From National Journal's
Hotline Blog comes more on the relationship between the ex-director of the
Christian Coalition and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The caper? Getting the "right" appointment to head
Insular Affairs at Interior, the office with jurisdiction over Abramoff's major client, the
Commonwealth of the Marianas Islands (CNMI):
Reed, an elite "Pioneer" fundraiser for the Bush campaign and a campaign adviser, had already helped Abramoff land his own plum slot on Bush's Interior transition team. Abramoff coveted the slot because Interior was overseeing the lobbyist's two biggest clients at the time -- the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
The article comes from Hotline staffer Peter Stone, whose book
Superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, His Republican Allies, and the Buying of Washington is due out this fall. I've
diaried about Reed's sick, synical role
drumming up "grassroots" opposition to a bill to protect workers in the CNMI. From Reed's direct mailer to constituents of former Rep. Riley (R-AL):
The radical left, the Big Labor Union Bosses, and Bill Clinton want to pass a law preventing Chinese from coming to work on the Marianas Islands... [The Chinese workers] are exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ [while on the islands, and many] are converted to the Christian faith and return to China with Bibles in hand.
...
Lisa Baron, a spokeswoman for Reed's campaign, said Millennium Marketing "was hired as a direct-mail subcontractor to assist in encouraging grass-roots citizens to promote the propagation of the gospel."
"As a defender of the unborn, Ralph was unaware of any allegations regarding inhumane or illegal treatment of workers, and he would strongly object to such practices, if true," she added.
...
Reed is running for the GOP nomination [as Lieutenant Governor of Georgia] against state Sen. Casey Cagle. The old mailing was brought to a reporter's attention by former employees of Reed, who said the support on behalf of Northern Marinas leaves their former boss exposed as a hypocrite.
From Stone's article, we learn that Reed was working the CNMI sweatshop interests from another angle. Abramoff, on behalf of his lobbying clients, wanted the former Labor Ministers of the Marianas Islands, Mark Zachares, to be appointed head of Insular Affairs:
Reed replied quickly: "It never hurts to ask. What's the next move?" Later that day, Reed sounded even more eager. "Just let me know who to call, when to call, and what to say. And while you're at it get me another client! NOW!"
For a "Christian" who supposedly believes that it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, this is unseemly behavior. Entirely too much lusting after money, but of course not for a Republican. The kind who specializes in manipulating fundamentalist Christians towards forwarding big money objectives.
Reed is now busy trying to cover his tracks, according to Stone:
Lisa Baron, the communications director for Ralph Reed, who's now a candidate in Georgia's July 18 Republican primary for lieutenant governor, said in a statement, "Ralph Reed receives unsolicited requests for help all the time, and given his years of service on the Bush political team, it is not surprising he received them. But to his recollection, he did not speak with anyone at the White House regarding these issues. He has the highest regard for the president and those who serve him and is confident that such decisions are made on the public policy merits alone."
Someone who's cleverer than I in such matters could probably make up an excellent rework to the lyrics of The Way We Were on this theme. Stone's article discusses the following favors Abramoff and Reed cooperated on, with Reed receiving "subcontractor" payment from various Abramoff clients:
- Getting Abramoff his place on the Interior transition team;
- Attempt at the Insular Affairs appointment, which ultimately did not succeed;
- A 2001 Abramoff request for a meeting between Dubya and his client the President of Malaysia, who was then on the outs in the State Dept. over anti-Semitism and human rights problems (the requested meeting occured, but Reed has no recollection of any role in it);
- This is the best known: Mailings throughout Alabama to drum up opposition to a state lottery/video poker bill considered to be "competition" by an Abramoff client, the Mississippi Choctaws.
Money from Abramoff on this last item came from Greenberg Traurig, where Abramoff worked, but also another million was funneled through Grover Norquist's "charity", Americans for Tax Reform.
I predict that additional Reed efforts on Abramoff's behalf will come to light. And that they'll be just as morally/ethically questionable as the ones that are listed above.
And despite various protestations to the contrary, it's likely that Reed knew perfectly well what he was doing, and intentionally tried to keep it quiet:
Two key tribal figures, William Worfel, a former vice chairman of the Louisiana Coushattas, and Nell Rogers, a legislative specialist with the Choctaws, were cited in the report. The citations indicate the importance that Abramoff and Reed placed on secrecy: Worfel told Senate investigators that the tribe's attorney stressed that payments to Reed "can't get out. He's Christian Coalition. It wouldn't look good if they're receiving money from a casino-owning tribe to oppose gambling."
In other Raph Reed News, I found the following online yesterday, but it's vanished today. From a local Georgia paper called The Weekly, serving the Peachtree Corners, Norcross, Berkeley Lake & Duluth Georgia. Not like it's big news that Reed is a hypocrite engaging in questionable practices:
In a press release on June 30, the Reed campaign falsely accused Casey Cagle of breaking tax law by treating campaign employees as contractors rather than full time employees. Now, new information has emerged today that Ralph Reed did the ery same thing and failed to withhold payroll taxes on his campaign manager in his first and only previous campaign. According to documents filed by Reed's company, Century Strategies, with the Internal Revenue Service, Reed failed to withhold income taxes for $12,500 in payments to his campaign manager in his run for state party chair.
From Cagle's campaign:
There is nothing wrong with the accounting procedures used by Ralph or Casey in this instance. But there is something very wrong with the hypocrisy of Ralph's false attacks and his campaign manager's slanderous insults.
And so on.