archy

It couldn't happen to a more deserving guy
Jane at Firedoglake has been on a big-time roll this week. Yesterday she had a post that was guaranteed to warm the hackles of my beady little heart.

Ralph Reed is in deep shit.

It seems that while professional fundie flogger Ralph was sucking in $4.2 million in lobbyist fees from Jack Abramoff to whip the gun-rack-and-Gaither-set into a full-on anti-gambling lather that gave John Cornyn cover as Texas AG to shut down the Indian casinos competing with Abramoff's clients, he failed to register in the state of Texas as a lobbyist:

Under Texas law, Reed was required to register as a lobbyist and disclose his client and his fees if he was compensated more than $1,000 in a calendar quarter for lobbying Texas officials. Reed was reportedly paid many times that amount. Failure to register is a Class A misdemeanor and can bring a civil fine of up to three times the amount of unreported compensation.

Reed is deeply involved in the Abramoff scandals. I've been watching Ralph Reed for some time. I regard him as one of the most dangerous of the new breed of Republicans. Reed is a former head of the College Republicans. He first became visible on a national stage in 1988 as Pat Robertson's sidekick and the head of the Christian Coalition. In the late nineties, he turned to consulting and managed the campaigns of a number of prominent Southern Republicans (with mixed results). He is currently running for Lt. Governor of Georgia. I'm convinced that he has his eyes on the White House. A twelve million dollar fine would put a nice crimp in his plans.

Little Raphie is not formaly under investigation yet. Common Cause Texas and Public Citizen are petitioning the Travis County Attorney, David Escamilla, to change that and investigate his lobbying activities. If you are in Texas you should add your voice to their effort.