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- Herausgeber: BooxAi
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
Ralph Reed should be in prison.
Between 2001 and 2004, Ralph Eugene Reed, Jr., the former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, and his two close confederates, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, conspired to bilk several Indian tribes out of tens of millions of dollars.
Ralph Reed became rich in the process.
In September of 2004, as a direct result of their illicit activities, Abramoff, Scanlon, and a handful of others were called to testify before Senator John McCain’s Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in Washington, DC. However, Ralph Reed was never called upon to do the same, despite his name appearing over two hundred times in the final Senate Committee Investigation report. Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon later served prison time due to their actions. But not Ralph Reed. Despite overwhelming evidence proving it, Ralph Reed has never been held accountable for his many crimes. That is, until now.
The “Trial of the Devil Incarnate” finds the duplicitous Ralph Reed under oath as a fictional Senate Investigative Committee uncovers his decades-long career operating from the shadows. A career filled with scandalous, immoral, and often flat-out illegal activities. This ‘questioning’ reveals the truth about his blatant disregard for the law, his unabashed hypocrisy, and the plethora of flat-out lies and manufactured propaganda he has exploited to support his bank account through flimflammery and deceit.
And it has all been done ‘in the name of Jesus.’
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. While every precaution has been taken to prepare this book, the author assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages resulting or alleged to result, directly or indirectly, from using the information contained herein. The views expressed in this book are those of the author alone.
‘The Trial of the Devil Incarnate’ is a narrative of dichotomy. The Senate Hearing represented in this book is a work of fiction. However, the questions posed by the fictional Senators are based upon a collection of facts, written communication, hard tangible evidence, sworn testimonies, recollections, and materials previously printed by other media sources, as noted in the references of this book. Every attempt has been made to verify and confirm the accuracy of this information. However, as is the case in American jurisprudence, each individual is entitled to be deemed innocent until determined guilty by a court of law. The content of this work is based upon such evidence, and the readers are free to form their own opinion on that guilt or innocence.
The opinions expressed in this work are those of the author alone.
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Copyright © 2023 by Big Fat Cat Productions LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, telepathy, voodoo drumbeats, secret hand signals, carrier pigeons, emojis, the use of mimes or any electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. So there!
Published by BooxAi
ISBN: 978-965-578-138-0
THE TRIAL OF THE DEVIL INCARNATE
RALPH REED: GOD’S ‘FLIM-FLAM’ MAN
DAVID R. WILCOX
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
1. Prologue - Factual Background
2. The Investigative Hearing
3. The Investigative Hearing
4. The Investigative Hearing
5. The Investigative Hearing
6. The Review Of The Evidence
Appendices
TABLE OF ENTITIES
Notes
Bibliography
Author’s Biography
Other Works
The revelation of how the once revered ‘Right Hand of God’
and leader of the Christian Coalition became
‘One of the monumental hypocrites of our time.’
DEDICATION
Dedications are often challenging to write. This one certainly was. That’s probably because this is the last portion of this book to which I have allotted my final iota of energy, and I’m just plain worn out.
Also, there is always the inherent fear and uneasiness that you will leave someone out of the dedication.
But, what the hell! If I have omitted you from the list and you feel slighted in any way, I ask upfront for your forgiveness. But, on the other hand, if I have included you on this hallowed list and you feel as if the praise is entirely unwarranted, please shut up and take it. As I mentioned, I’m just too tired to argue.
With that having been established, I wish to dedicate this book sincerely to
Tressa, my amazing, redheaded, mermaid soulmate, who has proven to me that God is indeed the God of second chances. You have given me a reason to shine each day, and you have done it by just being your beautiful self. You truly make life worth living.“I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don't be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more.”
Christina Perri's “A Thousand Years”
Whew! Now that this ponderous task is finished, we can move on.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It’s now time to give credit where credit is due.
This book has been an ordeal to complete, and it certainly was a group effort. Please allow me to acknowledge and thank many of the people responsible for it becoming a reality.
First and foremost, let me thank my beautiful, redheaded mermaid, Tressa Machek. Tressa, until you came into my life, I never understood what sublime happiness was or how to achieve it. You have made each day a delight simply by being your beautiful and fantastic self. You have restored my soul and brought joy to a scarred, cobweb-filled heart that I was convinced would never experience love again. I will love you madly for infinity plus one.
Next, come my collective brain trust and sounding boards. The people that were plagued with reading the draft copies of the book to keep me from making a literary jackass out of myself. Quite a daunting and tremendous responsibility, to say the least.
My brother Kevin Bender, cousin Randy Thill, and good friends Walt Kelley, Cecil Malacarne, and Don Montamble. As you read, many of those surnames will seem familiar. They should. They are the names of several of the ‘fictional’ Senators who participated in revealing the saga of the duplicitous Ralph Reed. And words cannot express my deep appreciation for the indispensable Leslie Baker, the editor whose diverse skill set brought an invaluable quality to this entire work.
Then there is Jim Small, who has selflessly had my back for decades. Thanks, Jim, for hiring me back in the day to help stand watch over the ‘old man’ at CBN and for putting me in a position to have been able to tell the stories that needed to be shared. You are a stellar and steadfast example of Christlikeness and the type of man that brings great credit to the kingdom. It has been great reconnecting and reliving some of the remarkable memories and experiences we have shared. Can’t wait to be ‘neighbors’ down there in Florida.
And thanks to the remarkable Bill Wagner, who passed away during the production of this work. Bill was my coach, friend, and mentor. He was a father figure who taught me to strive unceasingly for my goals each and every day. To never accept defeat. To constantly push even a bit harder despite being weary and tired. Thanks, coach!
And finally, my thanks go out to my incredible grandfather, Ray A. Wilcox. Not a day goes by that my thoughts don’t focus on his tremendous impact on my life. I miss you each and every day.
FOREWORD
The adage says, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.”
Well, in the case of the foreword for this book, that is partially true. While writing “The Trial of The Devil Incarnate - Ralph Reed: God’s ‘Flim-Flam’ Man”, I reached out to several high-profile individuals. Most were familiar with the book’s subject, and I asked if they would consider writing the foreword. I have to admit it was an extremely self-serving ask. I thought if I could get some highly recognizable or famous ‘name’ to emblazon the front cover of my book and write a foreword lavished with praise and accolades, it would boost book sales and bring some notoriety to the effort. However, the responses to my queries were either abject silence or “No. I don’t want to get sued by Ralph Reed.”
