THE CORNYN-ABRAMOFF-REED CONNECTION

Usually Texas' extreme right wing loon Senator (the crazier male one), John Cornyn doesn't get accused of much except for being extremely dull, almost as ignorant and narrow-minded as Bush, and extremely right wing (which, in much of Texas, is no put down). But even in Texas, people no like it when their congresscritters-- even their furthest right ones-- get caught with their paws in the cookie jar. And yesterday the AUSTIN-AMERICAN STATESMAN reported on the link between Tom DeLay consigliere/indicted Republican influence peddler Jack Abramoff, unindicted co-conspirator/fundalmentalist hypocrite Ralph Reed and the Texas nutcase.

AP's Suzanne Gamboa reported that as part of the Reed/Abramoff conspiracy to rip off several American Indian tribes for millions of dollars while tricking Christian fundies (who they refer to as "the crazies") into voting in their casino scheme, Reed was bragging to Abramoff how he was able to choreograph Cornyn (then Texas Attorney General) and get him to do what Abramoff needed.

Abramoff was paying Reed (as well as right-wing ideology fuehrer Grover Norquist) immense sums of money so he could steal as much as $80 million dollars from the Indian tribes in a somewhat complicated scheme (which I tried explaining last month here). One of Reed's tasks was to get the Alabama-Coushatta and Tigua casinos closed in Texas. The AP article states that in a just-released November 30, 2001 e-mail (that is part of Abramoff's criminal investigation) "Reed told Abramoff that 50 pastors led by Ed Young, of Second Baptist Church in Houston, would meet with Cornyn to urge him to shut down the Alabama-Coushatta tribe's casino near Livingston. He said Young would back up the request in writing.
'We have also choreographed Cornyn's response. The AG will state that the law is clear, talk about how much he wants to avoid repetition of El Paso (where the Tigua casino was) and pledge to take swift action to enforce the law,' Reed wrote. 'He will also personally hand Ed Young a letter that commits him to take action in Livingston.'"

Cornyn claims he doesn't know Abramoff-- making him virtually the only Republican in America who doesn't (if you believe him)-- but he does confess to knowing Reed. He also claims, according to Gamboa, that "he did not remember receiving a letter from Young or Reed, or providing a letter to Young." In a move to protect Cornyn's "good name," fellow Republican senator John McCain, head of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which is investigating this scandal, blocked out Cornyn's name in the released e-mails. That fooled no one at all, thanks to sloppy work on the committee and no is now denying that all the references were to Cornyn.

One of Reed's flacks refused to respond directly to questions about whether Reed had copies of or had seen Young's letter, or details about how he "choreographed" a response from Cornyn. There is no mention in the e-mails disclosed this far of Cornyn getting any money directly for his efforts. This investigation, however, is likely to sink Reed's attempt to run for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia because the e-mails clearly show that he has been lying about his participation from the very beginning.