Ties to Abramoff shadow Reed's run in Georgia

Ties to Abramoff shadow Reed's run in Georgia

By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
Wed Jan 18, 6:59 AM ET

Races for lieutenant governor aren't usually the stuff of high drama. But they don't usually feature an ambitious Republican strategist with links to both the White House and a national corruption scandal.

Ralph Reed, a former Christian Coalition leader and high-ranking Bush 2004 campaign official, mobilized Christian conservatives into a grass-roots army for Republicans in the 1990s and has helped crush Democrats in contests from president on down.

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What's undisputed is that Reed received several million dollars to help Abramoff shut down a Texas tribe's gambling casino on behalf of tribes with competing casinos. Reed says Abramoff assured him he would not be paid out of the competing tribes' gambling profits.

The criticism

But the tribes have few other resources, and Reed's critics say the ultimate source of his fees appear to have been casino revenue. "The amounts are so huge, there's no other explanation," says Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice.


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http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060118/pl_usatoday/tiestoabramoffshadowreedsruningeorgia

Jan. 25, 2002, 12:04AM

Bush aide helped GOP strategist land Enron post

By RICHARD L. BERKE
New York Times

WASHINGTON -- Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, recommended the Republican strategist Ralph Reed to the Enron Corp. for a lucrative consulting contract as Bush was weighing whether to run for president, associates of Rove say.

The Rove associates say the recommendation, which Enron accepted, was intended to keep Reed's allegiance to the Bush campaign without putting him on the Bush payroll. Bush, they say, was then developing his "compassionate conservatism" message and did not want to be linked too closely to Reed, who had just stepped down as executive director of the Christian Coalition, an organization of committed religious conservatives.

At the same time, they say, the contract discouraged Reed, a prominent operative who was being courted by several other campaigns, from backing anyone other than Bush.

Enron paid Reed $10,000 to $20,000 a month, the amount varying by year and the particular work, people familiar with the arrangement say. He was hired in September 1997 and worked intermittently for Enron until the company collapsed.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/special/enron/1226175.html