Religions > Atheism > Abramoff Scandal Undermines GOP Ralph Reed (GOP, The Stech of Corruption)
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Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Yang, AthD h.c, Kicking AWOLs Cocaine Snorting Ass" |
| Date: |
15 Jan 2006 09:29:30 PM |
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Abramoff Scandal Undermines GOP Ralph Reed (GOP, The Stech of Corruption) |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/15/AR2006011500915_pf.html
In Ga., Abramoff Scandal Threatens a Political Ascendancy
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 16, 2006; A01
DAWSONVILLE, Ga. -- Ralph Reed, candidate for lieutenant governor, had
just finished his opening statement to the Dawson County Republican
Party when retired pulp paper executive Gary Pichon sprang from his
seat with a question that cut to the chase:
"Did you accept any gifts, commissions or other payments of any kind
from Mr. Abramoff, and are you likely to be a party in the unfolding
investigation?"
Silence enveloped the 60 or so Republicans in the auditorium, and
Reed's cheerful manner turned tense. "No," he replied. "No to all
these."
As everyone knew, Pichon was referring to Jack Abramoff, whose outsize
Washington lobbying scandal has reached down to Georgia. Abramoff and
Reed -- the former executive director of the Christian Coalition --
have been friends for 25 years, and until recently it had been a
mutually profitable association. Now it is proving highly inconvenient
for Reed, and threatens to stall a career that has been emblematic of
the modern GOP.
Reed served as executive director of the College Republicans from 1983
to 1985 and led a revival of the Christian right in the 1990s. He
founded a grass-roots lobbying firm in 1997, bringing in millions of
dollars in fees, chaired the Georgia Republican Party in 2002 when the
GOP took over the state, and served as Southeast director of the 2004
Bush-Cheney campaign.
At age 44, he still has the choirboy looks that have been noted in
dozens of profiles over the past 20 years. But the first major dent in
Reed's carefully cultivated image came with the disclosure in the
summer of 2004 that his public relations and lobbying companies had
received at least $4.2 million from Abramoff to mobilize Christian
voters to fight Indian casinos competing with Abramoff's casino
clients.
Similarly damaging has been a torrent of e-mails revealed during the
investigation that shows a side of Reed that some former supporters
say cannot be reconciled with his professed Christian values.
"After reading the e-mail, it became pretty obvious he was putting
money before God," said Phil Dacosta, a Georgia Christian Coalition
member who had initially backed Reed. "We are righteously casting him
out."
Among those e-mails was one from Reed to Abramoff in late 1998: "I
need to start humping in corporate accounts! . . . I'm counting on you
to help me with some contacts." Within months, Abramoff hired him to
lobby on behalf of the Mississippi Band of Choctaws, who were seeking
to prevent competitors from setting up facilities in nearby Alabama.
In 1999, Reed e-mailed Abramoff after submitting a bill for $120,000
and warning that he would need as much as $300,000 more: "We are
opening the bomb bays and holding nothing back."
In 2004, when the casino payments to Reed were disclosed, Reed issued
a statement declaring "no direct knowledge of their [Abramoff's law
firm's] clients or interests." In 2005, however, Senate investigators
released a 1999 e-mail from Abramoff to Reed explicitly citing the
client: "It would be really helpful if you could get me invoices [for
services performed] as soon as possible so I can get Choctaw to get us
checks ASAP."
One of the most damaging e-mails was sent by Abramoff to partner
Michael Scanlon, complaining about Reed's billing practices and
expenditure claims: "He is a bad version of us! No more money for
him." Scanlon and Abramoff have pleaded guilty to defrauding clients.
Reed's records have been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors, and
neither he nor his staff will discuss whether Reed has been
interviewed or has been called as a witness to grand jury proceedings.
No evidence has emerged that he is a target in the federal inquiry.
The controversy has confronted Reed with a fierce headwind here. The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published 48 articles and editorials
on the Reed-Abramoff connection. The paper's main circulation area
includes the suburban and exurban areas surrounding Atlanta, which
provide more than half the votes cast in statewide Republican
primaries.
Although polling this many months before an election is not as
reliable as surveys closer to November, a recent Zogby poll performed
for the paper had troubling findings for Reed: When voters were asked
to pick between "Republican Ralph Reed" and "a Democrat," the generic
Democrat won 36 percent to 33 percent, although the state leans
strongly Republican. When voters were asked to pick between
"Republican Casey Cagle," a state senator running against Reed for the
GOP nomination, and "a Democrat," Cagle won, 35 percent to Reed's 30
percent.
