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* [http://indian.senate.gov/ U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Investigative Exhibits]
* [http://indian.senate.gov/ U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Investigative Exhibits]
* [http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A20871 Creative Loafing Atlanta's <i>The Book of Ralph</i>, a graphic political adventure]


[[Category:1961 births|Reed Jr., Ralph]]
[[Category:1961 births|Reed Jr., Ralph]]

Revision as of 21:57, 24 February 2006

File:RalphReed.jpg
Ralph E. Reed, Jr.

Ralph E. Reed, Jr., (born June 24, 1961) is a conservative Republican American political activist, best known as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition during the early 1990s. He is now a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia. Reed is currently under investigation by various federal and state authorities probing the activities of a triumvirate including himself, Jack Abramoff, and Grover Norquist.

High school and college education

Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Reed moved often as a child, spending most of his childhood in Miami, Florida. He moved with his family to Toccoa, Georgia in 1976, graduating from Stephens County High School in 1979. He attended the University of Georgia where he earned a BA in history in 1985. Reed was a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society, the Jasper Dorsey Intercollegiate Debate Society, and College Republicans. He was also a columnist for The Red and Black student newspaper but was fired for plagiarism. Reed later received his Ph.D. in American History from Emory University in 1991.

Plagiarism incident

On April 14, 1983, Reed wrote a column for The Red and Black student newspaper attacking the late Mohandas K. Gandhi. Entitled "Gandhi: Ninny of the 20th Century," Reed denounced the motion picture Gandhi for its favorable treatment of the life of the pacifist leader of the Indian independence movement. A graduate student complained to the editor of The Red and Black that Reed had plagiarized a Commentary article by film reviewer Richard Grenier. After an investigation, Reed was fired from the paper. Reed wrote a final column acknowledging his failure to cite sources but accusing the graduate student who complained of "the most shocking, profane form of personal attack I can imagine." (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade, page 130-31)

Early days as political activist

Reed spent much of his college career as a political activist, taking six years to earn his undergraduate degree. He started with the University of Georgia College Republicans, steadily rising to state and then national leadership as he became a master of confrontational street protest and hardball backroom politics. He was later profiled in Gang of Five by Nina J. Easton, along with Grover Norquist and other young activists who got their start in that era.

The triumvirate

In 1981, Reed moved to Washington, D.C. to intern for Jack Abramoff, the newly-elected Chairman of the College Republican National Committee (CRNC) and later the central figure in the Indian gaming and Congressional bribery scandal that would cause problems for Reed's campaign for Lieutenant Governor.

At the CRNC, Abramoff, Norquist and Reed formed what was known as the "Abramoff-Norquist-Reed triumvirate." Upon Abramoff's election, the trio purged "dissidents" and re-wrote the CRNC's bylaws to consolidate their control over the organization. Reed was the "hatchet man" and "carried out Abramoff-Norquist orders with ruthless efficiency, not bothering to hide his fingerprints." Abramoff promoted Reed in 1983, appointing him to succeed Norquist as Executive Director of the CRNC. (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade, page 143)

Reed roomed with Abramoff in Washington, D.C. and later introduced him to his wife. Reed participated in the weddings of both Abramoff and Norquist. Norquist would later serve as President of Americans for Tax Reform, an anti-tax group that would serve as a fundraising conduit in the Indian gaming scandal.

Election-rigging allegations

In the spring of 1983, Reed was accused of rigging the election of ally Sam Harbren as his successor as president of the College Republicans at the University of Georgia. Lee Culpepper wrote to the College Republican National Committee calling the election a sham. The CRNC investigated the matter, reprimanded Reed and ordered a new election. However, in the meantime, Culpepper "led an angry exodus" out of the UGA College Republicans and into a newly formed Young Republicans of Clarke County club. Harben admitted later, "We ran a dirty election." (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, page 129-130)

Religious experience

Reed has said that, on a Saturday evening in September of 1983, at Bullfeathers bar and restaurant in Washington, D.C., he had a religious experience in which "the Holy Spirit simply demanded me to come to Jesus." He walked outside the bar to a phone booth, thumbed through the yellow pages under "Churches" and found the Evangel Assembly of God in Camp Springs, Maryland. He visited the next morning and became a born-again Christian. (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, pages 201-202)

Students for America

Reed moved to North Carolina in 1984 to start Students for America, a conservative activist group supporting the re-election of U.S. Senator Jesse Helms. Intended to be a national organization, this group faded out of existence by the early 1990s.

