Ralph & the Devil: Former Christian Coalition president Ralph Reed is known for his choir boy looks and a propensity for believing his own press. What other than blinding hubris could have led him to take $4.2 million from a sleazebag like Jack Abramoff? And you gotta hand it to him – he almost doubled disgraced GOP congressman Randy Cunningham, whose bribes from military contractors only totaled $2.4 million:
Texans for Public Justice, Common Cause of Texas and Public Citizen filed their complaint with Travis County Attorney David Escamilla.
They said Reed failed to register as a Texas lobbyist in 2001 and 2002, when he received a reported $4.2 million from Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon to push for the closure of casinos operated by the Tigua tribe of El Paso and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston in East Texas…
The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee has been investigating Abramoff and Scanlon. In e-mails released by the committee, Reed discussed his efforts against the casinos. Investigators have alleged that Abramoff and Scanlon defrauded their tribal clients of some $80 million…
Abramoff and Scanlon were hired by the Louisiana Coushatta tribe in 2001 and worked to prevent the Alabama-Coushatta and another Louisiana tribe from opening competing casinos.
Reed rallied the religious community against the casinos and met with state lawmakers to kill a bill that would reopen the Tiguas casino, according to his e-mails.
After the Tigua and Alabama-Coushatta’s casinos shut down, Abramoff and Scanlon persuaded the Tiguas to hire them to lobby Congress to change federal law so they could reopen their casino. They also tried to press the Alabama-Coushatta tribe to hire them.
What – or rather, who – could have made Ralph fall off the straight and narrow? Must have been old Satan himself.
Why is the religious right always so surprised when one of their own gets caught doing Jesus’ work (NOT!) Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ralphie Boy, Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Baker – ain’t a one of ’em worth the powder it’d take to blow them to Hell, which is where they are headed anyway.
Is it possible that Jack Abramoff just might be God’s gift to America, and might lead to the end of the national nightmare of Bushco and the Corrupt Rethuglican majority?
Beware all those religious frauds and pretenders.