Reed Reportedly Received Millions to Lobby In Texas-But He Never Registere

[RedEarth]

Prosecutors Urged to Investigate Ralph Reed's Covert Lobbying
Reed Reportedly Received Millions to Lobby In Texas-But He Never Registered With State as Required

AUSTIN, Texas - December 1 - Texans for Public Justice, Common Cause Texas and Public Citizen today petitioned Travis County Attorney David Escamilla to investigate the Texas lobby activities of Ralph Reed.

According to state records, Reed did not register as a Texas lobbyist in 2001 or 2002, when he reportedly received $4.2 million to lobby Texas state officials to shut down two Indian casinos in Texas. Embattled gambling lobbyists Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon-working for a tribe that operated a competing casino in Louisiana-reportedly paid Reed to pressure Texas officials to close the Texas casinos. The watchdog groups contend that available evidence, including Reed's own electronic correspondence, indicates that Reed was engaged in lobbying activities that would have required him to register as a Texas lobbyist.

With Abramoff's aid, Reed helped convert the remains of televangelist Pat Robertson's 1988 presidential campaign into the fundamentalist Christian Coalition. Nine years later, Reed started his own lobby firm in Georgia called Century Strategies. A U.S. Senate probe into Abramoff's Indian gambling activities has documented that Abramoff hired Reed in 2001 to:


Kill a 2001 Texas bill (HB 514) that sought to keep the El Paso-based Tigua tribe's Speaking Rock Casino open; and
Ensure that then-Attorney General John Cornyn shut down Speaking Rock (in part by generating support for such a policy).
The ultimate source of Reed's multimillion-dollar fees for this lobby work appears to be a casino operated by the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, which wanted to eliminate competition from Speaking Rock and a small Alabama Coushatta casino in East Texas. The Louisiana tribe hired Abramoff and Scanlon in April 2001, ultimately paying them $32 million.


http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1201-03.htm

[mndfler]

1. I'm shocked -- SHOCKED!!!

I can't believe a good man like Reed would get tangled up in something like this.

[WhiteTara]

8. I don't know if I can ever `

be shocked again by anything. I have been so shocked for so long that I am now officially numb. Welcome to DU mndfler :hi:

[RubyDuby in GA]

2. Oh Ralphie boy - bless his heart

I hope and pray that he is the albatross that takes down the entire party here in GA. I will not have this man as my Lt. Gov. (and trust me - the wingnuts here ARE stupid enough to vote for him).

[HereSince1628]

3. Wow, corruption in the casino crowd? Who'd a thunk that possible?

[WCGreen]

5. Instead of being mobbed up.. They are GOP'ed up....

[Ian David]

6. They're also Godded-upped, too...

Finally, we have Christians and Jews and Muslims working together peacefully hand-in-hand... to make money while sticking it to gays and Native Americans.

Gawd Bless America!

[donkeyotay]

19. It is touching. I think what we have now is the God GOP mob. nt

[SoCalDem]

4. Silly people.. Rules don't apply to repubes..

Rules are for EEEEEVIL people...like democrats :)

[MidwestTransplant]

7. Anybody know the penalty for that?

Hopefully a stint in the Harris County Jail.

[Vogon_Glory]

9. If I'm Not Mistaken Ralph Could Be Prosecuted Here in Texas

If these reports are not only true but can be documented, I believe that this means that Ralph Reed could be prosecuted here in Texas. Unfortunately, with the Gee Oh Pee firmly in control of individuals like Rick Perry and Tom Craddick, I doubt that any prosecution would stick.

[grasswire]

10. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Santa's being VERY GOOD to us this year!

We must have been nice boys and girls!

[0007]

11. .....and Ralph Reed will lead us right into the office of U.S. Senator

John Cornyn

[tavalon]

15. Oh, now wouldn't that be a shame

NOT!

How about Kay Bailey too, oh, please, please, please?

[0007]

18. Kay is so "yesterday" it isn't funny. With that insipid look

no could buy into stupidity at that level.


This is Kay Bailey's Omnipotent look

[lovuian]

12. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL!!! or COMMITT FRAUD!!!

thats in the Bible ...Ralph!!!

[JNelson6563]

13. Great stuff and nominated!

:toast:

[David Zephyr]

14. Fry this phony fundie.

Ralph Reed is the face of evil.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. Ralph Reed's next gig: jailhouse chaplin in a federal prison.

[donheld]

17. I hope Reed gets to start his own prison ministry

from the inside very soon.

[yellowcanine]

20. Extradite that boy and give him some Texas Justice. Deny bail and throw

him in one of those no-frills Texas jails, as "I do believe Mr. Reed is a flight risk, your Honor. He recently traveled to Canada and is known to have some friends there."