Similarly, Reed raised an impressive $1.4 million in the first six
months of 2005, before local coverage of the Abramoff scandal had
heated up; his total for the second half of 2005 dropped to $404,258,
below Cagle's $667,692. Overall, Reed retains an advantage in cash on
hand.
The problem vexing the Reed campaign is that even if the federal
investigation clears him of wrongdoing, his status is likely to remain
uncertain at least through the July 18 primary.
Without the prospect of a quick resolution of his role in the Abramoff
controversy, Reed is in a political limbo -- hardly a selling point
for Republicans eager to keep their four-year-old hold on state
government.
Whit Ayres, one of the state's best-known Republican consultants and
pollsters, said the best way to determine Reed's political future
would be to "ask Jack Abramoff. Only [the former lobbyist] and some
prosecutors know what he has to say about Reed." Pichon, the Dawson
County Republican, said: "If Reed ends up winning the primary, we
might be at the point where we blow our brains out over that issue."
Random interviews on Main Street in heavily Republican Alpharetta -- a
rapidly growing town of 37,850 on the far northern suburbs of Atlanta
-- suggested that even many people who follow politics casually are
aware of the linkage between Reed and Abramoff.
"Ralph Reed? He's a politician," said David Loudenflager, a Republican
who retired after working 32 years for the Arrow Shirt Company. "He
was involved with Jack Abramoff and the Indians and all those."
Loudenflager does not like the Democratic Party -- "they give away
everything" -- but he puts no stock in the Christian Coalition: "All
these people running around telling you how good they are, and how
right they are. You better be careful and hold on to your wallet."
Todd Guy, owner of Trader Golf, said succinctly in response to an
inquiry: "Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition? My God! Abramoff."
After Reed first entered national politics as executive director of
the Christian Coalition, he described to the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
his tactics in mobilizing Christian conservatives to sway elections:
"I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and
travel at night. You don't know it's over until you're in a body bag.
You don't know until election night."
When it came to himself, however, Reed hardly worked at staying
invisible. He was a familiar figure and a ready quote for political
journalists. Republicans running for offices high and low sought his
blessing. He made the cover of Time on May 15, 1995, in a stark
black-and-white photo with the headline "The Right Hand Of God."
These days, Reed rarely grants interviews, and he declined a request
to speak for this article. And Georgia Republicans are openly
wondering whether Reed is a blessing or a curse. On Friday, the
Journal-Constitution prominently displayed a story headlined:
"Supporters ask, is Reed worth the gamble? Lobbying, casino stories
take a toll."
Over time, as new disclosures about his dealings with Abramoff have
emerged, Reed has subtly moderated his response to inquiries. At the
Dawson County GOP meeting, he told activists, "I was building my small
business in 1999 when I was approached by a friend of almost 20 years
from one of the most respected and prestigious law firms in the
nation," without naming Abramoff.
Of the work he did for Abramoff's firm, Reed said, "I agreed to do so
having been assured that none of the funds used to pay my firm were
derived from gambling activities."
Reed said he helped close an illegal casino in Texas and prevented
casinos from coming to Alabama. "Many marriages and lives were saved"
and "many children were spared the consequences of gambling because of
the work I did."
But, he added, "if I had known then what I know now, I would not have
done that work."
Researcher Zachary Goldfarb contributed to this report.
-----
Yang
a.a. #28
AthD (h.c.) conferred by the regents of the LCL
a.a. pastor #-273.15, the most frigid church of Celcius nee Kelvin
EAC Econometric Forecast and Sorcery Division
Proudly plonked by Lani Girl and Crazyalec (aka aka Yang's little poltregeist *****)
The Bush 'balanced' budget: 2 trillion and worsening
The Bush 'economic' policy: 12.5 million FEWER jobs than Clinton and counting
The Bush Iraq lie: -2216 GIs, one friend's co-worker's son and mounting
Having Bush ***** up my country: Worthless
-----
Contact duke's priest and ask
him why duke is such a racist:
http://www.stpatrickbr.org/
Father Gerard "Jerry" Martin
stpatrickbr<AT>bellsouth<DOT>net
Saint Patrick Catholic Church
12424 Brogdon Lane
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70816
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