MORE "Reed Is Toast" from the Texas Observer

[kpete]

New in the Observer
Thin Reed
Will Abramoff's Deep Throat Swallow Godís Mouthpiece?
by Andrew Wheat

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.


An Observer investigation reveals that Reed may not have been the only Christian Coalition leader working secretly for Abramoff’s gambling clients. Reed-Abramoff correspondence indicates that Chuck Anderson, then-head of the Texas Christian Coalition, also helped lobby Texas officials on behalf of Abramoff’s Indian gaming clients. Anderson, who now works for Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, also appears to have worked on Texas gambling issues without registering.




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.

In Reed’s case, such a fine could be huge. He reportedly received as much as $4 million just to help the Louisiana Coushatta shut down the Tigua casino in El Paso. To Reed’s advantage, Texas lobby-registration laws are subject to a two-year statute of limitations. Invoking a legal theory called “tolling,” the groups that filed the Reed complaint argue that this two-year period should not be clocked from when the alleged lobbying occurred in 2001, since the public was unaware of the alleged offense as a direct result of Reed’s failure to register. Instead, the complainants argue that the two-year limit should be clocked from late 2004, when the U.S. Senate first revealed Reed’s advocacy in Texas.



tons more at:
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle_new.asp?ArticleID=19

[NanceGreggs]

1. Will he GOPers who HAVEN'T received money from ...

... Jack Abramoff please stand up and identify yourselves?

Yeah, all three of you ...

[ruggerson]

2. A Godly Religious Rightwinger is a crook?

I don't believe it.

I guess Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was right. Reed IS going to end up as someone's bitch.