Rumors have it that two key figures in the Indian casino scandal have made crucial errors in their individual versions of their involvement with the whole affair...errors that have been uncovered by the crack team of researchers at The Political Vine.

To help catch you up to where we start this story, we recommend you read these two recent news articles on the Web first, and then come back to our report:

May 13, 2005 Boston Globe article on Grover Norquist's confessions about the casino money

May 18, 2005 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on Ralph Reed's explanations about the source of funds

Background Facts and Figures

In 1999, a state lottery was proposed for Alabama by then-Governor Don Siegelman. This effort was opposed by several entities, two of whom were public and a third interest, who was guerilla in the anti-lottery effort (i.e., hidden from view but active in terms of providing financial resources). The two public organizations were the Alabama Christian Coalition (ALCC) and an organization called Citizens Against Legalized Lottery (CALL).

The third interest, of which rumors have been flying around Alabama since 1999, were casinos located in Mississippi. The casinos feared that the institution of a lottery in Alabama would cut-down on their business from people in Alabama who liked to gamble and traveled to their casinos.

Ralph Reed's publicly disclosed involvement with the anti-lottery effort is documented, in part, by the financial disclosures of CALL on the Alabama Secretary of State's Website.

Disclosed on this website is also a $300,000 contribution from Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), Grover Norquist's group in October 1999. (One should be asking him/herself this question: Why would an anti-tax group be interested in an anti-lottery effort? We will address this later.)

For reasons known only to Norquist himself, he spilled his guts in the Boston Globe story about the involvement of ATR in the anti-lottery effort in Alabama. Norquist claimed that he was paid $1.15 million from Indian casinos in Mississippi and that $300,000 of this went to CALL and $850,000 was distributed to the ALCC. Leaders of both entities claim that they asked Norquist back in 1999 and 2000 if the source of these funds were casinos, and Norquist said the funds were not connected to casinos.

Ralph Reed has been blamed by ALCC as not being forthcoming with the truth about his knowledge of the source of some of the laundered funds that went through Norquist's ATR organization. Through his campaign spokeswoman, he repeatedly denied to the AJC that he had any knowledge that any of the money that came from Norquist actually originated from casino interests. Which is where our story really begins...

And the answer is "...Biloxi casinos!"

In Wednesday's AJC article, Ralph Reed indicates that he had no idea the money injected into CALL (Citizens Against Lottery Legalization) or the Alabama Christian Coalition ("ALCC") came from casinos. Let's assume, for the moment, that he is telling the truth on this claim.

In 1999, during this whole anti-lottery operation, a rather interesting phone conversation occured between an employee of Ralph Reed's company, and a Gwinnett County-based sub-contractor of Ralph's. The sub-contracting mailhouse operator was hired to offload some of the direct-mail demand for the anti-lottery effort.

The sub-contractor observed that much of the mail that Ralph Reed wanted his company to process was sent out as "first-class, pre-sort," a rather expensive way to send direct mail, especially in the volumes it was being sent.

The mailhouse sub-contractor was curious about who was financing all of this mail expense. So, one day, back in 1999, he was in a phone conversation with a Century Strategies' employee, coordinating the production of a mail piece and the date it was to drop. The sub-contractor asked the Reed employee "Say, _________, you guys are sending all this mail as first-class, pre-sort...where is all this money coming from?"...and, the Reed employee paused, then said, with a quiet chuckle: "That's the big joke around here! Biloxi casinos!"

Now, if an employee of Century Strategies knew the source of money was casinos, then, it's for sure that people like Ralph Reed, Tim Phillips, and John Pudner knew damn well where the money was coming from.

Who was the sub-contractor? Mark Davis of Data Productions, a well-respected businessman and Republican in Georgia and someone whose integrity is unquestionable. (Mr. Davis initially told us this story about 4 months ago...long before either the Globe story or the AJC story.)

He is also someone who won't be working for either candidate in this Lt. Governor primary, so, we know he has no monetary interest in the outcome. Why did Davis come forward with this information? Davis told the Political Vine that he is very concerned that Ralph Reed would "weigh down the entire ticket with his political and professional baggage" if he wins the primary.

As a result of this experience with Reed in 1999, and observations of Reed's other campaign dealings, Davis long ago quit doing business with Reed. Davis told us point-blank the reason why: "I stopped doing business with Ralph Reed or any of his companies because I don't like the cavalier manner in which he manipulates the faith of Christian voters for personal gain. If he doesn't answer for that on Election Day, one day he will answer to his Maker, and I don't think he'll be happy. The Lord hates a hypocrite."

