Joshua DuBois, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (OFBNP), and Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council, will be speaking at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism's (RAC) annual conference, Consultation on Conscience, Sunday night, but their remarks will be closed to the press.
Kate Bigam, the RAC's spokesperson, told me, "Both of our Sunday night speakers have asked that their presentations be off the record; Rev. Josh DuBois will be speaking at a private dinner for donors, and Larry Summers has asked that his presentation be closed."
The secrecy and lack of transparency of the OFBNP has become nearly comical. It holds off-the-record meetings with religious groups and individuals whose identities it will not reveal to the press, and now DuBois finds it necessary to shut the media out from a speech to a religious organization.
Update: Bigam called me this afternoon to advise that DuBois has decided to allow press at the speech.
--Sarah Posner