"Ralph Reed has long been opposed to the expansion of casino gambling. As far back as 1997 he helped pass federal legislation creating the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. The commission found that casino gambling was exploding in America and recommended a two-year pause on gambling expansion.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution claims that a contribution to Americans for Tax Reform by the Choctaw tribe was somehow inappropriate, and attacks Reed because he worked with them. But I have worked with ATR for years, and it is a highly respected anti-tax organization that opposes state-sponsored gambling. In testimony before a Senate committee hearing this week, a Choctaw official said, "We did not have the sense that there was an attempt to obscure the source of the funds. Using intermediaries is common."

Century Strategies, Reed's firm, was hired as a grass-roots subcontractor by a respected law firm. Reed has always said that he knew that firm had tribal clients who might have their own reasons for opposing casinos. Last year he told the Washington Post, "while we were clearly aware that [the law firm] had certain tribal clients, we were not aware of every specific tribe or interest."

Reed was assured by the law firm that the contributions toward his efforts did not derive from gambling activity, and the Senate committee hearing this week confirmed that none of the funds for the anti-gambling work in Alabama came from casinos.

Reed also helped close an illegal casino in Texas that had operated in violation of federal and state law for nine years, raking in some $60 million a year."

Get the Story:
Carolyn Meadows: Reed takes Georgians' side with stance against casinos (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 6/24)
pwday

Committee Exhibits:
Part 1 | Part 2

Witness List/Testimony:
Oversight Hearing Before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the In Re Tribal Lobbying Matters, Et Al (June 22, 2005)

Relevant Links:
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians - http://www.choctaw.org
Century Strategies - http://www.censtrat.com

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