City Beat

At the front of the movement is Bishop Sherwood Carthen of Bayside of South Sacramento and the Rev. Darryl Heath, the pastor of St. John Missionary Baptist Church. Several other pastors from Oak Park, south Sacramento and Del Paso Heights are also in the mix.

The pastors are supporting local NAACP chair Betty Williams in her campaign against south Sacramento Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell, as well as developer Allen Warren against Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy in the district covering Del Paso Heights, North Sacramento and other neighborhoods north of the American River.

It remains to be seen what influence - if any - the pastors will have over the elections. They were on the losing end of a contentious redistricting debate in the city earlier this year.

Then again, voter turnout in Pannell and Sheedy's districts is historically very low, so any mobilization by the pastors could have an impact.

"We're beginning to recognize that we want to be better stewards of the city," Carthen told me. "We want to figure out what it is going to take."

One question I get whenever I write about the pastors and politics is whether church leaders can engage in political activity and keep their organizations' tax exempt status.

Federal tax laws are very strict when it comes to faith organizations and politics. Churches are prohibited from engaging in political campaign activity in order to remain tax exempt as 501(c)(3)s, according to the IRS.

However, tax law does not place the same restrictions on church leaders. According to the IRS website, tax law "is not intended to restrict free expression on political matters by leaders of churches or religious organizations speaking for themselves, as individuals."

The IRS warns church leaders that they "cannot make partisan comments in official organization publications or at official church functions." Candidates may list pastors who endorse their campaigns, as long they make it clear "titles and affiliations of each individual are provided for identification purposes only."

So far, all of the political literature I've seen has listed pastors' names, but not the churches they represent. And at a press conference announcing the launch of the mayor's latest charge reform campaign last week, the pastors in attendance did not mention which organizations they represent.

The pastors I've spoke with so far also insist they do not make political comments from the pulpit. They said they can spread their message outside church doors, where they argue their influence is strong.

"Whatever influence I carry, I'm grateful for that," Carthen told me. "But just because I lead a church, that does not preclude me from endorsing a candidate."