They unanimously made it clear that it was not a situation wherein they thought I had written a pack of lies and was, therefore, a prime candidate for a libel suit. I knew this was not the case because, apart from some personal feelings, observations, and comments, the material in this book is all public information and is well corroborated by other media sources. It was because they know Ralph Reed has much to lose in his narcissistic kingdom if and when the truth about him is entirely told.
As the former bodyguard for Pat Robertson and the Director of Security for the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), I first met the duplicitous and self-serving Mr. Reed when he was the Executive Director of Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition. As I mention in the book, as a retired police officer, my well-tuned “bullshit detector” went off in my head like a klaxon horn when I first laid eyes on Ralph Reed during his early days at the Christian Coalition. The first term that popped into my head was “smarmy.” Whenever I spent more than five minutes in the presence of Ralph, I just wanted to go somewhere to get ‘steam cleaned’ and ensure I still had my wallet on me. Ralph’s flimflammery ‘vibe’ was just that palpable. I also am well aware that Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed relied upon an oft-used offensive tactic to file lawsuits as a standard attempt at intimidation whenever anyone dared publicly criticize or shine the light of truth on their not-so-above-board activities. More often than not, the suits were dropped, sometimes even on the courthouse steps on the day of the trial, but they were dropped, nonetheless. The reason was that they did not want the lawsuit to go to trial and become a matter of public record and cross-examination.
So, here we are. No famous name or glowing endorsement to grace the foreword of my book. Just a word or two from the humble author about this work revealing the truth about Ralph Reed. In my estimation, it carries about as much weight as a first-time mother telling everyone just how beautiful her child is. It may be accurate, but it is wholly expected.
So, here it is. This book, “The Trial of The Devil Incarnate - Ralph Reed: God’s ‘Flim-Flam’ Man”, will reveal the unvarnished truth about Ralph Reed, the man whom Time Magazine billboarded on their cover as “The Right Hand of God”, but whom the Huffington Post later dubbed as “one of the monumental hypocrites of our time.” The man who started as the holier-than-thou Executive Director of the Christian Coalition and later partnered and conspired with disgraced lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff and has spent the past three decades working from the shadows as “God’s ‘Flim-Flam’ Man”.
So I challenge you. Read this book and then see if I’m right. My guess is that you will join me in asking yourself, “Why isn’t Ralph Reed in prison?”
Oh, and as far as a libel suit is concerned, bring it on! Knowing what I know, there is nothing I’d like better than the opportunity to get Ralph Reed under oath in a court of law. That’d be fun!
PREFACE
All my life, I have despised cheaters.
I have always felt most comfortable living in an environment where rules, protocols, and fair play were the order of the day. I’ve always found it very distressing when individuals intentionally skirted the rules of law, abandoned common civility, or engaged in unethical or immoral behavior to empower and enrich themselves, especially at the expense of others. I still do.
Perhaps this innate attitude comes from my having been a police officer back in my much younger days. I thoroughly enjoyed patrolling the streets of my hometown of Oceanside, California, diligently on the lookout for assorted felons and the other ne’er-do-wells of society. I delighted in righting wrongs, defending the weak and helpless, and maintaining the laws established within my seaside community. I especially enjoyed arresting and prosecuting arrogant scofflaws who demonstrated such blatant disregard for the law and society.
That is precisely how I feel about Ralph Reed.
Yes, that Ralph Reed. Ralph Eugene Reed Jr., the former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition and the Founder and current CEO of the conservative Christian organization called the ‘Faith & Freedom Coalition.’
Yes, that‘Faith and Freedom Coalition.’ The organization through which Ralph Reed is currently fleecing the flock by soliciting your hard-earned, tax-deductible donations even today. The ‘Faith and Freedom Coalition’ that is his current base of operations. Standing in its spotlight, Ralph Reed practices his well-tuned form of flimflammery that he has used to exploit and deceive the naive and often deep-pocketed, conservative Christian community for decades.
That Ralph Reed, whom the Huffington Post described as “one of the monumental hypocrites of our time.”
I first met the devious and duplicitous Ralph Reed back in 1989 when he headed up the newly formed Christian Coalition. My old boss, Pat Robertson, the Founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), had chosen Ralph to man the helm of this new political activist organization. The Christian Coalition had been spawned from the rotting carcass of ‘Americans for Robertson,’ the group responsible for Pat’s failed 1988 run for President of the United States. As you will read in the early stages of this book, it was an uncomfortable but quite revelatory introduction. I could immediately tell that this smarmy diminutive weasel was a major ‘flim-flam’ artist. His unwarranted super-ego was only outdone by his audacity, arrogance, and insatiable thirst for money and power, especially power.
My having been Pat Robertson’s bodyguard for several years, I had opportunities to observe that Pat’s central character flaw, his Achilles’ heel if you will, was that he had absolutely no discernment about the people he chose to head up his various business, religious, and political organizations. One afternoon, after having just kept Pat from carelessly hiring a handful of confirmed crooks and scammers to head up a new multi-level marketing venture for him, I told Pat, “Your lack of discernment about people frightens me. If Charles Manson drove up in front of the building in a Mercedes, got out of the car wearing a Rolex and an expensive, tailor-made suit, and said, “Praise the Lord, brother,” while shaking your hand, you’d probably make him a Vice President.” Much to Pat’s credit, he couldn’t and didn’t argue with that assessment.
And so it was with Ralph Reed. By Pat Robertson putting the narcissistic neophyte Ralph Reed in charge of his newly formed Christian Coalition, Pat unknowingly gave life to a Frankensteinian creature of major destructive force. A liar, a cheat, a master manipulator, a confirmed backroom conspirator, a proven felon, and an individual whose septic ethical and moral compass was, and still is, driven solely by his aggressive pursuit of money and the power that comes with it. And perhaps the most repulsive factor of this is that Ralph Reed does it all “in the name of Jesus.” It is sheer blasphemy!
Thus the genesis of this book. While I was writing my first book, “Protecting Pat Robertson: Confessions of a High-Priced Bagman,” I was researching a chapter about Pat’s Christian Coalition. During my research, each time I turned over every Googled ’rock’ about Ralph Reed, something else repulsive or reprehensible always slithered out from beneath it. It was like peeling a very rotten onion. As each successive outer layer was stripped away, another even more horrendous and obnoxious layer was revealed. Once I reached the putrid core of Ralph Reed’s ‘onion’, there was more than enough information for another entire book. And here it is. So, let’s set the stage. Let me say this as plainly as I can. “Ralph Reed should be in prison.”
