Reverend Lou P. Sheldon angrily fought gays, feminists, progressives and immigrants at a national level through a scaremongering mail strategy that possibly got millions of US dollars into his financial accounts. Sheldon is also Washington DC’s Traditional Values Coalition founder.
The octogenarian man from Anaheim was at loggerheads with Andrea Lafferty, his bigoted daughter whom OC Weekly described as a bitter enemy. Lafferty took control over the DC-based organization in 2017 when its founder semiretired from it.
Sheldon’s accusations against his own daughter included fraud, financial abuse of the elderly, misrepresentation, and wage non-payment.
As per the lawsuit that Lou Sheldon filed in OC Superior Court, his daughter did the following.
- Used the organization for self-dealing, fraud and personal transactions
- Committed nepotism
- Engaged in fake direct mail programs aimed at seniors to play a part in TVC’s front groups, namely Coalition to Guarantee Social Security and Christian Seniors’ Association
- Paid compensation in an unreasonable manner
It was an ugly list of accusations that could have been made against the reverend, but he went further in the courthouse with the following claims.
- Lafferty caused TVC to be insolvent
- She stole the reverend’s house around the Capitol Building worth $1.90 million
- Tricked the reverend into offering and then declined to pay over $300,000 as the loan amount he provided to prop the organization up
- Conspired to get rid of the reverend from the TVC board after the man demanded an audit towards the end of 2017
The reverend’s lawsuit claimed that the organization’s mission changed to a dishonest and unethical one under Andrea Lafferty’s leadership. As per the lawsuit, she had a multifaceted motivation in eliminating Sheldon from its board that was also centered around fake monetary schemes against the reverend.
Attorneys for TVC and Lafferty denied all allegations, and added that Sheldon did not take reasonable action to do the following.
- Mitigate the losses that he claimed in the lawsuit, if any
- Avoid the repercussions of the wrongs claimed in the lawsuit
In September 2019, the reverend’s corporate lobbyist son, Steve, supported his father’s actions in court documents. He added copies of electronic mails between TVC officials and himself that pressed them for funds, plus the organization’s books of accounts. He might have also inadvertently added one of Lafferty’s attorneys’ email that described him as a schmuck and unscrupulous.
No matter who ran TVC, it had always caused surprise among others.
For instance, in 1998, OC Weekly revealed how self-hailed and ultra-defensive anti-abortion SoCal politicians accepted the contributions of Dr Edward C. Allred. For your information, Allred owned an equine racing track and many abortion clinics back then. He might have been America’s most prolific doctor specialized in abortions of that period.
That story on OC Weekly also aided in exposing the monetary coziness with the reverend’s self-proclaimed anti-gambling organization, which also lobbied for California’s pro-gambling bill that Ed Allred wanted to be enacted.
For Another OC Weekly story, Scott Moxley covered Sheldon’s campaign against gay marriage where the reverend regarded all men as beasts with same-sex tendencies that necessitated the government to officially deter homosexual activities. For your information, Scott Moxley was Senior Editor, News and Investigations, at OC Weekly.
To substantiate that point, the reverend told about “Monkey see, monkey do”, an old saying, to Costa Mesa’s law school attendees.
As for Sheldon, TVC was made to promote not only education and public welfare in every aspect of legislation but also action affecting moral and Biblical questions challenging society.
The not-for-profit organization Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) described TVC as an American hate group.