They certainly do.
Ralph Reed: Living on a PrayerBy Andrew Wheat, Texas Observer
Posted on February 9, 2006, Printed on February 20, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/31875/Evidence is mounting that former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed Jr., along with a former leader of the Texas Christian Coalition, may have illegally lobbied Texas state officials on behalf of crooked federal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his clients.
Three Austin-based reform groups -- Common Cause Texas, Public Citizen Texas and Texans For Public Justice, the latter of which employs the author of this article -- urged Travis County prosecutors last December to investigate whether Reed violated Texas' lobby-registration laws four years ago. Correspondence between Abramoff and Reed -- the ex-Christian Coalition leader now running for lieutenant governor of Georgia -- suggests that Reed lobbied Texas officials on behalf of Abramoff's Indian gambling clients without registering as a Texas lobbyist. The $5 million in gambling money that Abramoff reportedly paid Reed for his services would make it one of the largest lobby contracts ever made public in Texas.
The Reed campaign, which did not respond to three requests for comment for this story, previously issued a statement saying that Texas' lobby registration law does not cover the kind of "grassroots" organizing that Reed's firm conducted in Texas. Travis County Attorney David Escamilla told the Texas Observer at press time that his office was still investigating the complaint.
During Jack Abramoff's reign as chair of the College Republican National Committee in the early 1980s, Ralph Reed and GOP operative Grover Norquist each did stints as that committee's executive director. Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew, later helped Reed organize the remnants of evangelist Pat Robertson's failed 1988 presidential bid into the politically potent Christian Coalition in 1989. Reed and Norquist resurfaced a decade later to help Abramoff extract tens of millions of dollars from Indian gambling interests and other clients. Now Abramoff has promised to walk federal prosecutors through his vast web of political corruption, thereby endangering the careers and reputations of members of Congress, other lobbyists and Ralph Reed -- just as the preternaturally young-looking evangelist makes his first bid for public office. These prosecutors have subpoenaed records from Reed but have not identified him as a target of their investigation.
CONTINUED...
http://www.alternet.org/story/31875/ The Family that "Preys" Together...
‘Frauds-R-Us’
The Bush Family SagaPart II - Part I Here
The Family That Preys TogetherFrom Issue No. 41, Covert Action Quarterly , Summer, 1992
by Jack Colhoun
GEORGE JR.'S BCCI CONNECTION"This is an incredible deal, unbelievable for this small company," energy analyst Charles Strain told Forbes magazine, describing the oil production sharing agreement the Harken Energy Corporation signed in January 1990 with Bahrain.
Under the terms of the deal, Harken was given the exclusive right to explore for gas and oil off the shores of the Gulf island nation. If gas or oil were found in waters near two of the world's largest gas and oil fields, Harken would have exclusive marketing and transportation rights for the energy resources. Truly an "incredible deal" for a company that had never drilled an offshore well.
Strain failed to point out, however, the one fact that puts the Harken deal in focus: George Bush, Jr., the eldest son of George and Barbara Bush of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC, is a member of Harken's board of directors, a consultant, and a stockholder in the Texas-based company. In light of this connection, the deal makes more sense. The involvement of Junior-George Walker Bush's childhood nickname-with Harken is a walking conflict of interest. His relationship to President Bush, rather than any business acumen, made him a valuable asset for Harken, the Republican Party benefactors, Middle East oil sheikhs and covert operators who played a part in Harken's Bahrain deal.
In fact, Junior's track record as an oilman is pretty dismal. He began his career in Midland, Texas, in the mid-1970s when he founded Arbusto Energy, Inc. When oil prices dropped in the early 1980s, Arbusto fell upon hard times. Junior was only rescued from business failure when his company was purchased by Spectrum 7 Energy Corporation, a small oil firm owned by William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds. As part of the September 1984 deal, Bush became Spectrum 7's president and was given a 13.6 percent share in the company's stock. Oil prices stayed low and within two years, Spectrum 7 was in trouble.
In the six months before Spectrum 7 was acquired by Harken in 1986, it had lost $400,000. In the buyout deal, George "Jr." and his partners were given more than $2 million worth of Harken stock for the 180-well operation. Made a director and hired as a "consultant" to Harken, Junior received another $600,000 of Harken stock, and has been paid between $42,000 and $120,000 a year since 1986.
CONTINUED...
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3352.htm Raised on the Third Reich, these scuzz were.
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