When disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff needed access to the White House, he could generally count on David Safavian, the Bush administration’s top federal procurement officer, who is now facing multiple criminal charges as a result of his Abramoff-related work.
But sometimes, Abramoff needed more access. He always took comfort knowing he could count on his old buddy Ralph Reed.
Reed, a key Bush campaign strategist and the favorite in the 2006 race to become Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, was an obliging, even eager middleman [for Abramoff], judging by e-mail exchanges between the two, which have been obtained by Time. (The e-mails have attracted the interest of federal investigators already looking into whether Abramoff defrauded his Indian clients — a charge he denies.) Ten days after 9/11, for instance, Abramoff was promoting a business venture to rent cruise ships to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to billet rescue workers off New York City. Reed assured Abramoff he had “put in a tag call to Karl to find out the best contact at FEMA.”
Four months later, Abramoff wrote Reed that he needed some “serious swat from Karl” to get the Justice Department to free $16.3 million for a jail that his Choctaw Indian clients were planning to build in Mississippi. As it happened, Abramoff had caught Reed at a ripe moment. “Am at a lunch with Rove at the [Republican National Committee] meeting and just talked to the AG [then Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, now a U.S. senator],” he e-mailed Abramoff on his BlackBerry. “Will report the substance shortly.” Reed agreed to give Rove materials arguing the Choctaws’ case.
In December 2001 the lobbyist was eager to prevent Angela Williams from being appointed head of the Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs, which oversees the government’s dealings with the Northern Mariana Islands, an important Abramoff client. Williams is married to former Federal Trade Commissioner Orson Swindle, who was a Vietnam p.o.w. with Senator John McCain. The subject header of Abramoff and Reed’s e-mail exchange (it is unclear who initiated it) contained a misstatement about Williams that is practically Freudian in what it reveals about their animosity toward McCain: “Were you able to whack McCain’s wife yet?” Reed assured Abramoff he had “weighed in heavily” with the White House personnel office to block her appointment but had received no commitment. “Any ideas on how we can make sure she does not get it?” Abramoff asked. “Can you ping Karl on this? I can’t believe they just don’t get this done?” Reed replied, “I am seeing him tomorrow at the WH and plan to discuss it with him as well.”
Keep in mind that Reed and Abramoff worked together successfully. These weren’t incidents in which two corrupt hacks made requests of each other that never came to fruition. Reed accepted gambling money, and a casino’s materials ended up in Karl Rove’s hands. Rove asked for Angel Williams’ nomination to the Interior Department to be “whacked,” and it was.
Also keep in mind, Reed is continuing his campaign in Georgia to be the next Lieutenant Governor. His defense for his work with Abramoff? Reed claims not to remember all the work he did with and for Abramoff. And his defense for accepting all that casino money?
Reed has rested his defense on fine distinctions, saying the payments he received from Indian tribes didn’t come from gambling. But that line may be tested when the Senate Indian Affairs Committee — chaired by his old nemesis McCain — holds another hearing on the Abramoff scandal next week. Reed has not yet been called to testify, but the hearing will focus on the Louisiana Coushattas, whom Abramoff arranged to pay more than a million dollars to Reed for his services.
Inconveniently, the tribe has no profitmaking ventures other than gambling. (emphasis added)
The corruption is simply breathtaking.