Religious Right Icons Tied to Disgraced Republican Lobbyist Jack Abramoff 
The group "launched an online and TV campaign Wednesday...saying the three 'have a serious gambling problem' and citing ties to disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff who worked on behalf of Indian casino gaming."
In addition, they're placing a single ad in the New York Times.
Although the campaign was launched just yesterday, Political Cortex's own Frederick Clarkson has been the primary driver for this story from the beginning:
Way back in December of 2005, it was Fred who alerted us to "Lucky Louie" Sheldon and his implication in the Abramoff-related Gambling Scandal:
Rev. Lou Sheldon, founder of the California-based Traditional Values Coalition has long been among the most stridently anti-gay crusaders of the Christian Right.
However, The Washington Post reveals that he is now implicated in the widening Washington, DC corruption scandal centered around conservative Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Previously, Ralph Reed, the founding executive director of the Christian Coalition, and now a political consultant, had been linked to receiving money from gambling interests tied to Abramoff -- even as he was publicly working on anti-gambling issues for another client.
The next installment came on January 10, with Jack Abramoff & The Religious Right, Cont.:
Last week, on the eve of GOP superlobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty pleas in a widening federal corruption probe, I summarized the relationship between Abramoff, several religious right leaders, and Abramoff's lobbying campaign on behalf of eLottery, an internet gambling company. Abramoff funneled eLottery cash to three religious right entities as part of his campaign to derail the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 2000. A company headed by Ralph Reed, the founding executive director of the Christian Coalition had received $150,000; The Traditional Values Coalition, headed by Rev. Lou Sheldon, received $25,000; and Toward Tradition, an Orthodox Jewish foundation based in Seattle and headed by Rabbi Daniel Lapin, received $25,000 from eLottery. Abramoff was a board member and former board chairman of Toward Tradition.
And then followed up two days later with "Abramoff Scandal is Albatross for Ralph Reed":
...the growing Washington, DC scandal centered around GOP superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, is damaging the campaign for Lt. Governor of Georgia, of former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed -- who has been caught-up in the scandal for months.[...]
Disclosures that Reed once ran an anti-gambling campaign that was secretly financed by casino-owning clients of his friend Abramoff have damaged his ability to raise funds for a bid to become Georgia's next lieutenant governor, other Republicans say. That may undercut his chances of winning an office that he could use as a steppingstone to national political ambitions, they say.[...]
While so far there has been no suggestion that Reed has done anything illegal, his fronting for gambling interests represented by Abramoff, and as the article notes, arranging for money from casino and other gambling interests to be paid to his company indirectly so as to obscure the source of the funds, has tarnished his image as a conservative Christian opponent of gambling.
And then there's Fred's most recent installment, "More on Christian Right & Abramoff":
What did James Dobson know, and when did he know it? That's what Max Blumenthal writing in The Nation wants to know.Christian Right consultant and now, Georgia GOP pol, Ralph Reed and former GOP superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, and now admitted felon, persuaded Christian broadcaster James Dobson to use his national radio broadcast in part of a complicated scheme to help one of Abramoff's clients.
At stake was the possible opening of an Indian casino in one state. Abramoff's client, a tribe that owned a casino in a neighboring state didn't want the competition. So they hired Abramoff, who in turn hired Reed to whip up the Christian Right to stop the casino. Dobson claims he didn't know he was shilling for gambling interests. But Blumenthal points out that he isn't taking questions.
Also check out Talk 2 Action for further, pioneering coverage on this topic:
Religious Right Leaders' Ties to Abramoff Keep Coming Up by Jonathan Hutson on 03/08/2006
Greedy Reedy's Spin Cycle: A Game of Covert Cash by Jonathan Hutson on 02/17/2006
Ralph Reed's Faith and Felony Alliance by Jonathan Hutson on 02/13/2006
Dobson and Abramoff Sittin' in a Tree... by Max Blumenthal on 02/10/2006
Developing...
KEYWORDS: Jack Abramoff, Defend the Constitution, Focus on the Family, James Dobson, Lou Sheldon, Traditional Values Coalition, Christian Coalition, Ralph Reed, Religious Right
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