Rumors have it that one of Georgia's Lt. Gubernatorial candidates actually thinks the rest of the world is so stupid that they would believe anything the candidate's campaign says.
Case in point: While readers were reviewing the PoliticalVine.com story on Thursday about Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, the Reed campaign, via their "campaign spokeswoman," was busy exchanging e-mails with the Atlanta Journal & Constitution all day trying to feed a story that might stick better than the one published the previous day (i.e., "Grover and Jack said the money didn't come from Indian casinos").
The subject matter of the e-mails? Well, according to the story written in Friday's edition, the NEW story from the Reed campaign is that "Well, Ralph did know the money came from Indian tribes, but he didn't know it came from the gambling casinos income."
The AJC article linked above describes how innocent little Ralphie Poo (a nickname one of his employees started calling him) thought that because the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians had a slew of other, non-casino businesses, then that must have been the legitimate source of the funds used to fight a state lottery initiative in Alabama.
In fact, 'lo and behold! The Reed campaign actually pointed-out a Website that describes all of the auxiliary businesses of the Choctaws…like a greeting-card factory, a timber company, an auto parts store, a golf course, etc. and proudly point-out what they think is a legitimate defense. "Yeah! See, the money could have come from these non-gaming enterprises and that's what we relied on!"
Bovine Manure - Part 2
Okay...let's pretend we're all morons here...for just a moment, anyway, and assume Ralph's telling the truth. So, we checked-out the Choctaw Indian Website. It contains lots of info about their non-casino operations. And, they've done quite well.
BUT, here's the realistic question: why would an Native Indian-owned and operated auto-parts manufacturer in another state CARE about a lottery being instituted in a neighboring state? Or, a greeting-card manufacturer? Why would they take their operating profits and, rather than reinvest them back into their own society, give the money to a political effort in another state?
The answer is, just like the answer to the question about why an organization like ATR would be anti-lottery, they wouldn't. And, they didn't.
Consider some other facts here: This Choctaw website has likely not been online since 1999, so, Century Strategies didn't know squat about the "other businesses" going on back then.
You might also be interested in knowing that at no time has Ralph Reed himself ever spoken to a reporter, either on the phone, or in person or, even in e-mail, about this issue. All responses have either been through his "campaign spokeswoman" or his "campaign spokeswoman's e-mail" account.
Why is Ralph Reed avoiding the possibility of having to look into someone else's eyes and give his account of what he thought the source of the money was? Why is he hiding from behind the skirt of his "campaign spokeswoman?"
We will venture a guess: Because he's not entirely sure that when his longtime pals, Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist, appear before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs to testify soon, that they won't tell the REAL truth about the money involved in Alabama and in Texas, and make him out to be a liar. By never getting it on record that he is himself saying these things, he has a plausible defense later if the truth really comes out...No, sir, Senator. I did not say that. My campaign spokeswoman said that...I didn't....no sir, I don't know why she said that...she could have been smoking crack that day....No, Sir...no, sir...
This is what we believe happened in 1999: Support for the lottery was high in late August. Reed's company was tapped to organize the anti-lottery effort and to help build a coalition. The Alabama Christian Coalition had some resources, but an official anti-lottery group was also formed to help raise money (thus, the Citizens Against Legalized Lottery organization).
Because Reed and Abramoff had been longtime pals, Reed kept in contact with Abramoff and informed him early on of his contract with helping defeat the lottery. Abramoff, who had recently signed a lobbying agreement with the Choctaw Indians, probably wrote Reed saying "Hey, good luck. My clients really don't want to see a lottery instituted in Alabama, so, let me know if you need any help." Ralph acknowledged the help and went on his merry way.
In late September, despite an impressive amount of money raised by CALL (and spent by Ralph Reed), the polls still showed that the pro-lottery folks were leading the anti-lottery folks. So, Ralph placed a call to Jack: "Say, Jack, remember when you offered back in August some help with me over here? Looks like I need about $300,000 to put out a last minute push...the election is on October 12...can you get your clients to cough-up some money?...(a pause on the other end of the phone)..."Let me talk to the Chief, Ralph, and I'll get right back to you."
A few days later, Jack calls Ralph and says: "Got the money for you. And, I've set it up so that all of the money is coming from a 'clean' source..."
"Really?" said Ralph. "Who? How?"
"Grover's going to take the ball and run it through ATR. He'll collect a little bit for the service, but it'll look squeaky clean when it is deposited with CALL...If you do a good job on this, Ralph, I got some bigger jobs down the road that my casino clients need some help on. Will you be interested?"
"Oh, you know me, Jack! I'm always interested in new business!" said Ralph, with a chuckle. And, the phones clicked-off...
A word about integrity
There are some folks who have written and talked to the Vine with exasperation about our previous story on Reed. Their point sums-up to be this: "Look, I really don't care that the money came from casinos...I see nothing wrong with Ralph being a Christian and working in his business taking money for projects that do not exactly reflect the Christian 'lifestyle'. It's irrelevant to me if the money came from casinos. He was hired to do a job, the job was legal, he completed it with success, and I wished you'd stop trying to imply that he is immoral or unethical."
And, this is our response to that argument from this point forward: We don't care if the money came from casinos either. The casinos are legitimate business enterprises who have a right to defend their field from competitive forces. BUT, we just want Mr. Reed to be honest about it. So far, the story coming out of his campaign has so many twists and turns that we're going to dub his campaign for Lt. Governor as The Ralph Reed Hustle. He is completely unable to give anyone a straight story about this, and he just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper into a cover-up.
Back in the 1970s, it wasn't that there was a break-in to the Democratic headquarters at Watergate that got Nixon impeached, it was the cover-up. Similarly, it wasn't that Bill Clinton got impeached for having sex with an intern. He got impeached because he LIED about it under oath and tried to cover it up.
It's not the act of taking money from casinos that Ralph is doing wrong. It's the failure to admit that he knew in 1999 that the money came from gambling sources. It's about integrity. It's about sticking-up for the truth and accepting responsibility. It's about stop trying to hide behind your spokeswoman and BE A MAN!"
But...we know we're apparently in the minority in this state and country. Apparently, if you're in politics, it's okay to lie, cheat, steal, character-assassinate, and do anything you damn well please in a political campaign EXCEPT accept the truth about yourself.
As such, we have taken it upon ourselves to be the self-appointed political monitors who will continue to monitor campaigns and point out absurd actions taken by some candidates.
If Ralph Reed is unable to come out from behind his spokeswoman and speak the truth himself about the source of the money, in a non-orchestrated event, then, you folks who support him so much should really stop and think "Why? Gosh, what is my hero afraid of?..."