Arrest

In March 1985, Reed organized members of Students for America and College Republicans to picket the Fleming Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the nearby home of its founder, a Dutch-born doctor. Clinic staff reported that protestors "screamed epithets and intimidated patients with mock baby funerals." Reed was arrested after bursting into the waiting room of the abortion clinic. He signed an agreement promising to stay away from the clinic and was not prosecuted. (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, page 205)

Role in the Christian Coalition

Reed was hired by religious broadcaster and unsuccessful Presidential candidate Pat Robertson as the first executive director of the Christian Coalition, headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He served in that role from 1989 to 1997, achieving national prominence which included an appearance on the cover of TIME. He resigned and moved to Georgia after federal prosecutors began investigating allegations by the Christian Coalition's chief financial officer, Judy Liebert.

Building on the remnants of Robertson's Presidential campaign, the Coalition organized former Robertson supporters and other conservative "people of faith" to oppose political liberalism. Eschewing the confrontational tactics of street protest learned as a College Republican, Reed projected a "softer" public face for Christian conservatism. Reed repeatedly described himself as a "guerrilla fighter" who "traveled at night" and put "enemies" in "body bags" before they even realized he had struck.[citation needed] The Coalition gave Reed the platform and budget to hone his skills in negative campaigning.

Both Reed and the Christian Coalition rose to national prominence in the early 1990s as the newly-elected President Bill Clinton moved to the left on social issues like gays in the military, outraging many conservatives. Reed and the Coalition were widely credited with helping mobilize Christian conservatives in support of Republican candidates in the 1994 Congressional elections.

The influence of the Coalition had waned by the 1996 Presidential election, when Reed helped Senator Bob Dole win the Republican nomination for President. Dole decisively lost the general election to President Clinton. Reed's "Contract with the American Family," an imitation of Speaker Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract with America, failed to ignite activists.

At the pinnacle of his power, Reed appeared on the cover of TIME on May 15, 1995, under the banner "The Right Hand of God: Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition." The TIME cover was later parodied in a cartoon distributed by Reed's former allies at the Georgia Heritage Council.

In 1996, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) brought an enforcement (Civil Action No. 96-1781)alleging that the Christian Coalition "violated federal campaign finance laws during congressional elections in 1990, 1992 and 1994, and the presidential election in 1992." Reed called the action "baseless." In part because of the allegations, the Internal Revenue Service denied tax exempt status for the Coalition.

Reed was widely credited as an effective spokesman for the Coalition, but critics charge that poor management decisions "sowed the seeds" for the Coalition's ultimate decline.

Judy Liebert allegations

In 1996, the Christian Coalition's chief financial officer, Judy Liebert, "went to federal prosecutors with her suspicions of overbilling by Ben Hart, a direct-mail vendor with close ties to Ralph Reed, then the coalition's executive director." (Norfolk Virginian Pilot, September 26, 1997)

Liebert alleged that Hart, "a close friend with whom Reed regularly golfed and vacationed," was "regularly marking up the Coalition's bills." "Liebert also charged that Reed had turned over, free of charge, the Coalition's entire mailing list to Hart's firm." (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, page 386)

The Coalition subsequently offered Liebert a severance package that included a "letter of recommendation, a year's salary of $80,000, and another $25,000 to cover legal expenses, provided that she agree not to publicly disparage the Coaliton. (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, page 386)

Reed himself resigned in April 1997 while the investigation was pending. Reed denied that his resignation was related to the "Judy Liebert thing." He was never charged with any crimes. (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, page 386)

In December 1997, after Reed's resignation, the Christian Coalition sued Hart's firm, Hart Conover, for using its mailing list to entice donors away to other organizations. The Coalition blamed its own subsequent decline on Hart's misuse of the list. In March 1998, the Coalition and Hart reached an out-of-court settlement. (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, page 387)

New start in Georgia

On resigning as executive director of the Christian Coalition, Reed moved to the Duluth suburb of Atlanta, Georgia to begin a career as a political consultant and lobbyist.

Skandalakis campaign leader

In late 1997, Reed joined the campaign of Fulton County Commission Chairman Mitch Skandalakis for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, becoming its General Consultant. In addition to plotting campaign strategy, Reed himself appeared in advertisements, identifying himself as the former head of the Christian Coalition and vouching for Skandalakis's conservative credentials and personal integrity.