But, David, you may ask, “How dare you speak ill about our brother Ralph Reed, the former leader of the Christian Coalition and the man Time Magazine put on its cover calling him “The Right Hand of God? Our dear Christian brother Ralph has dedicated his life to the pursuit of all Christian virtues. He has defended our society against the evils of gambling, alcoholism, spousal abuse, pornography, marital infidelity, egregious governmental and political improprieties, and so much more. He is a dedicated and selfless bastion of Christian virtue and a fine representative of all that is good and decent in this troubled world of ours.” My response is a hearty, “bullshit!”
The list of reasons behind my terse but truthful response is long and complicated. However, the massive pile of documented evidence behind my response is much like the proverbial Gordian knot. It is made up of an interwoven mass of lies, duplicity, obfuscation, fraud, and gross illegalities that, on their own, are almost incapable of being untied. However, by revealing our fact-finding and the evidence of detailed research and questioning by our fictional Senate Investigative Committee, we can now expose the true Ralph Reed. Once that is done, and after we finally unravel the obfuscation and provide a well-documented chronology of Ralph Reed’s actual activities since 1989, you will experience a glorious epiphany. The scales created by his decades of propaganda, media manipulation, and illegal practices will be lifted from your eyes. You will see clearly. But be forewarned. You will experience intense emotions as a result.
Once done, you, too, will find yourself pondering, “Why isn’t Ralph Reed in prison?” If prison was proper enough penance for Ralph Reed’s conspiratorial friends and associates, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, it was certainly good enough for their partner in crime, the master of Christian flimflammery, Ralph Reed.
So, once again, I’ll state it for the record. “Ralph Reed belongs in prison,” and you are about to discover why.
I sincerely hope you enjoy reading “The Trial of the Devil Incarnate - Ralph Reed: “God’s ‘Flim-Flam’ Man.”
I hope that it enlightens you to the truth.
INTRODUCTION
Ralph Reed should be in prison.
Between 2001 and 2004, Ralph Eugene Reed, Jr., the former Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, and his two close confederates, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, conspired to commit several felonies. Ralph Reed became rich in the process. Yet, unlike Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, and despite the overwhelming evidence proving it, he has never been held accountable for his crimes. In September of 2004, due to their illicit activities, two of Ralph Reed’s closest business associates, Mr. Jack Abramoff and Mr. Michael Scanlon, were called to testify before John McCain’s Senate Committee On Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. However, for some reason, God’s Flim-Flam man, Ralph Eugene Reed, was never called upon to do the same. This, even though his name appears over two hundred times in the final Senate Committee Investigation report.
A short while later, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon were indicted and served prison time for their numerous crimes. Specifically, Mr. Abramoff, Mr. Scanlon, and several others committed multiple felonies, including conspiracy to commit bribery, mail and wire fraud, honest services fraud, money laundering, federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act violations (RICO), and other serious crimes. So did Ralph Reed. However, despite irrefutable evidence of his direct involvement in many of the same illegal activities that sent Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon to prison, Ralph Reed continued to operate openly and freely as God’s ‘Flim-Flam’ man. He does so even today. And yet, that very sameRalph Reed, the Founder and current CEO of the ultra-conservative Christian Faith & Freedom Coalition, has never been held accountable for any of his actions. Yes, that ‘Faith and Freedom Coalition’ through which Ralph Reed is currently soliciting your hard-earned, tax-deductible donations to fund his unchecked activities.
This situation poses an earnest question, “Why isn’t Ralph Reed in prison?”
In September of 2004, the United States Senate’s Committee on Indian Affairs began a series of hearings regarding serious allegations that lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Ralph Reed, and several others were directly involved in what was labeled the “Gimme Five” Indian Tribe fraud scandal. As a result of their extensive investigation, the Senate Committee published the final results of their findings. The entire 1,407 pages of the committee’s Final Report #109–325, detailing the “Gimme Five’’—Investigation Of Tribal Lobbying Matters, shows conclusively that Ralph Reed played an integral part in the entire multi-million-dollar Indian Tribe fraud scandal. In addition, over a dozen individuals, many of whom played lesser roles in the scandal than Ralph Reed, were not only subpoenaed to testify before the Senate Investigative Committee but were also eventually prosecuted and served jail time and paid fines as a result of their participation.
But not Ralph Reed.
The nagging question still lingers. Why wasn’t Ralph Reed ever called before the Senate Committee to testify about his evident involvement in the scandal? And why, like the others, didn’t Ralph Reed go to prison? The book you are about to read just may be the next best thing to having Ralph Reed appear, in the flesh and under oath, before the United States Senate’s Committee on Indian Affairs back in 2004 and 2005.
Although it provides a hypothetical set of dialogue and circumstances, it is also a homogenous amalgam of absolute facts mixed with just a smidgeon of fantasy. It takes place inside an authentic environment, Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building inside the United States Capitol, the original Senate hearings site. It combines much of the documented information gleaned from the original U.S. Senate Committee’s five investigative sessions, held between September 2004 and November 2005. It is interwoven with the irrefutable facts of Ralph Reed’s involvement, positioned inside of a fabricated “appearance” of Ralph Reed before the imaginary Senate Committee to respond to direct questioning from make-believe Senators while ‘under oath.’
But the book doesn’t stop there. As the fictional Senators on the committee question Ralph Reed ‘under oath,’ their probing reveals a myriad of his other scandalous, immoral, and often flat-out illegal activities, beginning with his years as the Executive Director of Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition. This revelatory ‘questioning’ will paint an indelible panorama of Ralph Reed’s chronic duplicity. It reveals his blatant disregard for the law, his unabashed hypocrisy, and the plethora of flat-out lies and manufactured propaganda he has used to support his flim-flammery and deceit. And all done in the name of Jesus.
The names of the Senate Committee members (Chairman Walter Kelley and a select group of Senators) conducting the investigation are fictitious. They exist only in the mind of the author. The statements made and the subsequent questions posed by these committee members to Ralph Reed are also fictional; however, they do have the ring of authenticity. They are derived from the information revealed during the original Senate Committee’s investigation. In our hearing, the questions asked of Ralph Reed have been structured to parallel those actual questions asked by the original committee members of his associates, Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, and the others, when they appeared before the initial Senate investigation. They are based upon over 1,400 pages of the committee’s published findings, hundreds of newspaper and magazine accounts, and from Ralph Reed’s own statements, emails, and even his perverse propaganda campaigns.
