Rumors have it that the Ralph Reed Campaign for Lt. Governor is having a very difficult time keeping their lies
straight.

In a story published in the early edition of the June 19 Sunday AJC, we now learn that Little Ralphie went on a golfing trip with Jack Abramoff and Congressman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) back in August of 2002 to Scotland.

The trick? The trip was paid for by the Tigua tribe of El Paso! That's right! The same tribe whose casino that Abramoff, his partner-in-fraud, Michael Scanlon, and Little Ralph worked so hard to close for the past year-and-a-half.

By the time of the August 2002 golf trip, the Tigua tribe had hired Abramoff and Scanlon to reopen their casino through federal legislation pushed by the likes of Ney and Tom DeLay in exchange for contributions to various Republican-controlled PACs. Note that the Tiguas never knew that their casino was closed with the direct action of Abramoff, Scanlon, and Reed.

Now, here's the newest lie told by the Reed campaign: In response to the reporter asking the Reed campaign what Ralph meant when he wrote in an e-mail to Abramoff back in January 2002 (see PDF document above) that reads: "Hope these developments help with client. I think we should budget an ataboy for cornyn."..., what does the Reed campaign say this meant?

Quoting from the AJC article: "Reed's spokeswoman, Baron, said the 'ataboy' was a mailing to Texans urging them to thank Cornyn 'for his principled stand.'"

Pardon us while we laugh our asses off! One does not need to "budget" a 'thank-you.' You just say "thank-you." You budget MONEY for people. Ralphie was encouraging Abramoff to give then-Attorney General of Texas John Cornyn a financial reward for closing a casino that appeared to be interfering with the competing tribes in Louisiana...a casino in competition with Jack Abramoff's clients.

Now, one other thing that sticks out like a sore thumb about this e-mail exchange from Reed to Abramoff: Ralph says "Hope these developments help with client."

What CLIENT??? In the past, Ralph has said that he understood he was only working for Jack Abramoff's goals and didn't know anything about, or if there even was, a "client" because, remember...he said "I didn't know where the money came from...I had no direct knowledge...I'm against casinos...blah-blah-blah..."

Well, it looks like to us that Ralph DID know exactly who and what the client was because he referred to them in this e-mail! Not by name, mind you, but by reference. A client with a budget, obviously. You don't refer to a "client" unless you know for sure that there even is one! And, you can bet that Jack Abramoff told Ralph directly who the client was.

As soon as the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs gets done with Abramoff next week, they should subpoena Congressman Bob Ney and drill him as to what the conversation on the plane to Scotland entailed, along with the conversations on the links. Because, Ralph keeps denying that he knew anything about the plan to reopen the Speaking Rock casino, yet, two integral people involved in the reopening of the casino (i.e., Abramoff and Ney) were on that trip that Ralph just tagged along on...and we're supposed to believe that there was nothing but a prayer meeting going on onboard?

PV Note: Several readers have written to ask us why we "hate Ralph so much?"

Here's our answer: We despise liars who run for political office or who hold political office. We despise charlatans in general, whether in public office or in business. And, we really despise crooks who think they can fool us into believing their scams.

Ralph Reed, by his very deliberate actions over the past 8 some-odd years, happens to fall into at least 2 of these categories with no gray area.

So, it is not that we "hate" Ralph Reed because he is Ralph Reed, it is that Ralph Reed has proven himself to be a liar and a charlatan...and, based on the likes of the people he has run with in the past (e.g., Abramoff and Grover Norquist), in our opinion, he appears to be just as crooked as these individuals appear to be.

So, in conclusion, we're not necessarily a "pro-Casey Cagle" organization (but, we do like his candidacy). We are Anyone-But-Ralph-Reed for Lt. Governor. Which means if the Reed campaign succeeds in lying their way to a primary win next July, you will not see the Political Vine turnaround and throw our support behind Ralph for the "good of the party." Because, we will not support any candidate to represent us who has this kind of inability to tell the truth.