The day before the Nov. 4 general election, the director and co-founder of a local sexual abstinence education group sent out an e-mail saying Republican presidential hopeful John McCain was more supportive of the group's interests than Democrat Barack Obama.
"The record is pretty clear," the e-mail reads. "Forward this on for educational purposes!"
When questioned about the appropriateness of the e-mail, a spokesman for the federal agency that funds A Positive Approach to Teen Health said his agency planned to send out "a reminder to all grantees on rules concerning lobbying activities."
Kenneth Wolfe, deputy director of public affairs for the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said his agency is charged with training the grant recipients on acceptable guidelines concerning lobbying activities.
Federal funds cannot be used for lobbying, he said.
After reviewing the PATH e-mail for nearly two months, Wolfe would not say whether the local group violated the guidelines.
The local group's director, Wilma Willard, said on Nov. 3 that the e-mail was intended for educational purposes, which is allowed by the grant.
"So this is within our scope," she wrote.
Willard did not reply to a recent request for an updated response.
The group is getting $600,000 a year from the federal agency for a five-year period that began Oct. 1, 2007, Wolfe said.
The e-mail sent out by Willard appears to have originated from ivotemyvalues.com, which describes its Web site as "a nonpartisan site dedicated to encouraging greater respect for traditional family values among the political and public officials in the United States government."
The e-mail compared McCain and Obama on four topics, including the goal of federal abstinence education to delay sexual activity until marriage rather than merely delaying it until a later age. The e-mail gave the nod to McCain.
The e-mail said McCain supported parental notification for minors seeking abortions and Obama does not. McCain also was given a nod for supposedly opposing a proposal to nullify all state restrictions on abortion, while the e-mail said the proposal is supported by Obama.
The final comparison said Obama has voted 100 percent in favor of the positions of Planned Parenthood on such issues as parental notification, comprehensive sex education and Supreme Court nominations. McCain reportedly voted just the opposite to earn a 0 percent rating.