WHAT’S FAIR IS FAIR…
It will be of value to you, the reader, to first set the stage and the format for this book and the ‘fictional’ Senate Committee questioning of Ralph Reed.
First, here’s a quick history lesson. In September of 1989, the Christian Coalition was quickly on its way to becoming an ultra-conservative political action juggernaut. Under the aggressive leadership of Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition later produced what would be the first in a series of presidential ‘Voter Guides’ in time to be distributed at their 1991 ‘September Road to Victory Conference.’
To obtain content for these Voter Guides, the Christian Coalition sent out a ‘candidate survey’ to President George HW Bush and Democratic candidate Bill Clinton. The survey was devised to establish the candidate’s actual positions on various areas of interest and concern to American voters. However, due to time restraints caused by their upcoming ‘September Road to Victory Conference,’ and under Ralph Reed’s direction, the Christian Coalition staff created the content of these Voter Guides before ever receiving either President Bush’s or Bill Clinton’s response to the candidate survey. In other words, the ‘Voter Guides’ content was ‘manufactured’ by Ralph Reed before even hearing back from the candidates.
Because they had no actual response content from either presidential candidate, at their ‘September Road to Victory Conference,’ the Christian Coalition distributed a 16-page tabloid-style Voter Guide that included “candidate interviews” that were “simulated” by stringing together selected quotations from various sources. Then, through creative editing, they made it appear to be the actual responses from the candidates to questions posed by the Christian Coalition.
The manufactured “interview” of President George HW Bush used in the Voter Guide included six quotations obtained from a previous “700 Club” television interview conducted by Christian Broadcasting Network Founder Pat Robertson with President Bush. This fact was confirmed by Federal Election Commission Investigation Exhibit # 002-2059 as part of an investigation they conducted into the Christian Coalition’s political activities.
In putting together the format for this book, it was felt that if the “interviews” manufactured on behalf of President George HW Bush and candidate Bill Clinton were adequate to be used by Ralph Reed in creating his Christian Coalition ‘Voter Guides,’ it would only be more than fair and comparable to afford the same “interview” courtesy to Ralph Reed by ‘manufacturing’ the content of his responses during his fictional Senate Committee investigation.
As a result, the manufactured responses of Ralph Reed in this book parrot those provided by Ralph Reed’s close friend, associate, and fellow conspirator, Mr. Jack Abramoff, during his interviews with the original United States Senate’s Committee on Indian Affairs investigation in 2004.
During his questioning before the original committee, Mr. Abramoff repeatedly took the 5th amendment, affirming his Constitutional right of refusing to answer any questions to avoid incriminating himself. In our fictional Senate Committee scenario, Ralph Reed is therefore afforded the same right. As you will read later, within the construct of the hypothetical Senate Investigative Committee interview of Ralph Reed, he is afforded the same courtesy as both Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon, being allowed to shield himself by invoking his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.
Jack Abramoff was eventually indicted for his activities, as was fellow conspirator Michael Scanlon. Both men eventually pleaded guilty to several felonies, including conspiracy to commit fraud.
As a result, both men served time in prison. By all accounts, Ralph Reed should have been right there with them.
CASE BACKGROUND:
Before we begin our Senate Investigation of Ralph Reed, let’s recap the case background to set the stage for the hearing and investigation.
The Original Investigation Hearings -
The original U.S. Senate Committee On Indian Affairs held five hearings in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.
Hearing #1 was held on Wednesday, September 29, 2004, at 9:30 a.m.,Hearing #2 was held on Wednesday, November 17, 2004, at 3:00 p.m.,Hearing #3 was held on Wednesday, June 22, 2005, at 9:30 a.m.,Hearing #4 was held on Wednesday, November 2, 2005, at 9:00 a.m.,Hearing #5 was held on Wednesday, November 17, 2005, at 10:00 a.m.During each of the five hearings, separate investigative panels took place. Those panels were comprised of committee staff interviews and questioning of key individuals involved in the now-infamous “Gimme Five” Indian Tribe scandal.
The members of the original Senate Committee were as follows:
COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS
JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Chairman: BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota, Vice Chairman
DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
TOM COBURN, M.D., Oklahoma
KENT CONRAD, North Dakota
MICHAEL D. CRAPO, Idaho
PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico
DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii
TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming
GORDON SMITH, Oregon
On September 29th, 2004, Washington DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff appeared before the committee during the first hearing and responded to the panel’s questions. His business partner, Michael Scanlon, was invited to attend this hearing, but he did not appear before the committee on this date. Mr. Scanlon later appeared before the committee during the second hearing held on November 17th, 2004.
PROLOGUE - FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On September 29th, 2004, the original Senate Committee hearing began regarding numerous allegations made by six Indian Tribes against Mr. Abramoff, Mr. Scanlon, and others, including Ralph Reed. Then-committee Ranking Majority Member and eventual Committee Chairman, Senator John McCain, made an opening statement. Senator John McCain prefaced the hearing with the following:
As history and research would show, the same statement could be said of Ralph Reed.
THE CONDUCT OF THE INVESTIGATION AND THE COMMITTEE REPORT
On February 22, 2004, The Washington Post published an article written by reporter Susan Schmidt entitled “A Jackpot From Indian Gaming Tribes; Lobbying, PR Firms Paid $45 Million Over 3 Years.”
Based upon the allegations of misconduct made by several Indian Tribes documented in the Post article, then-Chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs authorized then-Ranking Majority Member John McCain to investigate these matters.
Following Senator Campbell’s retirement at the end of the 108th Congress, Senator McCain continued the investigation during the 109th Congress as Chairman of the committee. Ultimately, the committee examined Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon’s dealings with six tribes: the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas (aka the Tiguas), and the Pueblo of Sandia Tribe of New Mexico.
While a Department of Justice task force reportedly had also begun a parallel inquiry into related criminal matters, which led to the eventual prosecution of over a dozen individuals, the Senate Committee sought to answer several questions, including but not limited to the following:
(1) Are the Tribes’ allegations of misconduct regarding Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Ralph Reed, and others true?
(2) If so, how much did those Tribes pay Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon’s partnership? How much was paid to third parties, including Ralph Reed, at their direction, and, as a result of that misconduct,
(3) Did those Tribes receive the intended and anticipated benefit of the tens of millions of dollars they paid Michael Scanlon, Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, and their associates?
With their report, the original committee attempted to set forth definitive conclusions and the basis for those conclusions regarding each of those three specific areas and others.
