Democratic gubernatorial candidate Roy Barnes found himself in a politically delicate situation this month after lawsuits were filed alleging Bishop Eddie Long engaged in sexual misconduct with young men.
Barnes has known Long, the influential pastor of a megachurch in Lithonia, for more than 20 years. He has spoken at Long’s church, and he considers the pastor a friend.
Long, meanwhile, is among the more than 200 members of the finance committee for Barnes’ Democratic campaign for governor. He co-hosted a fundraiser for Barnes during the Democratic primary, and the pastor and his wife together contributed $11,100 to Barnes’ primary campaign.
Long was to co-host another fundraiser for Barnes this month. But Barnes canceled the event after two young men filed lawsuits against Long this month, alleging he, in his role as a church leader, coerced them into sex.
Long, who now faces suits from a total of four young men, has denied the accusations.
Barnes called the allegations against Long “troubling.”
Still, he hasn’t severed ties with Long. The pastor remains on Barnes’ campaign finance committee.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked the campaign whether Barnes was going to return Long’s campaign contribution. The campaign said no, adding in a prepared statement that Barnes would not take any action “until all the facts are known."
"Bishop Long is entitled to have the legal process work," the campaign said, "and Roy will wait until that process is complete.”
Speaking this week to Channel 2 Action News, Barnes said: “The allegations are troubling, but there’s not been one deposition taken, not one thing. Let’s let the legal process work.”
Long is the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly African-American church with 25,000 members. To defeat Republican Nathan Deal in November, Barnes must get a high turnout of African-American voters at the polls, according to political experts. About half of Georgia’s Democratic voters are black, according to the Georgia Democratic Party.
“There is no way he or [U.S. Senate candidate] Mike Thurmond or any other statewide Democrats can win unless we have a huge African-American turnout. That is just a fact,” said state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.
A spokesman for Long referred questions back to Barnes’ campaign. Long’s attorney, Craig Gillen, did not respond to requests for comment.
Aides to Barnes noted the attorney for the men suing Long, B.J. Bernstein, contributed $3,000 to Barnes’ primary campaign.
They also said that Long is one of several ministers serving on Barnes’ campaign finance committee. In July, the Barnes campaign trumpeted a list of 51 pastors who had endorsed him, including Long and the Rev. Timothy McDonald III, pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in East Atlanta.
“Roy is the only candidate in this race who has consistently been a friend to our community,” Long said in a statement included in the campaign news release. “He is the only one I trust to guide our state in a better direction.”
Tamadis Young, an 11-year-member of New Birth Missionary Baptist, didn’t fault Barnes for canceling the fundraiser Long was to co-host for him this month. He suggested the news media storm surrounding Long could have detracted from the event.
“I think that was a pretty smart move on his part, but I do also applaud our former governor for standing by the bishop’s side regardless of those allegations,” said Young, a businessman from Atlanta.
Long may have considerable influence, but he also carries other baggage. In 2005, for example, the AJC exposed how Long was the biggest beneficiary of a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity he established to help the needy and spread the Gospel. The charity provided him with a $1.4 million, six-bedroom, nine-bathroom home on 20 acres in Lithonia, the use of a $350,000 luxury Bentley automobile and more than $1 million in salary.
And in 2007, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, started investigating six televangelists, including Long, on allegations of lavish spending using church funding. An aide to Grassley said this month that the senator's query is not complete. The office, she added, is still waiting for some answers from Long.
Rusty Paul, a former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and a former state senator, said Barnes is facing a political dilemma in his race against Republican Nathan Deal.
“In this environment today -- and particularly as much as Barnes has hammered Nathan Deal on ethics issues -- it gets tough,” Paul said, “when you are throwing rocks and all of a sudden you realize that your house is made of glass, too.”
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