June 23, 2005
Dear Ralph,
This letter to you will not be anything like Bob Irvin's letter of last week, published in the AJC. I am not going to plead with you to remove yourself from the race or anything like that. Quite the contrary, I actually want you to remain in the race so that your ship will be driven under the waves much quicker with you remaining visible to everyone. (But, if you want to play war like you used to, no problem, go ahead. Wear your "cammies" and slither around at night like the Viet Cong you admire...I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.)
Now, I have known for awhile that you lack a strong bearing of integrity. I didn't realize just how right I was until I spent last night poring over some of the new "exhibits" of e-mails that have been released by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
It's rather interesting that within all of the exchange of e-mails between you and Jack Abramoff, not once did you inquire as to the source of the funds. Not once did Abramoff state that the funds came from "non-gaming funds." So, if he conveyed this to you, as you claim, where is the evidence of this conveyence?
Then, there's this very interesting series of e-mail exchanges between you and Abramoff that points to you not only knowing all about the ATR laundering money, but you actively helped in the process, thus helping Abramoff, Norquist and the Choctaw Indians deliberately thwart the disclosure laws of Alabama with regards to political campaigns:
From Pages 28-34 of June 22 Exhibits-Part 1
January 27, 2000 at 8:30 AM
From: Ralph Reed
To: Jack Abramoff
Subj:
Here is the program we are recommending to our folks and they agree:
[Author note: what follows is a laundry list of activities and budget prices from Ralph for his services. The list is irrelevant, but one item is of interest to me. A line item that requires $40,000 per month be paid to Century Strategies for "management fees". And, the Reed campaign has stated in the past they hardly earned anything on these activities. I guess $40,000 per month is chump change compared to the millions Ralph later earned.]
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Monday, January 27, 2000 at 8:34 AM
From: Jack Abramoff
To: Ralph Reed
Subj: [blacked-out words]
OK, thanks. Please get me the groups we are using, since I want to give this to her all at once.
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Monday, January 27, 2000 at 8:37 AM
From: Ralph Reed
To: Jack Abramoff
Subj: [blacked-out words]
Amy, Grover, Lapin, and one other I will get to you.
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Monday, January 27, 2000
From: Jack Abramoff
To: Ralph Reed
Subj: [blacked-out words]
OK, let me know on the other one as soon as you can.
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Friday, January 28, 2000 11:09 AM
From: Jack Abramoff
To: Ralph Reed
Subj: [blacked-out words]
Rabbi Lapin does not have a c4. Please give me the name of the c4 you want to use (include address) and we'll divide it among the three groups. Can I assume we only need $867,511, or is that what we need right now? Please let me know. Also, if we need more soon, please let me know when and how much as best you can. Thanks.
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Wednesday, February 2, 2000 5:45 PM
From: Jack Abramoff
To: Ralph Reed
Subj: amy Ridenour
She does not have a c4, only a c3, so we are back to ATR only. I have to go out, but let's chat later tonight. Let me know if it will work just to do this through ATR until we can find another group.
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Wednesday, February 2, 2000 5:50 PM
From: Ralph Reed
To: Jack Abramoff
Subj: RE: amy Ridenour
Yes, it will
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In case you do not recognize these e-mails, Ralph, or you are confused, allow me to explain what's going on in these e-mails: Abramoff is looking for 501(c)(4) "groups" to help launder Choctaw money through. You provided the names of three groups by way of the major players in these groups: "Amy" Ridenour of National Center for Public Policy Research, "Grover" Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, Rabbi "Lapin" of Toward Tradition.
As it turns out, Abramoff discovered that Lapin's group and Ridenour's group are both "c3" organizations, or a "501(c)(3)" organization which is only set-up as an education/charity not-for-profit.
Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform ("ATR") actually had two separate groups: a C3 and a C4. So, you (Ralph) hooked-up with Grover Norquist and set him up to be the "pass-thru" for the money from the Choctaw Indians to be routed around Alabama disclosure laws to your pocket, right? This project concerned the fight against video-gaming, I'm presuming.
So, here's something I really don't get, Ralph: You have said previously that you knew the funds came from the Choctaw Indians, but you were told they did not involve casino gambling funds. In other words, it was clean money.
Okay...if that is the case, then why did you directly involve yourself in helping Abramoff launder this "clean money?" Why couldn't the Choctaws directly give the money if it was "clean money?" This is truly the most baffling question of this whole affair.
In yesterday's testimony, the representatives from the Choctaws couldn't answer the question as to why the funds went the route they did take. Their only answer was "That's the way Jack Abramoff told us to route the money."
Now, I suppose I could ask Jack Abramoff about this, but, in past testimony with the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, he had a penchant for taking the 5th Amendment...
So, perhaps, Ralph, since you are the one who instigated the use of Norquist and his 501(c)(4) ATR organization to launder money to yourself, perhaps you should be the one called to testify as to why you deliberately planned, aided, and abetted the thwarting of Alabama campaign disclosure laws.
However, I see that Alabama currently has a Republican Attorney General, Troy King, which, contrary to what it used to mean to me (i.e., it used to mean I could rely on a Republican investigating a violation of law), it now means to me that he is likely one of those Republicans who will just look the other way on this, Ralph. After all, you worked hard to elect President Bush, so, you probably have lots of get-off-scott-free cards in your Blackberry, eh?
And, besides, you were fighting to prevent gambling from taking root...so, if you break a few disclosure laws to do that, I'm sure a good conservative Republican like King will let it slide to protect you. It's like being part of a big family when Republicans are in charge of the country or the state...Republicans never have to worry about investigations from wrongdoing, right? As long as we loudly scream about "activist judges" and "liberal media," we (people like you and I, Ralph) never have to worry about following the laws, do we?
I'll write to you again...soon. Cheers!
Sincerely,
Bill Simon
Editor & Publisher
Political Vine