The original investigation took over two years and consisted of five separate hearings, seventy formal requests for documents, including subpoenas, producing about 750,000 pages of documents, and about 60 depositions and witness interviews. The committee found that Mr. Scanlon’s secret partner, Mr. Abramoff, received about half of the profit that Mr. Scanlon collected from the $66 million in fees he obtained from six of his Tribal clients from 2001 through 2003. In many instances, Michael Scanlon, Jack Abramoff, and Ralph Reed had the Tribes use third-party and shell organizations as ‘pass-throughs’ to illegally conceal their grassroots activities and the source of their money from the world. Former Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed covertly conducted many of those grassroots activities.
Principally, the Senate report focused on allegations of misconduct made by the Tribes. Generally, those allegations related to the activities of entities owned or controlled by Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon, including Capitol Campaign Strategies (CCS), the American International Center (AIC), and the Capital Athletic Foundation (CAF). However, the report also addressed numerous payments those Tribes made at Mr. Abramoff’s or Mr. Scanlon’s direction to third parties. These payments were either used by or paid to third parties, like Century Strategies, owned and operated by Ralph Reed, the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), operated by Ralph Reed’s friend Grover Norquist, and the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), for purposes unintended by the Tribes.
In the original committee’s investigation, several witnesses declined to provide important information under oath, citing their right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution or indicating that they intended to assert their Fifth Amendment right if called to testify. These witnesses included Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon, former Abramoff associates Todd Boulanger, Kevin Ring, Shawn Vassell, Neil Volz, and former Michael Scanlon associate Christopher Cathcart.
In the end, twenty individuals, including lobbyists and public officials, pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial in connection with the activities of Jack Abramoff and his associates. Mr. Abramoff pleaded guilty in January 2006 to conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion. He was sentenced in September 2008 to 48 months in prison. On February 11, 2011, Michael Scanlon was sentenced to 20 months in prison for his corruption and fraud conspiracy role.
But Ralph Reed, one of the scandal’s major operatives and key figures, was never called before the Senate Committee. Ralph Reed, whom the committee determined to have conspired knowingly and willfully with Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon, was paid an estimated $4,014,029 of Indian Tribe gambling money. Ralph Reed laundered the money through shell companies to disguise its source and walked away untouched.
Two key questions immediately arise. How and why?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND FINDINGS OF THE “GIMME FIVE” SCANDAL
After (or at the same time) when several native American Indian Tribes hired Jack Abramoff as their federal lobbyist, Mr. Abramoff urged some of them to hire Michael Scanlon to provide grassroots support. Mr. Abramoff, however, failed to disclose that he and Mr. Scanlon were partners. Evidence obtained throughout the two-year investigation indicated that Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon had agreed to secretly split the fees that the Tribes paid Mr. Scanlon from 2001 through 2003. Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon referred to this arrangement as “Gimme Five.” The original committee adopted this term and used it to reference their investigation.
As a general proposition, the “Gimme Five” scheme involved the following:
Getting each of the Tribes to hire Michael Scanlon as their grassroots specialist. Once hired, they would dramatically overcharge the Tribes for their grassroots and related activities.Setting aside for themselves (Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon) an unconscionable percentage of what the Tribes paid at a grossly inflated rate—a rate wholly unrelated to the actual cost of services provided; andUsing the remaining money to reimburse scores of associates and vendors, notably Ralph Reed, also at greatly inflated rates. Doing so would help them maintain a continuing appearance of competence on behalf of the Tribes.One example of this fee-splitting arrangement arose from a payment of $1,900,000 from the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan. On or about July 9, 2002, Michael Scanlon assured Jack Abramoff that after that payment arrived on July 12, 2002, Mr. Scanlon made three payments to Mr. Abramoff, including one of $800,000.
Jack Abramoff’s most valued Tribal client and a significant element of this book were the Choctaw Tribe. Since 1995, when the Choctaw Tribe first hired Mr. Abramoff to keep their vast casino revenues from being taxed, a history of dramatic lobbying victories emerged, with Mr. Abramoff successfully advocating the Choctaw Tribe’s sovereignty and anti-tax interests before the US Congress. In many instances, Mr. Abramoff had the Choctaw Tribe use conduits (or ‘pass-throughs’) to conceal his grassroots activities from the world— the same activities later conducted by former Christian Coalition Executive Director Ralph Reed. These ‘pass-throughs’ included but were not limited to the law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, where Mr. Abramoff was employed, as well as the organization called Americans for Tax Reform, operated by Grover Norquist, a longtime friend of both Jack Abramoff and Ralph Reed.
After this history of success, in early 2001, things dramatically changed. Following Mr. Abramoff’s guidance and personal recommendation, the Choctaw Tribe hired Mr. Scanlon. And, to implement its grassroots strategies, the Choctaw Tribe, at Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon’s direction, paid fees to or through shell organization conduits owned or controlled by Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon. Moreover, they did so for the explicit purpose of ‘laundering’ their money to disguise the true source of the payments.
As an example of how much Mr. Scanlon sought from the Choctaw Tribe, he had the Choctaws pay him $4,500,000 for efforts related to a single program—a grandiose idea Mr. Scanlon called “Operation Orange.” During the relevant period, Mr. Abramoff manipulated the Choctaw Tribe into funding, among other things, a much-reported recreational golfing trip to Scotland. Ralph Reed was an eager participant in arranging and participating in that golf outing. However, according to the original Senate Committee’s investigation, the Choctaw Tribe thought that its money paid directly to a non-profit organization on whose executive board Mr. Abramoff sat would be used for anti-tax and other policy work. They were led to believe the work would benefit the Choctaw Tribe. It was not. It was used by Mr. Abramoff, Ralph Reed, and others to pay for a $100,000+ recreational golf outing to the legendary Saint Andrews Golf Club in Scotland.
Having collected about $15,000,000 from the Choctaw Tribe during this relevant period, Michael Scanlon secretly kicked back almost half of his total profit from the Choctaw Tribe to Jack Abramoff. Records show that Jack Abramoff received at least $6,364,000 in the arrangement. They also paid Ralph Reed over $4 million of the Choctaw money for his efforts.
Specifically citing the work he had done for the Choctaw Tribe, consisting mainly of the activities performed by Ralph Reed, Mr. Abramoff used his reputation to subsequently secure additional contracts for himself and Mr. Scanlon from the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe. Regrettably, of all the Tribes that hired Mr. Scanlon, the Louisiana-Coushatta paid Michael Scanlon the most money.
As you will read, much of that work also involved Ralph Reed.
