Susan Schmidt, The Washington Post, January 10, 2008
Eighteen months ago, the political career of Christian right golden boy Ralph Reed came crashing down, a casualty of his role in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. This week, Reed has found a new calling. He appeared on CNN during its New Hampshire primary coverage and again last night, labeled as a “GOP political analyst.”
Reed sounded none too bullish about John McCain’s prospects going forward despite his big New Hampshire win. That’s perhaps not surprising, given the long history between the two.
McCain, as chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, launched an investigation of Abramoff’s tribal lobbying that turned up a mountain of e-mails, including some between Reed and Abramoff.
The e-mails revealed Abramoff’s corrupt dealings with politicians, as well as conservative religious and advocacy groups. Reed often participated in Abramoff’s business schemes, telling him in a 1998 e-mail after stepping down as head of the Christian Coalition: “I need to start humping in corporate accounts!”
E-mails and testimony before McCain’s panel showed that Reed, who once branded gambling a “cancer” on society, reaped millions of dollars in tribal casino proceeds that Abramoff secretly routed to him through various non-profit front groups. Abramoff, a lobbyist for the tribes, paid Reed to whip up “grassroots” Christian opposition to prevent rival tribes from opening casinos.
Two years ago my mother, who is the Planning Director for our tribe, was approached by two men in fancy suits claiming to have close ties to the Bush Administration. They wanted to make a deal to expedite the building of a casino. We were right not to trust them.
A few of the smaller tribes have started to do well for themselves lately and anti-Indian rhetoric is good for getting out the redneck vote.
Nobody knows who CA’s largest tribe is. We have no casino, no electricity, no phones, and Cal-Trans worst rated highway as our primary roadway. 85% of our resevation has been owned by a local timber company.
Oh yeah, also Dick Cheney personally killed generations of our salmon.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/chapters/leaving_no_tracks/index.html
Comment by Danger Bear — January 11, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
I guess the NY Times didn’t have any more slots left for right-wing columnists, so Reed had to go with CNN. Poor Ralph.
Comment by RS Janes — January 11, 2008 @ 7:19 pm