Ralph Reed Bio

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:22:06 +0000

In January 2005, before Ralph Reed had officially announced his intention to run for lieutenant governor of Georgia, the conservative Washington Times reported that the presidency was Reed’s “ultimate ambition.”

Reed knows what it takes to win the nation’s highest office. He helped George W. Bush win, often using questionable campaign tactics. As a Bush campaign operative in 2000, Reed’s smear campaign in South Carolina against Senator (we need to be consistent. In the next sentence we spell out Senator) John McCain (R-AZ) helped put an end to the maverick’s run. These types of tactics led former New Hampshire Republican Senator Warren Rudman to call him a “baby-faced assassin. He’s silky smooth, butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, but he’s a vicious guy."

From 1989 to 1997, Reed served as executive director of the Christian Coalition, during which time the Federal Election Commission (FEC) investigated the organization, contending that the organization's massive distribution of voter guides constituted illegal corporate contributions of $1.4 million. He was also a board member of the American Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit legal center founded by Pat Robertson and “dedicated to defending and advancing religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the two-parent, marriage-bound family.”

While known for his ties to cultural conservatives, Reed has proven to be quite a prodigious fundraiser from corporate America. As the Southeastern Campaign Chairman for Bush, Reed raised more than $200,000 for the president’s re-election effort. He has amassed a record $1.4 million warchest for his current run for office, almost two and a half times his closest competitor. Reed has also been implicated in the ongoing federal and U.S. Senate investigations into the bilking of $82 million from six Native American tribes.

After leaving the Christian Coalition, Reed founded Century Strategies, a lobbying and consulting firm with offices in Washington, DC and Duluth, GA. The firm works for political campaigns and a number of Fortune 500 companies. His clients have included Enron, Microsoft, and Channel One.

The FEC also investigated whether Reed's work for Enron constituted a campaign contribution for the Bush campaign.

Reed was born in Portsmouth Virginia, and went to school at the University of Georgia and Emory University. He and his wife Jo Anne have four children.

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Ralph Reed Bio