Initially, the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe hired Mr. Scanlon to help with its compact renegotiations with the State of Louisiana. But, after successfully doing so, Mr. Scanlon dramatically expanded his scope of work. It ranged from squelching supposedly ubiquitous threats to the Tribal casino’s customer market share to even working on getting the “right” Indian-friendly candidates elected to the Louisiana State Legislature.
To its detriment, the leadership of the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe trusted Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon’s expertise in Indian gaming. They were captured by the lure of Mr. Abramoff’s sales pitch to make the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe “the Choctaw of Louisiana.” In pursuit of that title, the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe blindly deferred to Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon’s judgment when they recommended that it fund several costly grassroots campaigns designed to achieve that lofty goal. Likewise, the Louisiana-Coushatta leadership’s judgment was skewed when Mr. Abramoff convinced them that another tribe, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe, was establishing a new gambling casino just a little over two hours’ drive away across the Louisiana-Texas border in nearby Livingston, Texas. He convinced them that these new rival ventures, if left unchecked, posed a threat to their casino operations and would siphon off customers from their casino.
Ralph Reed designed and carried out many of these grassroots campaigns and was paid handsomely for his efforts.
Ultimately, having collected about $30,000,000 from the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe during the relevant period, Mr. Scanlon secretly kicked back approximately $11,450,000 to Mr. Abramoff —about 50 percent of his total profit from the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe. This sum includes a payment of $1,000,000 that Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon manipulated the Tribe into paying to Mr. Abramoff’s private charity, the Capital Athletic Foundation (“CAF”).
Ralph Reed secretly received millions of dollars as well from the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe. These funds were knowingly laundered through shell organizations to disguise their origins.
At the same time, this Coushatta tribal casino turf war was going on between Kinder, Louisiana, and Livingston, Texas, a third Indian tribe had entered this deplorable saga. The Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, more commonly known as the Tigua Tribe, was already successfully operating their Speaking Rock Casino near El Paso, Texas. Geographically, Speaking Rock was clear on the other side of the state from Livingston, Texas, and nine hundred or so miles from the Louisiana-Coushatta’s casino in Kinder, Louisiana.
The Tiguas had already obtained their federal recognition back in 1987 to operate their Speaking Rock Casino. They did so by pledging to obey the Texas gaming laws. However, as far as the Tigua’s Speaking Rock Casino was concerned, the Tigua Tribal leadership believed in and operated under a broad theory. The theory was that the State of Texas had previously cleared the way for their tribal casino to open in 1993 when Texas voters approved the state-wide operation of parimutuel-betting racetracks and a legalized Texas state lottery.
From late 2001 through early 2002, mainly with the assistance of Ralph Reed, Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon covertly conspired to assist Texas state authorities to shut down the Tigua’s Speaking Rock gambling casino for violating federal law. Even though the Louisiana-Coushatta casino was operating in southwest Louisiana and the Tigua’s casino was some nine hundred miles away in El Paso, Texas, Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon succeeded in convincing the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe leadership that the Tigua’s Speaking Rock Casino posed a serious threat to its customer market share. Unfortunately, just as they did with their other competition in Livingston, Texas, the Louisiana-Coushattas were willing to pay handsomely to shut down their perceived competition from the Tiguas. So, in effect, the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe largely funded Ralph Reed and his grassroots efforts to help close down the Tigua’s Speaking Rock Casino.
Working secretly through bogus shell organizations, in concert with Texas State Attorney General John Cornyn, Ralph Reed helped shutter the Speaking Rock Casino. However, despite knowing that shutting down the Tigua’s casino would mean financial devastation for the entire Tigua Tribe, Ralph Reed conspired with his teammates Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon to do just that. Working with Texas State Attorney General Cornyn, Ralph Reed waged a covert and deceptive grassroots campaign to shut down the Tigua casino.
He succeeded. In doing so, he effectively capped off the flow of a $60 million per year gambling revenue stream for the Tiguas. His success sent the entire Tigua Tribe spiraling back into abject poverty, depriving the tribal community of jobs, funding for social programs, healthcare for their elderly, and other benefits derived from the casino operation.
A key element of this Tigua Speaking Rock situation was that the Tigua Tribe’s leadership was utterly unaware that Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed, and Michael Scanlon were working covertly behind the scenes to get their casino shut down. Unfortunately, on February 12th, 2002, Ralph Reed’s unconscionable and covert efforts succeeded, and the Tigua Tribe was officially forced to close their Speaking Rock Casino.
However, the story doesn’t end there. Within a few days came the most egregious maneuver of betrayal, manipulation, and obscene greed on the part of this trio of deceivers. Having succeeded in secretly helping shut down the Tigua Tribe’s Speaking Rock Casino, Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon, again with the knowledge and assistance of Ralph Reed, contacted the Tigua Tribe’s leadership.
Playing the role of potential heroes, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon pitched their lobbying services to the unsuspecting Tigua Tribal officials offering to help re-open ‘Speaking Rock.’ In pitching their services to the Tribe’s leadership, Mr. Abramoff offered to represent the Tigua Tribe on a pro bono basis if it hired Mr. Scanlon for millions of dollars to provide grassroots support for his federal lobbying efforts. Much of that grassroots support activity would come from Ralph Reed and his company Century Strategies. In addition, Ralph Reed would be secretly paid millions of additional dollars for his lobbying and grassroots activity.
The critical point of all of this was that Jack Abramoff orchestrated this arrangement for the Tigua Tribe to hire Michael Scanlon without ever revealing to the Tribe’s leadership his secret fee-splitting financial agreement with Mr. Scanlon.
After they signed the Tigua Tribe on as their client, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, again, with the help of Ralph Reed, promised to insert Tigua-friendly legislative language into a pending Congressional bill. When this bill was passed and signed into law, the inserted legislative language would allow the Tigua Tribe to legally re-open and operate its casino. Michael Scanlon, Jack Abramoff, and Ralph Reed referred to this plan as “Operation Open Doors.”
To be successful, the “Operation Open Doors” plan called for the bribery and cooperation of two members of Congress, former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, and Representative Tom DeLay, the former House Majority Leader. Bob Ney was eventually convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to 30 months in jail. Tom DeLay eventually resigned from Congress, subject to multiple investigations and criminal charges of financial improprieties.
“Operation Open Doors” eventually unraveled and ultimately failed to keep the Speaking Rock Casino open, despite Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon having collected and shared about $4,200,000 from the Tigua Tribe during the relevant period. Ralph Reed was handsomely compensated as well.