Skandalakis was a moderate Republican who had openly courted gay voters in earlier campaigns. He was opposed in the Republican primary by the staunchly conservative State Senator Clint Day, a devout Christian whose parents had founded the Days Inn motel chain. Reed's endorsement of Skandalakis played a crucial role in the contest, giving Skandalakis "conservative cover" and confusing Christian Coalition activists who were initially inclined to back Day.

In the primary, Skandalakis placed first among the five Republican candidates, but did not receive a majority of the vote and was forced into a run-off with second place finisher Day. The other three candidates endorsed Day, but Reed masterfully orchestrated a series of negative attacks on Day that included charges that Day had "desecrated Indian graves" on a plot of land owned by a Day family foundation. He even staged a news conference at which tribal leaders, wearing headress and other ceremonial clothing, attacked Day as a "vandal" and "grave robber." Haplessly relying on the belief that his family's extensive Christian philanthropy would buffer him from the negative assault, Day chose not to respond in kind.

Reed's strategy initially met with success, as Skandalakis narrowly defeated Day in the Republican primary run-off. However, Skandalakis went on to lose the general election in a landslide and was widely blamed for the defeat that year of heavily favored Republican candidates for Governor and Attorney General. Skandalakis ran television advertisements calling the black Mayor of Atlanta a "buffoon" and promising to "kick Atlanta's ass," helping to stir an anti-Republican backlash among black and urban white voters. Another Skandalakis advertisement accused the Democratic candidate, Senator Mark Taylor, of drug abuse. Taylor sued for libel, and Skandalakis paid a $50,000 settlement after the election.

Skandalakis subsequently pled guilty to a felony charge of lying to federal investigators in a public corruption investigation and was sentenced to a six month prison term. Reed distanced himself from Skandalakis after the campaign, saying that he had not been responsible for the television advertising and that all his activities had been "legal."

Century Strategies founder

While running the Skandalakis campaign in 1997, Reed founded Century Strategies, a political consulting firm which describes itself "one of the nation’s leading public affairs and public relations firms." It appears to have initially been engaged primarily in campaign consulting for Republican candidates, but after performing poorly in the 1998 elections, its mission evolved into advocacy and lobbying.

Its clients have included now bankrupt energy trader Enron, software giant Microsoft, educational programmer Channel One News, the Puerto Rican statehood movement, business interests advocating normal trade relations with Communist China, and at least two Indian gaming tribes introduced to Reed by Abramoff. Century Strategies was most recently hired by the cable industry to fight newly proposed federal decency standards.

Reed's initial foray into campaign consulting met with failure. Although his well honed skills in negative campaigning achieved success in a number of 1998 Republican primaries, virtually all of his general election candidates were defeated. In addition to his involvement in the Skandalakis campaign, Reed helped Alabama Governor Fob James win renomination in a bitterly contested Republican primary only for James to become the first Republican in over a decade to lose the Alabama governor's election. Reed's two challenger clients for Congress, Gex Williams of Kentucky and Cary Hofmeister of Indiana, were also defeated. Reed was accused of running "some of the most vicious and racist campaigns of the election season." Reed blamed the failed impeachment attempt against Clinton for Republican setbacks. (Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five, pages 398, 400)

Immediately after the 1998 election, Reed shifted gears to corporate work, writing an e-mail to Abramoff asking for help "humping" corporate clients.

In 1999, Abramoff helped Reed get hired as a consultant subcontractor for Preston Gates & Ellis.

Reed's $30,000 per month contract with Enron was arranged in 1999 by Karl Rove, principal campaign advisor to Texas Governor and future President George W. Bush. Rove did not want Reed, an expert in negative campaigning, to work against Bush, but he also did not want Reed to be publicly associated with Bush in the early stages of the campaign. The existence of Reed's contract was revealed in 2002, when a federal investigation was launched into Enron's bankruptcy.

Reed is credited with orchestrating attacks on Senator John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina presidential primary. Bush's defeat of McCain in that primary ended McCain's early momentum from an upset victory in the New Hampshire primary.

Reed's $20,000 per month contract with Microsoft proved a minor embarrassment to the Bush campaign in the summer of 2000 when it was revealed that the software giant, which was being prosecuted for anti-trust violations, had hired a number of Bush aides as consultants and lobbyists. Reed apologized for the "appearance of conflict" but continued to accept the money until early 2005, when Microsoft terminated Reed in the midst of the Indian gaming scandal.

