Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition and now a Republican strategist, admitted that he accepted $1.23 million in consulting fees tied to Indian-run gambling casinos, The Washington Post reported.
Reed, who also serves as Southeast regional chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, received the fees from two lobbyists whose ties to the Indian tribes are now the subject of a federal investigation.
Sources told The Post that Reed’s Atlanta-based Century Strategies was paid $1.23 million by public relations executive Michael Scanlon, whose clients included a Louisiana Indian tribe that was trying to prevent other tribes from opening competitive casinos. Part of Reed’s job was to mobilize Christian ministers and activists against the new casinos.
Century Strategies also received an unspecified payment from another gaming lobbyist, Jack Abramoff.
Abramoff’s former firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP, said in March that Abramoff was no longer part of the firm because his “personal transactions” were “unacceptable to the firm.”
In a statement to The Post, Reed said he never advocated in favor of gambling, a vice that most Christian leaders consider immoral. (RNS)
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