A few “Gimme Five” entities owned or controlled by Mr. Abramoff or Mr. Scanlon used in their kickback scheme are especially noteworthy. They will be referenced in the upcoming hearing of Ralph Reed. One was an “international think tank” called the American International Center (“AIC”). With two of Mr. Scanlon’s ‘beach buddies’ sitting on its Board of Directors, AIC’s purpose was actually to collect fees associated with activities conducted by others, such as Ralph Reed, and, in some cases, divert (aka ‘launder’) those fees to other entities owned or controlled by Mr. Scanlon, Mr. Abramoff, and Ralph Reed. In other words, AIC was a sham. From 2001 through 2003, the Choctaw and the Coushatta Tribes paid AIC about $6,308,854.
Much of this money went to Ralph Reed.
Records show that from March through May 2001, AIC paid one of Ralph Reed’s companies, Century Strategies, $2,291,000. And, from June 2001 to February 2002, another Scanlon-controlled entity, Capitol Campaign Strategies (CCS), paid Ralph Reed’s Century Strategies company and another company owned by Ralph Reed called Capitol Media the sum of $1,723,029, for a total of $4,014,029.
According to the plea agreement signed by Jack Abramoff, from 1994 through early 2004, he and his former business partner Michael Scanlon and others, including Ralph Reed and a mutual friend, Grover Norquist, conspired to defraud four Native American Indian tribes that either operated or were interested in operating gaming casinos.
As part of the scheme described in their plea agreements, Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon charged fees incorporating colossal profit margins. They then split the net profits in a secret kickback arrangement.
Huge markups were also a part of Ralph Reed’s modus operandi.
Despite all of this, Ralph Reed was never called before the Senate Investigations Committee on Indian Affairs to testify and answer questions about these facts. Even though the original investigation conclusively determined that Ralph Reed knowingly and willfully conspired with Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon and had been paid an estimated $4,014,029 of Indian Tribe money. A definitive paper trail also documents that Ralph Reed intentionally conspired to use shell companies, such as Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and others, to launder and disguise the money’s origins.
These facts constitute the primary reason behind this book. However, it is certainly not the only reason for this work. As you will discover, the scandalous behavior and activities perpetrated by Ralph Reed in the “Gimme Five” Indian scandal only serve as a small indicator of the depths of depravity to which Ralph Reed has operated over the past several decades.
Now that you have read about the relationship between Ralph Reed, Jack Abramoff, and Michael Scanlon, I repeat the question you now may currently have ricocheting around in your mind, “Why isn’t Ralph Reed in prison?”
This book answers that question. It also takes a detailed look at the despicable, devious, and duplicitous activities of Ralph Reed before, during, and after this scandalous event. It uncovers the history of lies, illegalities, and greed-driven betrayals committed by Ralph Reed, beginning with his rapid rise to power as the Executive Director of the Christian Coalition in 1986. It reveals the truth about Ralph Reed’s involvement in numerous illegal and disreputable activities in support of the fact that he was and still is a charlatan and a consummate flimflam artist of the highest degree.
This book will reveal secrets and expose the truth about Ralph Reed’s life and activities, leaving you in shock, angry, and, once again, asking, “Why isn’t Ralph Reed in prison?”
BEFORE THE HEARING BEGINS
Before we begin our ‘Trial’ of Ralph Reed, it will be valuable to establish my personal frame of reference for the illustrious Mr. Reed.
I grew up a child of the 50s and 60s. One of my fondest remembrances was watching a television series called “Leave it to Beaver.” My absolute favorite character in that series was Eddie Haskell.
If you are like me, you will recall that Eddie was about as two-faced and duplicitous as a human being could be. Whenever he was alone with his best friend Wally and Wally’s brother, “The Beaver,” Eddie was an obnoxious, pompous, and loudmouthed jerk full of wisecracks and putdowns. In other words, a real ‘smartass.’ However, whenever Mr. or Mrs. Cleaver entered the room, Eddie instantly (and effortlessly) converted into a flattering, greasy, and smarmy weasel of a human being. “Why, hello, Mrs. Cleaver. What a lovely dress you’re wearing.” Hilarious stuff and a great television character.
Fast forward about 25 years, and I would meet a real-life “Eddie Haskell” in the form of one ‘Ralph Reed’.
In the summer of 1985, having recently been married, my wife and I came to Virginia Beach, Virginia, to attend graduate school at what is now called Regent University. The university was located on the campus of the Christian Broadcasting Network. I needed to support my new wife and pay our college tuition bills. I also had an underutilized bachelor’s degree in communication from California State University at Fullerton in my hip pocket, so I sought a job with the nearby Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). In completing a job application, the human resources worker, a wonderful woman named Nancy Keith, noticed I had previous law enforcement experience. In 1979, I had medically retired from the Oceanside Police Department in my hometown of Oceanside, California, due to injuries sustained in the line of duty. Nancy explained that the Founder and President of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson, was rumored to be starting a campaign for President of the United States. As a result, his Security Department was looking for people with law enforcement experience to act as his personal security. She asked if I would be interested, and I jumped at the chance.
A few weeks later, I was at Pat Robertson’s side as one of his executive protection officers (aka ‘bodyguards’) as he pursued the highest office in the land through his political action committee ‘Americans for Robertson.’ Eventually, I became the Director of Security for the entire Christian Broadcasting Network, working closely with its numerous affiliated entities. One of those entities was a new organization, the Christian Coalition, formed in 1989 as a political action organization ‘spin-off’ salvaged from the remnants of Pat’s ‘Americans For Robertson’ and his failed run for the U.S. presidency.
I first met Ralph Reed at the Christian Coalition offices in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake, Virginia, just a stone’s throw from the CBN complex. As part of our executive protection duties, we often escorted Pat Robertson to the newly established Christian Coalition offices to participate in some afternoon meetings.
One of the street skills that I had acquired, like most cops, was what I like to call my “bullshit detector.” I often relied on my ability to get an instantaneous ‘read’ on most individuals I had just made initial contact with in the field. Fortunately, this skill translated well to my executive protection work for Pat Robertson at CBN. From the moment I first laid eyes on Ralph Reed, my well-tuned “bullshit detector” went off in my head like a klaxon horn. The first term that popped into my head was “smarmy.”
I was not wrong.
