(RNS) Just days after Gary Bauer announced he is no longer running for U.S. president, a spokeswoman for the Family Research Council, the conservative Christian public policy organization he led for a decade, confirmed Wednesday he is not a candidate for its presidency.
Asked if Bauer is under consideration, she said, "He is not."
Bauer dropped out of the Republican presidential race Feb. 4.
Hansen declined to respond to a report on ChristianityToday.com about an internal survey indicating more than 60 percent of the staff polled in the late fall did not think the organization should be led by someone with the sort of high profile in partisan politics that Bauer developed during his failed try for the White House.
"There were some inaccuracies in that article," Hansen said. For example, she said, the article incorrectly reported that Chuck Donovan, FRC's executive vice president and acting chief executive officer, is a Democrat.
Hansen said she did not know when a decision about a new president would be made.
Bauer served as president of the council from 1988 until January 1999 when he left to explore a GOP candidacy for U.S. president.
Under Bauer, the FRC--which grew out of conservative religious broadcaster Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family organization--went from a three-person, $1- million operation to a 120-person, $14-million operation.
The FRC grew to rival the Christian Coalition in its influence among religious conservatives, and under Bauer played a prominent role in Washington, D.C., lobbying efforts.
