Former Christian Coalition leader in hot water

September 1

Former Georgia Republican Party chairman Ralph Reed, who headed the Christian Coalition and was a strong opponent of casino gambling, has acknowledged that his consulting firm did business with two men now at the very center of a federal gambling investigation.

But, Reed, who is now the Southeastern regional chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, stated Monday that he had no direct knowledge that Jack Abramoff, a Washington lawyer and lobbyist, and Mike Scanlon, a former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, were in fact working for Indian casino interests.

Reed and his Duluth-based firm, Century Strategies, raised money and support for a coalition group, the Committee Against Gambling Expansion, that was funded by one Louisiana Indian casino group vying to gain competitive advantage over each other.

Scanlon and Abramoff are being investigated by a grand jury and are the main subjects of an inquiry by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Investigators are trying to find out what they did with the $45 million that was raised from four Indian tribes seeking approval of casino operations.

Some $31 million of that total came from the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, that succeeded in blocking a casino development plotted by the rival Jena Choctaw tribe in southwestern Louisiana.

Reed said he was aware the Washington lobbying firm that later fired Abramoff had also been recruiting coalition members, he also stated that they had no direct knowledge of their clients or their interests. He said that their efforts were made so that casino gambling would be stopped, pure and simple.