Another thing was that Ralph always reminded me of a bratty young kid due to his diminutive size and physical stature. The kind of little boy who secretly put on his dad’s business suit, complete with a pair of well-buffed wing-tipped shoes, bold tie, and gold cufflinks, who strutted around like an arrogant peacock trying to impress people about his importance. Ralph struck me as the kind of kid who was always picked dead last for the neighborhood sandlot baseball games, was assigned by default to play right field, and who struck out every time at-bat due to a lack of physical prowess. In a fair physical fight, I thought this guy would last about as long as a fart in a whirlwind. These observations would be supported by the award-winning author Nina J. Easton in her excellent book, “Gang of Five.” In the book, she describes Ralph Reed by writing,
“Nor did his delicate nose, slight build, and shock of brunette hair fully capture the aura that intimidated some classmates at the University of Georgia, and magnetically lured others. In Ralph there was an underlay of danger and aggression that, in a larger boy, might have been siphoned off into sports. But Ralph wasn’t athletic (in fact he always resented all the attention accorded athletes), and so all this belligerence got pent up in his almost feminine features. His was a face tirelessly sizing up the opposition, readying for engagement, radiating an eagerness to confront the world. In yearbook pictures, Ralph is smaller than other boys, smaller even than many of the girls posing next to him.”
Nina J. Easton, “Gang of Five,” page 112
The second thought that went through my mind was, once again, about Pat Robertson’s consistent lack of discernment with people. “Pat’s done it again,” I thought. He had put another greasy, slick-talking, sycophantic ‘weasel’ in a position of authority in one of his most significant and influential organizations.
Again, I thought, “Pat Robertson never learns.”
In my estimation, whenever I spent more than five minutes in the presence of Ralph Reed, I just wanted to go somewhere to get ‘steam cleaned’ and ensure I still had my wallet on me. Ralph’s flimflammery ‘vibe’ was just that palpable.
Ralph Reed headed up Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition from 1986 to 1997. He seemed unstoppable. On May 15th, 1995, Ralph Reed was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, billboarded as “The Right Hand of God.” But, in reality, Ralph Reed had created a house of cards that would soon fall apart due to his self-serving actions, ego-driven decisions, and unlawful operating procedures and activities.
Many people feel that the significant losses suffered by the Republican party in the 1996 elections would be the catalyst for Ralph Reed’s exit from the Christian Coalition. But, more realistically, his departure came about more like the often-used movie plot when the naïve, good-hearted citizens of the township finally realize that they’ve been slickered by the charismatic, fast-talking ‘flim-flam’ man. Once found out, he quickly packs his well-worn carpetbag and scrambles for the safety of the city limits, only to begin a search for new “rubes” to swindle.
The fact of the matter, as you will read in this book, is that Ralph Reed operated the Christian Coalition with reckless abandon, a complete disregard for the law, and left it under a massive cloud of suspicion and legal improprieties, some leading all the way to the Oval Office. He exploited the Christian Coalition to gain robust name recognition for himself, enrich and benefit his friends, and collect an impressive assembly of substantial political favors. Ralph would eventually ‘call in’ those favors after moving to the private lobbying sector to, as he put it, “start humping corporate accounts.”
In June of 1997, Ralph Reed fled the Christian Coalition like a scalded dog. Under a little-publicized cloud of improprieties, he opened his own lobbying and political consulting firm, Century Strategies, outside Atlanta. His original business plan called for him to help get “pro-family” politicalcandidates elected across the United States. But, as the record will show, and I’ll discuss later, he failed miserably at that effort.
Within two years of Ralph Reed’s departure, the once-powerful Christian Coalition was over $2.5 million in debt, had gone through numerous employee layoffs, and had experienced significant management changes. To compound their problems, the Christian Coalition was later ordered to pay back taxes due to the IRS. Under Ralph Reed’s leadership, the IRS also determined that the Christian Coalition should lose its vital tax-exempt status for blatantly promoting partisan politics favoring Republican party candidates by creating and distributing millions of supposedly ‘impartial’ Voter Guides Ralph devised, designed, and authorized. The Christian Coalition was also ordered to pay a substantial fine for sharing their proprietary mailing list with the Oliver North political campaign and their overt support of the Newt Gingrich re-election campaign, all being done under Ralph Reed’s direction.
Additionally, the Federal courts reviewed a slew of internal documents about additional potential legal and ethical violations by the Christian Coalition while headed by Ralph Reed. However, Ralph Reed personally saw to it that those government inspectors would never see all those incriminating documents. Sworn testimony by Judy Liebert, the former Chief Financial Officer at the Christian Coalition, confirmed that she was present when Ralph Reed personally shredded and destroyed many crucial and potentially incriminating documents before investigators could build a well-deserved legal case against him.
But that was all behind him now. He had a fresh and clean start at his Century Strategies company. Unfortunately for him, in typical Ralph Reed fashion, he proved to be long on promises but short on execution.
In my personal knowledge and opinion of Ralph Reed, I believe he could have won an Academy Award playing the part of Professor Harold Hill in a production of ‘The Music Man.’ Ralph could undoubtedly sell the concept of ‘76 trombones and a big brass band’, could take the excited people’s money, but was always quick to slink off to another town before it came time to deliver the ‘instruments’ (or, in his case, the ‘votes’) and teach the kids how to play in the band. And the Oscar goes to….
Many of his former associates say Ralph was “a fantastic salesman,” often making grandiose promises to garner clients. Promises such as raising 3 or 4 times more money than his services would cost were the norm. After all, he was Ralph Reed, the former front man for Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, and had been on the cover of Time Magazine. He had a handle on what it takes to get votes from the grassroots conservatives and had a list of celebrity contacts in his back pocket. Better yet, this “flim-flam” man knew exactly how the game worked. Promise them what they want to hear, ensure their check is good, and as soon as the check clears the bank, don’t worry about making good on your promises. In fact, some of Ralph’s associates conveyed that he really didn’t do much other than ‘sell himself’ to his clients. According to one former associate, “He’d say, ‘We’re gonna sign up 10,000 people and make 25,000 phone calls, but he [Reed] knew nobody’s going to go back and count how many phone calls we actually made. That was Ralph all the way.”
Ralph’s own mother once said in a USA Today interview, “I used to tell people he [Ralph] was going to be either President of the United States or Al Capone.” Well, they say, “Mother Knows Best!” (and he sure as hell hasn’t been elected to the Oval Office). However, he did give it a shot when he tried to run for Lt. Governor in Georgia. Ralph arrogantly planned to use that election as a steppingstone to become Governor and then leapfrog from there into the White House. Fortunately for America, he got his ass handed to him in Georgia due to a well-timed lawsuit filed by his ‘Gimme Five’ Indian Tribe scandal victims, the Louisiana-Coushatta Tribe.