So, back to assuming for a moment that Ralph Reed was telling the truth about his knowledge of the source of the money from Norquist. If we take the statement from Mark Davis as true, then that leaves only one possibility in our eyes: There was a fourth entity (i.e., Ralph's "Invisible Client") involved in helping finance the anti-lottery efforts in 1999...a Biloxi casino (or, a group of them) that hired Ralph Reed's company directly without ever disclosing their involvement to the Alabama Secretary of State's office.

There is rumored to be evidence of this 4th entity via a mailpiece that doesn't reflect the name of either CALL or ALCC being emblazoned as being "paid for by."

If Ralph Reed was paid "under-the-radar" of Alabama's disclosure laws, then it may be time for the Alabama Attorney General's office to look into this failure to disclose these funds.

Of course, if there is no "Invisible Client" that Ralph worked for, then the only way Mark Davis' statement can be reconciled is that Ralph is lying about his knowledge of the source of the funds from Norquist. We understand Mark Davis is quite willing to take a lie-detector test for the veracity of his claim...is Ralph or John Pudner or Tim Phillips willing as well? We won't hold our breath.

Grover Norquist...Something REALLY Stinks At ATR...

In a Boston Globe story published last Friday, May 13, Grover Norquist defended his $1.15 million in contributions to the 1999 Alabama anti-lottery forces as being "consistent with his longstanding positions against new taxation and state lotteries."

Really, Grove? Why would ATR be against a state lottery? Institution of a state lottery is not a tax increase. While there would be some who would argue that it "is a tax on the poor," that's not really the case, is it, Grove? A "tax" is a compulsory payment to the government that EVERYONE in the taxed class must pay. Volunteering to spend money at a person's own discretion is not a "tax." If the anti-lottery forces wish to make the argument that it is a "tax on the poor," then y'all better start making the argument that alcoholic beverages and cigarettes are also "taxes on the poor" because the poor consume these items in great quantities.

Let's consider these facts: On the ATR Website, they have a "Heroes and Enemies" page. On it, for the latter part of 1999, ATR lists "enemies" like Al Gore and Gov. Don Sundquist (R) of Tennessee. There was no mention of the Alabama Lottery being an "enemy" of ATR's. No mention of then-Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama being on the ATR's enemies list due to his push for the state lottery.

In fact, there is NO mention of any state lottery being on the ATR's "enemies list." Why? Because Grover Norquist's claim is bogus. He's full of bovine manure. (Note to ATR: If you try to change your Website to back-up Norquist's story, we've got the PDF snapshot of it as it exists now...and we'll have no problem sending it to Drudge if you alter it.)

So, why would Grover Norquist invent this story? A simple reason. Grover Norquist dreamed-up this new "anti-lottery" statement to avoid an investigation into the use of Americans for Tax Reform as a money washing machine to hide the source of contributions from Indian casinos in Mississippi to the anti-lottery forces in Alabama.

In the AJC article, it was revealed that one of ATR's Federal Tax supplemental filings was accidently given to a writer for The Nation magazine in 1999. The filing revealed that $360,000 was given to ATR by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

We know from Norquist's own admission that ATR gave $300,000 to CALL in October 1999. So, the Indians gave Norquist $360,000...wow...nothing like making a 20% transaction fee on the deal, eh Grover?

Summary of Facts

Regarding Ralph Reed: We have a reliable witness (Mark Davis of Data Productions) who, in 1999, spoke to an employee with Century Strategies who revealed directly to him that money was coming from "Biloxi casinos" to finance high-priced direct mail.

Regarding Grover Norquist: We have a man who claims that his organization has "always" been against state-run lotteries when, in fact, no such historical evidence exists to support such claim.

We also have documentation of a $360,000 payment from an Indian tribe to ATR and a subsequent payment of $300,000 to an anti-lottery organization in Alabama.

Looks to us like Grover Norquist is using his tax-exempt organization as nothing more than a cash washing machine. We don't care if he is a Republican...he deserves no protection, regardless of what party is in power.

We hope either the Justice Department or the Internal Revenue Service has enough courage to investigate the laundering operation of Americans for Tax Reform. If we were dues-paid members of this group, we'd be pretty ticked-off that Norquist is using the 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) tax exempt status in this manner. It is quite unbecoming.