Back in the 70s, many of theocratic bent and their allies in neoconservatism recognized that the so called mainline Protestant churches were apostatic roaders, heretics, and even feminists.  They had been among the leading institutions that tarnished the glorious war against Godless Communism in Vietnam.

Richard Mellon Scaife, heir to a vast family fortune and in control of several family related foundations, became one of the principal financiers of the instutions of the conservative movement in and Beyond the Beltway, most famously the Heritage Foundation. Later, he was among the founding funders of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, and has continued to provide large grants over the years.

His largess has contributed signficantly to the errosion of the influence of the mainline churches over the past two decades and, as IRD critic John Dorhauer has pointed out -- has driven and exaccerbated divisive internal battles. This in turn, contributed to members, tired of the conflicts, or alternatively, whipped-up into theocratic frenzies, taking leave.  Sometimes whole congregations departed.  Theocrats of all sorts and of all nations rejoiced!

That is why, in the view of Our Distinguished Panel of Judges, it is fitting that Richard Mellon Scaife be recognized as our Theocrat of the Week. He has not only made the world safer for theocracy but he has acheived all this while similtaneously indulging in various violations of the Ten Commandments as a serial adulterer. Our Distinguished Panel of Judges seek not to pass judgement here, but to note how remarkable are the lives of The Great Ones of Our Time. Let us consult The Washington Post's understated report on the divorce of Mr. Scaife, which it describes as a "fabulously tawdry and surpassingly vicious spectacle...".

Remember him? The cantankerous, reclusive 75-year-old billionaire who's spent a sizable chunk of his inherited fortune bankrolling conservative causes and trying to kneecap Democrats? He's best known for funding efforts to smear then-President Bill Clinton but more quietly he's given in excess of $300 million to right-leaning activists, watchdogs and think tanks. Atop his list of favorite donees: the family-values-focused Heritage Foundation which has published papers with titles such as "Restoring a Culture of Marriage."

The culture of his own marriage is apparently past restoring. With the legal fight still in the weigh-in phase, the story of Scaife v. Scaife already includes a dog-snatching, an assault, a night in jail and that divorce court perennial, allegations of adultery.

At some point in late 2005, Ritchie [Mrs. Richard Mellon Scaife] started having suspicions about her husband and hired a private investigator named Keith Scannell, a specialist in high-end surveillance for insurance companies. In December of that year, Scannell followed Richard Scaife to nearby North Huntingdon, home of Doug's Motel, a place where the TVs are bolted to the furniture and rooms can be rented in three-hour increments, for $28. (It's now under new management and renamed the Huntingdon Inn. Head east on Route 8, then east on Route 30.) There, according to Scannell, Scaife spent a few hours with Tammy Sue Vasco.

Why a billionaire would shack up at Doug's Motel, of all places, is a mystery. Ditto his choice of companions. Vasco is a tall, blond 43-year-old mother who in 1993 was busted in a sting operation after showing up at a Sheraton hotel and offering to have sex with an undercover cop for $225, the Post-Gazette reported.

Social Register material she is not, but Vasco and Scaife seemed to have a relationship that went beyond the purely professional. The two usually met each other twice a week, for months, at the motel, says an employee of the motel. Scaife would show up in a chauffeured car, dressed in a suit, wearing cuff links, always bearing flowers. Vasco would be waiting in same room every time, Room 5 on the ground floor, facing the parking lot, said the employee. Mr. Dick, as he was known at the motel, would stay for two hours or so, then get back in the car, which had been waiting, and leave.

Yes, this is the man who made the renewal movement possible; the man without whom right wing American Angelicans might never have gotten to know and to accept Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria as their spiritual leader.  This is the man whose largess made possible the career of the late IRD leader Diane Knippers -- who once famously declared that rather than celebrating the 50th anniversary of the National Council of Churches, that they should be holding a funeral. Our Distintuished Panel of Judges got a kick out of the way that her 2001-2004 strategic plan for IRD titled: Reforming America's Churches Project called the NCC "the Religious Left." Scaife, who specifically helped to fund the project, has certainly gotten his money's worth -- dividing these pseudo Christian obstacles to various business and political empires against themselves, using the defense of traditional marriage as what the liberals call a "wedge issue."

That Scaife himself has come out of all this politically unscathed and able, like Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and others, able to carry on the necessary theocratic works of our time, is a considerable acheivement over and above a lifetime of theocratic accomplishments. This is why Richard Mellon Scaife stands head and shoulders above the field for Theocrat of the Week.

UPDATE:  Word has reached Our Distinguished Panel of Judges (via Newsweek) that Scaife has met privately with former president Bill Clinton (aka Satan himself, to some) and reportedly emerged not only with a peace treaty, but a "mutual admiration society."

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