Even MORE rightwing hypocrisy: Now Ralph Reed

[checks-n-balances]

(Hope this isn't a dupe)

Ralph Reed's Gamble
by JACK NEWFIELD

(from the July 12, 2004 issue)

When Ralph Reed was the boyish director of the Christian Coalition, he made opposition to gambling a major plank in his "family values" agenda, calling gambling "a cancer on the American body politic" that was "stealing food from the mouths of children." But now, a broad federal investigation into lobbying abuses connected to gambling on Indian reservations has unearthed evidence that Reed has been surreptitiously working for an Indian tribe with a large casino it sought to protect--and that Reed was paid with funds laundered through two firms to try to keep his lucrative involvement secret. Reed has always operated behind the scenes, and apparently he didn't want to risk becoming a humbled hypocrite like his right-wing cohorts William Bennett and Rush Limbaugh.

<snip>

The documents obtained by The Nation show that Reed sent bills to Abramoff and Scanlon and that one of his consulting companies, Century Strategies of Duluth, Georgia, received $250,000 from one of Scanlon's companies, Capitol Campaign Strategies. An invoice to Abramoff from another Reed company, Capitol Media, for $100,000, states only that the payment is for "Louisiana Project Mgmt. Fee." (The main thrust of the Justice Department investigation involves money laundering among Scanlon, Abramoff and Republican campaigns. Abramoff was fired by his firm for not disclosing $10 million in payments from Scanlon.)

Reed's involvement with the casino effort followed his departure from the Christian Coalition in 1997 and his reinvention of himself as a corporate lobbyist and campaign hatchet man. One of his first clients was the Enron Corporation--a deal arranged by Karl Rove when George W. Bush was starting to think about running for President in 2000. Rove wasn't ready to put Reed directly on a campaign payroll but presumably wanted to cultivate good will from Reed toward the coming Bush candidacy. Enron paid Reed's Century Strategies more than $300,000 to generate support for energy deregulation. In the 2000 GOP presidential primary, Reed justified his big Enron fee by helping to smear John McCain during the South Carolina primary. Now McCain's Indian Affairs subcommittee is investigating Indian gambling in the context of lobbying abuses, kickbacks and money laundering, with public hearings scheduled for early September.

Reed is in charge of Bush's 2004 election campaign in the Southeast, including Florida. In 2000, he was paid almost $3.7 million for helping Bush. In 1995, when he was still exploiting intolerance and fear, Time did a story on him that included the cover line "The right hand of God." Today God's right hand seems to be holding dice and a bloody political hatchet.

More at:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040712&s=newfield

[Philostopher]

1. Wups!

Looks like Ralphie boy pissed in the wrong guy's Wheaties about four years ago:

"Reed justified his big Enron fee by helping to smear John McCain during the South Carolina primary. Now McCain's Indian Affairs subcommittee is investigating Indian gambling in the context of lobbying abuses, kickbacks and money laundering, with public hearings scheduled for early September. "

I'm sure I wouldn't have taken chances on getting that bastard riled at me unless I was sure he was going to wind up dead. He may stump for Bush, but I'm guessing McCain never forgets a wound, either.

[asthmaticeog]

2. You just KNEW

that little twerp was filthy. Amazing he managed to hide it for so long.

[amber dog democrat]

3. It is so obvious this guy was corrupt.

He is just good at cashing on on playing people's cultural obsessions.
It appears he is in real trouble now.

[Cats Against Frist]

4. Grrrrrr.....

I'm going to meet Ralph Reed in hell. And if I ever get promoted in hell, I'm going to make him, Patty and Kinchloe perform naughties on Terri the former beauty queen.

[ecoalex]

5. Love it when the Hipocritical Bas****s go down =)

Makes my Day !