Since the Abramoff scandal first broke, Ralph Reed has insisted that he did not know where the funding for his anti-gambling operations was coming from – as the DNC notes
Reed Claimed He Had “No Direct Knowledge” That Abramoff Was Paying Him With Gambling Profits. “Reed, who has condemned gambling as a social vice, said that he had no ‘direct knowledge’ that Washington lawyer and lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Mike Scanlon, a former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, were working for Indian casino interests… ‘While we knew that Greenberg-Traurig was also recruiting coalition members, we had no direct knowledge of their clients or their interests,’ Reed said, referring to a Washington lobbying firm that employed and later fired Abramoff.” [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 8/31/04]
Reed Said He Was “Unaware” of the Source of the Money. “Reed spokeswoman Lisa Baron said this week that Reed was unaware of the source of the money…’ From the very beginning of this work, we understood that the anti-gambling activists would be funded by a coalition of groups opposed to an expansion of gambling,’ Baron said in a statement. ‘We were also sensitive to the fact that many members of the group, including the Christian Coalition of Alabama, did not want to accept contributions from gaming activity.’ [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 5/18/05]
Perhaps Reed ought to read the recent report [PDF] on Abramoff’s skulduggery – specifically page 25 – and take a look at the emails to two sent back and forth in their dealings regarding Reed’s anti-gambling activities on behalf of the Abramoff’s casino-owning client: the Choctaw of Mississippi
After receiving Reed’s proposed engagement agreement, Abramoff responded, “Ralph, I spoke with Nell this evening. She wants much more specifics. They are not scared of the number, but want to know precisely what you are planning to do for this amount.
