By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – John Giles, a leading lobbyist in Alabama on morality issues who opposed gambling and tax hikes, has resigned as president of Christian Action Alabama. Giles has led the group for the past eight years. Before its recent split from the national group it was known as the Christian Coalition of Alabama. Giles announced his resignation -- to be effective December 29th 2006 -- in a letter to the organization's board chairman, Bob Russell. The letter was released to the news media yesterday. In the letter, 52-year-old Giles said he was resigning in order to pursue personal interests in the private sector. He also said he wanted to give someone else a chance to run the organization, which lobbies in the Legislature and publishes a voter guide that is distributed in churches and gives the views of candidates on a number of issues. Russell said the decision to resign was made by Giles and he was not forced to leave. Russell said the Christian Action board would meet next week and begin discussing what approach to take to find a replacement for Giles.