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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Reed and Enron
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A young lady called Thursday evening, asking whether we considered Casey Cagle’s TV hit on Ralph Reed, leading on Reed’s work for Enron, a clean hit.
Let us put it this way. Reed — one of two GOP candidates for lieutenant governor — has accused the liberal media of guilt by association when it comes to his association with Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Reed’s got a much better case when it comes to Enron.
The accusation from the New York Times in the late 1990s was that Karl Rove urged Enron head Ken Lay to hire Ralph Reed to do a bit of work for the company, back when Enron was the “it” corporation in America.
The implication was that Enron paid Reed as a substitute for the 2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign, to keep Reed off the books and out of the employ of Bush rivals. An investigation was launched by the Federal Elections Commission. The agency gave Reed a clean bill of health.
One of us, the fellow on the left, went to Harrisburg, Pa., to look into the topic. Reed was chairman of the Georgia Republican party when the issue came up. Enron had hired Reed to help create a campaign in favor of electrical deregulation in Pennsylvania. Later, Reed would advise the company on how to lobby Washington.
Reed would not speak, publicly, to defend himself on the Enron issue. It turns out that Reed hired a Democratic subcontractor to do much of the work in Pennsylvania. But here’s the piece of evidence that most redounded to Reed’s favor: James Carville, the Democratic strategist, told us that he was approached first by the company to do its work, and turned down the job. Reed was hired afterwards.
So there.
Hey, look us over
A voters' guide with all the bells and whistles
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is the time of year when calls start coming in from voters wanting basic information about their local races, what their candidates stand for, how to get an absentee ballot and so forth. We’re happy to say that this year, we have a ready answer, which you can find here.
It’s ajc.com’s newly-launched elections page, complete with a full-service voter’s guide to the candidates – the No. 1 thing callers ask for – a calendar of campaign events, news, information on how to find out what district you’re in, and even a link for those who want to look at candidates’ financial disclosures.
In addition to the Insider, there are two new blogs – Reality Check and Reporter’s Recorder.
Here’s the best part: We want the page to be interactive, so you’ll see links if you have suggestions for how the proprietors can better serve your election needs. Check it out.
About that voter guide: We never knew Judge Hatchett had touched so many people.