The greatest controversy about Reed's business dealings has come from his fellow conservatives, who have criticized Reed's choice of clients and suggested that he has inappropriately profited from his credentials as a conservative Christian leader. A conservative Alabama group called Obligation, Inc. is a fierce critic of Reed's client Channel One News, arguing that the company pumps classrooms full of "commercials for junk food and sleazy movies."

Other conservatives are unhappy with Reed's advocacy of statehood for Puerto Rico, arguing that it will give Democrats two additional Senators and five more members of Congress.

Reed's work for Indian gaming tribes has been the source of the greatest controversy within the conservative community. See Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal. Right wing groups have charged that Reed has betrayed the conservative cause for money and mockingly compared Reed to Judas

Reed denies wrongdoing. [1]

Republican Party chairman

In 2001, Reed mounted a campaign for State Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, a volunteer job not usually the subject of heated contests. His candidacy attracted national media attention, two opponents and an independent "Anybody But Ralph" campaign.

Reed prevailed in the end, winning a first ballot victory with the block vote of "heritage activists" upset over the removal of the Confederate battle emblem from the State Flag. Organized by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, these "heritage activists" flocked to Republican mass meetings with the goal of making restoration of the Confederate emblem part of the Republican platform. They numbered over 500 delegates at the State Convention that elected Reed, and decisively swung to Reed the Saturday morning of the balloting after a speech by Reed to their "caucus."

Alleging that Reed "double crossed" them by failing to keep promises made in the infamous "Saturday morning speech," Reed's former allies in the "heritage movement" are now his bitter opponents and waging guerrilla warfare against his campaign for Lieutenant Governor. This "heritage movement" also alleges that Governor Perdue "double crossed" them as well.

Reed was replaced as State Chairman after the 2002 election by the newly elected Governor Sonny Perdue, whose long-shot candidacy was largely ignored by Reed. As state chairman, Reed focused attention on federal races, including the campaign of Congressman Saxby Chambliss, who unseated Senator Max Cleland. Perdue refused to recognize that Reed engineered successes at the federal level gave him the coattails he needed to win his underdog campaign for Governor.

A handful of Republican activists and contractors have accused Reed of diverting state party funds to his own company, Century Strategies. In one such incident, it was alleged that he placed direct mail contracts with a front man in Washington who would then outsource the bulk of the business to Century Strategies after taking his cut. Critics claim that if Reed had sought to run for reelection as State Chairman, members of the State Executive Committee would have moved to ask for his resignation although this has never been substantiated.

Documents released by federal investigators in June of 2005 show that Reed's 2001 campaign for State Chairman was secretly financed with contributions from the Choctaws, an Indian gaming tribe represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Campaign for Lieutenant Governor

After months of speculation, Reed declared himself a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia on February 17, 2005. If successful in the 2006 election, Reed has been widely reported to be planning to run for Governor of Georgia in 2010 and President in 2012 or 2016.

Implying the support of President Bush and Governor Perdue, Reed met with early success in his campaign for Lieutenant Governor, attracting high profile support and frightening off most other prospective candidates. Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who had been campaigning for Lieutenant Governor for over a year, immediately folded his candidacy upon Reed's entry into the race.

A poll ([2]) released shortly before Oxendine's exit from the race had shown him solidly ahead of Reed among likely Republican primary voters, with Reed also trailing the only Democrat to have announced an intention to seek the office at that time, former State Senator Greg Hecht. Reed dismissed release of the poll as a face saving gestured by Oxendine whose own ambitions had been foiled by Reed's entry in the race.

Reed's campaign experienced a loss of momentum with revelations about his role in the Indian gambling scandals, which gained wide public attention when Abramoff pleaded guilty to a criminal conspiracy to corrupt members of Congress. Reed's company, Century Strategies, received over $4.2 million in fees from Indian gaming tribes represented by Abramoff for work in Texas and Alabama. Reed's company was also paid by another Abramoff client, e-Lottery, to oppose a Congressional ban on Internet gambling.

A U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs investigation led by Senator John McCain has been the source of embarrassing revelations about Reed. Documents released [3] include emails revealing details about Reed's financial relationships with Abramoff and the Indian casino industry.

Reed's only Republican opponent, Senator Casey Cagle, was at first viewed as an underdog with little chance of defeating Reed. However, he has led Reed in endorsements from Republican elected officials and attracted substantial support from the business community.

Bob Irvin, a former House Republican leader, was the first prominent Republican to publicly called on Reed to withdraw from the race. Several members of Reed's steering committee have publicly withdrawn their support from Reed, many citing the Abramoff scandal.

