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Charles W. Colson Special counsel Charles W. Colson, known within the Nixon administration as an "evil genius," played a leading role in some of Nixon's "dirty tricks" campaigns. His more notorious ideas included firebombing the Brookings Institution, a liberal think tank, and spreading false information about Daniel Ellsberg, the Defense Department analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the media. Colson served seven months in prison in 1974 after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice charges for his role in acquiring confidential FBI files on Ellsberg. In prison Colson became a born-again Christian and in 1976 founded the Prison Fellowship Ministries, a Christian outreach group serving prisoners and their families. In 1993, he won the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, worth more than $1 million, for his work with the ministries. In 2000, Florida Governor Jeb Bush restored Colson's civil rights, 25 years after his release from prison. Colson is now a syndicated radio host and commentator and has written many books, the royalties from which he donates to his ministries. He is also an On Faith panelist for washingtonpost.com. |
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