Wilson took me and my family, and threw us under a bus to bleed by the side of the road," Weinstein said.

Wilson campaign spokeswoman Anne Ekern said: "A comment like that doesn't merit a response." Others praise Wilson's efforts on the issue. Anita Miller, the immediate past president of the Anti-Defamation League of New Mexico, organized and has met several times with a panel of Jewish leaders about the problem. Miller said Wilson has been working quietly behind the scenes to influence Air Force policy, if not as openly as Weinstein would like. "Heather has been responsive to the Jewish community's leadership," Miller said.

Also last year, Wilson was one of eight House Republicans who voted for a defense bill amendment requiring the Air Force Academy to maintain "a climate free from coercive religious intimidation and inappropriate proselytizing" by those in positions of authority. The amendment, sponsored by liberal Democratic David Obey of Wisconsin, lost 198-210. Instead, the House approved language stating that all personal expressions of faith are welcome in the military. The Air Force issued guidelines to its chaplains last year to try to limit proselytizing. In February, the Air Force revised its policy under pressure from evangelical Christian groups and members of Congress. The revisions allow superior officers to discuss their faith with subordinates and permits Christian chaplains to "pray in Jesus' " name instead of nonsectarian prayers. This morning, Wilson's office released a letter to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne dated April 14, in which she questioned why the latest guidelines were less specific concerning public prayer and the rights of individuals to be "free from unwanted proselytizing." "These changes leave more to individual interpretation and implementation throughout the Air Force," Wilson wrote.   Copyright 2006, The Albuquerque Tribune. All Rights Reserved.