Casino inquiry shadows Reed’s jump from adviser to candidate

Jeffrey McMurray

Monday, May 9, 2005 | 9:28 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Ralph Reed and Jack Abramoff were genuine friends, not just political ones. They attended each other's wedding and, in fact, it was Reed who introduced Abramoff to his eventual wife.

But as Reed, the Christian Coalition's former director, makes the transition from advising election campaigns to running his own for lieutenant governor of Georgia, he is staying mum about the current state of the 25-year friendship.

Abramoff stands accused of pitting Indian tribes against each other and profitting from both sides of a casino battle. Meanwhile, Reed's consulting firm, Century Strategies, waged a $4 million campaign on Abramoff's behalf to rally Christian opposition to one Texas casino -- work that Reed insists was perfectly legitimate on his part.

Officials with two of the tribes remain skeptical about the dealings between Reed and Abramoff.

"Both him and Abramoff were really good buddies," said Art Senclair, governor of the El Paso-based Tiguas. "Usually I know what my friends are working on. I don't know how Ralph would not know" that Abramoff allegedly took money from both sides of the fight over the tribe's casino.

While there's little surprise the Tiguas hold Reed accountable for closing a casino that netted them as much as $60 million a year, another tribe that stood to gain from the Tiguas' loss also wants answers from Reed.

The Elton, La.-based Coushattas say they paid several million dollars to Abramoff to try to close the rival Tigua casino, but were not told where the money was going -- particularly that any of it was going to Reed.

"They would send invoices to the tribe labeled 'description of professional services,' " said David Sickey, a Coushatta tribal council member. "There was nothing itemized. That was a red flag to me. If we're all paying for a service and it's worth it, I'd like to see itemized statements."

Not until the Senate Indian Affairs Committee launched an investigation of Abramoff did the Coushattas learn of Reed's involvement, Sickey said.

"I was just as shocked as everyone else that his name came up," he said.

At an Indian Affairs Committee hearing last November, lawmakers were told Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, a former aide to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, worked with Reed to lobby the Texas Legislature to close the Tigua tribe's casino in El Paso. The Tigua tribe had paid Scanlon roughly $4 million to help it win back a casino license.

DeLay's acceptance of special interest-financed trips arranged by Abramoff is drawing calls by House Democrats for an ethics inquiry. Abramoff is currently under investigation by a federal grand jury.

Reed has had little to say about the casino campaign since launching his bid for lieutenant governor in February, but in a recent interview with the Associated Press he said he always knew Abramoff's firm got some money from Indian tribes. Because Century Strategies was a subcontractor, "we were not aware of every specific client or interest," he said.

"I have worked for decades to oppose the expansion of casino gambling, and Century Strategies has worked with broad coalitions to oppose casino expansion," Reed said. "We helped to close an illegal casino in Texas that three governors, two attorneys generals of both parties and a federal judge all ruled was illegal. We are proud of the work we did."

Although the election for Georgia's lieutenant governor is 18 months away, the Abramoff situation is already providing fodder for Reed's opponent in the Republican primary, state Sen. Casey Cagle.

"No one takes a $4 million payoff and says, 'I didn't know where the money was coming from,' " Cagle said. "I don't think anyone believes that story. We are not having to make this an issue. Others are. It's going to be very detrimental to the Ralph Reed campaign."

Reed said he wouldn't allow the campaign's focus to be derailed.

"My opponents are going to engage in insults and I'm going to focus on the issues," he said. "My opponents are going to engage in personal attacks and I'm going to talk about a brighter future for Georgia."

Reed formerly served as Georgia's state Republican Party chairman and directed President Bush's re-election campaign in the South. However, he was best known as the youthful face and articulate voice of the evangelical Christian movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s, building the Christian Coalition alongside Pat Robertson.

He contends his mix of grassroots supporters and friendship with state and national GOP leaders will benefit him as a candidate. At a campaign event last week, he announced a 473-person campaign steering committee, including such Georgia Republican notables as former U.S. Sen. Mack Mattingly and Nancy Coverdell, widow of U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell.

Even one Cagle supporter, U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., says the casino issue doesn't seem to be resonating against Reed right now.

"Obviously if there is anything that borders on illegal or unethical conduct, certainly that could spill over onto Ralph," Deal said. "At this point, it doesn't appear that's the case, but we don't know. I'm sure he would much prefer his name not be linked to it."

One of Reed's staunchest supporters, Georgia Christian Coalition President Sadie Fields, predicted the evidence would ultimately prove Reed was just doing his job -- and doing it well. Under the microscope of a political campaign, especially one involving a nationally recognized figure such as Reed, she said there is little surprise it has become an issue.