Ralph Reed: Busted?

If you've followed the Abramoff scandal somewhat closely, you've probably heard Ralph Reed-of the Christian Coalition fame-floated around. Apparently his contacts with Abramoff were ongoing and regular, and based on this article in the Texas Observer Ralph Reed may soon be dragged down with Abramoff by virtue of his work on behalf of Indian tribes and the in-school television network Channel One here in Texas:

Evidence is mounting that former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed Jr., along with a former leader of the Texas Christian Coalition, may have illegally lobbied Texas state officials on behalf of crooked federal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients.

Three Austin-based reform groups—Common Cause Texas, Public Citizen Texas, and Texans For Public Justice, the latter of which employs the author of this article—urged Travis County prosecutors last December to investigate whether Reed violated Texas’ lobby-registration laws four years ago. Correspondence between Abramoff and Reed—the ex-Christian Coalition leader now running for lieutenant governor of Georgia—suggests that Reed lobbied Texas officials on behalf of Abramoff’s Indian gambling clients without registering as a Texas lobbyist. The $5 million in gambling money that Abramoff reportedly paid Reed for his services would make it one of the largest lobby contracts ever made public in Texas.

Additionally, the Observer has found evidence that Ralph Reed clandestinely lobbied Texas school officials on behalf of the in-school television network Channel One in 2002—when Channel One’s parent company was paying Abramoff a $320,000 annual retainer. Texas law generally requires people to register as lobbyists if they receive more than $500 a quarter to directly communicate with a state official on public policy. Ralph Reed never registered as a Texas lobbyist despite evidence that he called at least one member of the State Board of Education in 2002 to influence a board resolution.

That may sound to you like a mere technical violation. But the article provides strong evidence that Reed deliberately exercised as much influence as possible while at the same time trying as much as possible to stay out of the public eye:

Reed appears to have engaged in just the kind of paid, direct contact with public officials that drives Texas’ lobby-registration law. In fact, Reed long has prided himself on his ninja stealth. “I want to be invisible,” he told Norfolk’s Virginian-Pilot as the leader of the Christian Coalition in 1991. “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.”

When it comes to lobbying, Reed has mastered stealth. The state ethics commission websites in Texas and Georgia, where Reed’s Century Strategies lobby shop is based, list no lobby registrations for this operative. The only federal lobby registration listed for Reed is as a Christian Coalition lobbyist in 1998.

Conservative Channel One critic Jim Metrock of Obligation, Inc., said that Reed resorted to covert tactics in Alabama in 1999, when a Primedia front group popped up that ultimately was traced back to Reed. This so-called Coalition to Protect Children churned out advertisements in a failed effort to stop U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), from holding Channel One hearings. Reed “hurt the Christian Coalition in Alabama,” Metrock said. “People really believed in him.”

The entire article (along with images of copies of emails and checks that the Texas Observer has posted online to support the story) is worth a close read. From it one can surmise that Reed not only violated Texas law, but did so deliberately and with impunity. Such violations might finally be catching up with him as Travis County prosecutors weigh whether to launch a criminal investigation. It couldn't happen to a better guy.