Reed Reality

Journalists had uncovered Reed's activities as a "stealth lobbyist" for tribal casino interests the year before and had traced $4 million in fees to Reed's company from the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana and the Choctaws of Mississippi. But Reed denied knowledge that he'd been working for gambling interests. "I have worked for decades to oppose the expansion of casino gambling," he toldThe Washington Post in August 2004. "And at no time was Century Strategy [Reed's company] ever retained by, or worked on behalf of, any casino or casino company."

When McCain's report was issued, however, it contained evidence that Reed was a willing and knowing partner, stirring up anti-gambling Christians to oppose gambling operations that might have competed with the tribes who were Abramoff's clients.

The report described, for example, how Reed reached out to his old college friend Abramoff in 1998 seeking paid lobbying work after leaving the Christian Coalition. It quoted one e-mail in which Reed said to Abramoff: "Hey, now that I'm done with electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I'm counting on you to help me with some contacts." For a $20,000 monthly retainer, Reed promised to stir up anti-gambling sentiment among a network of 3,000 pastors and 90,000 religious conservative households in Alabama. The object: to kill legislation that would have legalized video poker games at dog tracks in Alabama, which would have competed with the Silver Star casino in neighboring Mississippi, owned by Abramoff's client, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. He also worked against a bill to create an Alabama state lottery.

Later on, in 2001, Reed worked to support the efforts of the Texas attorney general to shut down casinos owned by two tribes in that state, while working secretly on behalf of the Coushatta tribe, which owned the Grand Casino across the state line in Louisiana. Overall, the report said, "Reed conducted a variety of grassroots activities in support of the interests of Abramoff gaming clients, including, telemarketing (patch-through, tape-recorded messages and call-to-action phone calls), targeted mail, legislative counsel and local management, as well as rallies and petitions."

When McCain's report was released, reporters mined it for additional details and found evidence contradicting Reed's claims of ignorance:

Washington Post, June 23, 2005: Material released yesterday also appeared to undermine assertions by former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed. ... Reed has said he did not know where the funds were coming from, but e-mails suggest that he was aware that some of the money he was getting came from the casino-rich Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

Tough Enough?
Should McCain have been tougher on Reed, as Obama's ad suggests? Perhaps. But we should note that Reed was never the main focus of the federal criminal investigations that were under way at the same time that McCain was holding his Senate hearings. Both Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon were charged and then pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy charges, Scanlon on Nov. 21, 2005, and Abramoff on Jan. 3, 2006. Reed, on the other hand, was not charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

McCain's investigation focused primarily on how Abramoff and Scanlon fleeced tribes by charging them millions in lobbying fees for lobbying work they never performed. But as the report details, Reed actually performed the lobbying work he was paid to do. In fact, Abramoff and Scanlon eventually pushed Reed aside, so they could keep for themselves the money they might otherwise have paid Reed.

The report quotes a Dec. 18, 2001, e-mail in which Abramoff wrote to Scanlon, "Next year, we need to give [Reed] a pittance and we need to keep most of this ourselves." And it says that after February 2002, "most of the money ... went into Abramoff's and Scanlon's pockets – with only a fraction going to the underlying grassroots effort."

So what could Reed have told the committee if McCain had called him as a witness? We don't know, and the Obama ad doesn't say.

Republished with permission from factcheck.org.

Sources
Frieden, Terry. "DeLay ex-aide pleads guilty in Abramoff case." CNN, 21 Nov 2005.

Schmidt, Susan and Grimaldi, James V. "Abramoff Pleads Guilty to 3 Counts Lobbyist to Testify About Lawmakers In Corruption Probe." Washington Post, 4 Jan 2006.

Schmidt, Susan and Grimaldi, James V. "Panel Says Abramoff Laundered Tribal Funds; McCain Cites Possible Fraud by Lobbyist." Washington Post, 23 June 2005.

Newfield, Jack. "Once a Foe, Now a Casino Lobbyist." New York Sun, 8 Sept. 2004.

Gould-Sheinin, Aaron. "Obama TV Ad to Highlight McCain's Link to Ralph Reed." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 21 Aug. 2008.

Crabtree, Susan. "McCain ignoring calls to cancel controversial fundraiser." The Hill, 12 Aug. 2008.

Holmes, Elizabeth. "A No-Show Looms Over McCain Fund-Raiser." Wall Street Journal, 18 Aug. 2008.

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