[Mb-civic] In Ga., Abramoff Scandal Threatens a Political Ascendancy

[William Swiggard]

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 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."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/15/AR2006011500915.html

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