Georgia Voters Punish Reed for Alabama Sins
Ralph Reed Becomes the First Abramoff/Scanlon Crony to Fall
Will Bob Riley Be Next?
Conservative voters in Georgia rejected prominent Republican lobbyist and operative Ralph Reed Tuesday in his race for Lieutenant Governor, due in large part to his connections with out of state Indian casino money.
Like Bob Riley, Reed’s connections to gambling interests were revealed in a report by U.S. Senator John McCain’s Indian Affairs committee.
"Ralph Reed refused to explain or apologize for his unethical and deceitful tactics, and the voters in Georgia punished him for it," Alabama Democratic Party Executive Director Jim Spearman says in a press release. "If Bob Riley and the Alabama Choctaw Party continue to stonewall and refuse to tell the truth about their connections to this same Indian casino money, then Alabama voters will reject them as well. Bob Riley benefited from the same operation that his fellow Republicans have called 'manipulating Christians for casinos'."
McCain’s report quotes William Worfel of Louisiana’s Coushata Tribe as saying that the Mississippi Choctaw Indians spent $13 million "to get the Governor of Alabama elected," laundering the money through a lobbying firm run by former Riley spokesman and convicted felon Michael Scanlon and his partner Jack Abramoff.
At least one Alabama newspaper has called for Riley to publicly explain his relationship to ex-Riley aide and felon Michael Scanlon and account for the money funneled to his campaign by the Mississippi Choctaw Indians, although most of the mainstream press in Alabama continues to promote the chamber of commerce myth that Bob Riley's Alabama is booming and he's somehow responsible.
"How much money did Riley get from the Alabama Choctaw Indians?" Spearman asks. "As a candidate for our state’s top office, Bob Riley has a covenant with Alabama voters to answer this and other questions about who really in charge of the Alabama Governor’s office."