The well-dressed crowd gathered for Echo Hawks speech was dotted with examples of inside-the-beltway Mormon power.
In one pew sits a Mormon stake president a regional Mormon leader who came to Washington to write speeches for Ronald Reagan and now runs a lobbying firm downtown.
Behind him in the elegant but plain sanctuary Mormon chapels are designed with an eye toward functionality and economy is a retired executive secretary of the U.S. Supreme Court.
A few pews further back, the special assistant to the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan sits next to a local Mormon bishop who came to Washington to work for Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and now leads a congressionally chartered foundation.