Reed's campaign appearances have also been the subject of protests by his former allies in the "heritage movement." The Georgia Heritage Council and Southern Heritage Political Action Committee have both declared "guerrilla" war on his candidacy.

Reed responded to his difficulties by criticizing Cagle for "negative campaigning." Cagle's staff includes several former employees and associates of Reed, whom the Reed campaign has labeled "disgruntled." One Cagle aide was caught circulating the rumor about Reed's business problems.

In the wake of the scandal, President Bush and Governor Perdue have both distanced themselves from Reed. The President pointedly ignored Reed, who attemoted to get his attention by jumping up and down and waving, during a visit to Georgia in July of 2005. Governor Perdue declared his neutrality, but his two closest allies -- former Attorney General Mike Bowers and State Senator Ross Tolleson -- have endorsed Reed's opponent, little known State Senator Casey Cagle.

In a major policy announcement, Reed reversed himself on the highly popular Georgia education lottery, saying that he now supports Georgia's state sponsored gambling enterprise. Reed had defended his hiring by Indian gaming tribes to help defeat an Alabama lottery referendum on the grounds that he was philosophically opposed to all gambling.

Reed led in fundraising as of July 1, 2005, setting a record for funds raised by a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Reed collected over 20% of his funds from outside Georgia. However, by December 31, 2005, Reed had lost his fundraising advantage, with Cagle raising almost twice as much money as him in the last six months of the year. The Republican primary will be held on July 18, 2006.

Indian gambling scandals

Main article: Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal

Reed is a central figure in the scandal arising from lobbying work performed by Jack Abramoff on behalf of Indian gambling tribes. Emails released by federal investigators in June 2005 suggest that Reed secretly accepted payments from Abramoff to lobby against Indian casino gambling and oppose an Alabama education lottery while Abramoff was being paid to promote Indian casino gambling. Additional emails released in November 2005 show that Reed also worked for another Abramoff client seeking to block a congressional ban on Internet gambling. The scandal is being investigated by multiple federal and state grand juries and by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Abramoff is under indictment.

To represent him in connection with the scandal, Reed has retained white collar criminal defense attorney W. Neil Egglestonof Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Eggleston served as White House counsel during the administration of President Bill Clinton, a one time Reed nemesis. Reed's campaign spokespeople insist that his conduct in the scandal was "legal."

In a related development, three Texas public interest groups filed a complaint with Travis County Attorney David Escamilla on December 1, 2005, alleging that Reed failed to register as a lobbyist in 2001 or 2002 when he was working for Abramoff. The groups cite email messages from Reed to Abramoff released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in which Reed claimed to have made contact with the Texas Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. [4]

Positions held

Quotations

  • "I want to be invisible. 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." (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, November 9, 1991)
  • "It's like guerrilla warfare. If you reveal your location, all it does is allow your opponent to improve his artillery bearings. It's better to move quietly, with stealth, under cover of night. You've got two choices: You can wear cammies and shimmy along on your belly, or you can put on a red coat and stand up for everyone to see. It comes down to whether you want to be the British army in the Revolutionary War or the Viet Cong. History tells us which tactic was more effective."--Ralph Reed Los Angeles Times, 3/22/92
  • "Hey, now that I’m done with the electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I’m counting on you to help me with some contacts." (email to Abramoff, 1998) [5]

On Reed

  • "There was always something just a little phoney about him. Was it his sissie GQ baby-face? Or maybe the oiliness of his diction? To me he just came across as a caricature, too much of the exaggerated Boy Scout with a phoney "aw-shucks" that alternated with righteous confidence. Even though media attention and media attacks made him a natural 'underdog' to whom most conservatives and Christians would rally, he just left some doubts." - Georgia Heritage Council organizer Steve Scoggins [7]
  • "His M.O. is to tell evangelical Christians that his cause of the moment, for which he has been hired, is their religious duty, and therefore they need to write regulators, turn up at meetings, or whatever. As an evangelical myself, I resent Christianity being used simply to help Reed's business." - Bob Irvin, former Republican leader of the Georgia House of Representatives [8]
  • “[Reed] is a bad version of us! No more money for him.” E-mail from Abramoff to Michael Scanlon, questioning whether Reed had properly accounted for funds spent on Indian gambling projects, January 4, 2002

http://www.forward.com/issues/2004/04.01.23/news6.html http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050628/NEWS/506280307/1039 http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/5/19/172346/075

Bibliography

  • Nina J. Easton, Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade, Simon & Schuster, 2000

References

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