Bush Names new Faith-based czar

Jay Hein, an experienced conservative think tanker, will also be deputy assistant to the president

Jay Hein, a long-term conservative think tanker, has been named by President Bush the new director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and a deputy assistant to the president. Hein, who takes over the faith-based office from Jim Towey, will advise the president on domestic policies such as immigration or responses to emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina, the Associate Press reported.

According to the Indianapolis Star, Hein "was not originally on the short list of people being considered" to head up the Office, "but when White House officials -- at the suggestion of former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. -- went to Hein for advice on candidates, they soon came to see him as more than an adviser."