New details on Abramoff connections

WASHINGTON - Three prominent Republican names have surfaced from the 357-page Senate Indian Affairs Committee's report, titled "Gimme Five," released this week. The potentially damaging report offers a rich and complex chronology of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's influence-peddling scheme designed to rip-off his Tribal clients and reap huge profits.

The three are Representative Bob Ney - running for re-election in Ohio, and under investigation by the Justice Department; Ralph Reed - currently running for Lt. Governor of Georgia; and Grover Norquist - a prominent anti-tax activist.

Ralph Reed
Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition and a leading Republican Party strategist, is a central figure, according to the Senate report, in the Abramoff scheme. Reed received more than $4 million in payments on behalf of Indian tribe casinos - clients of Abramoff.

Beginning in the late 1990's, according to the report, Reed used the might of his many contacts within conservative Christian groups in the South and Southwest to block new casinos from opening or expanding. In 1998, Reed reached out to Abramoff in an e-mail, writing, "Hey, now that I'm done with electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I'm counting on you to help me with some contacts." Abramoff saw an opportunity and suggested a grassroots effort, recommending the Choctaw a tribe in Louisiana hire Reed to orchestrate an anti-gaming effort.

The Tribe agreed to hire Reed to mobilize grassroots. The plan: stop any new competition to the ongoing gambling operations of Abramoff's Tribal clients. Reed claimed no one had better relationships than his with the grassroots conservatives. And Reed boasted to Abramoff that his organization, Century Strategies, had on file "over 3,000 pastors and 90,000 religious conservative households in Alabama" alone that can be accessed in this effort.

Reed, in a statement this week, said he had only agreed to organize the anti-gambling campaigns for Abramoff after receiving assurances "that I would not be paid with funds derived from gambling."  But, in the statement, he goes on to say now he might have done it differently.  "While I believed at the time that those assurances were sufficient,” he wrote, “It is now clear with the benefit of hindsight that this is a piece of business I should have declined. I have and always will be opposed to gambling expansion."

In many instances, Abramoff or his clients used conduits to conceal its grassroots activities from the "world-activities" often conducted by Reed.  It was also important to hide Reed's identity. The report quotes a tribal leader from a Louisiana tribe - the Choctaw – as saying he was told to keep quiet about Reed because "It can't get out. He's Christian Coalition. It wouldn't look good if they're receiving money from a casino-operating tribe to oppose gaming. It would be kind of like hypocritical."

The flow of tribal money to Reed was also hidden. First the money to Reed was channeled through Abramoff's lobby firm at the time, Preston-Gates. Abramoff informed Reed that he "spoke with our managing partner [at Preston Gates] and he has approved the subcontractor arrangement" and instructed Reed to "get me invoices as soon as possible so I can get Choctaw to get us checks ASAP."

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