Summary: While Ralph Reed was working on the Bush presidential campaign, he was hired by Microsoft to try to influence Bush to scale back the pending government antitrust case against the software company. When The New York Times uncovered the story, Reed was forced to apologize and to promise not to lobby him. However, that didn't prevent Reed from setting up a lucrative lobbying practice.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Microsoft hired Ralph Reed, who was working on then-candidate George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, to lobby Bush against the pending government antitrust case against the software company. In a report in The New York Times about Reed’s contract, he refused to talk about the deal, saying, “We have a policy of not discussing our clients.” But a Microsoft spokesman confirmed that the company had hired Reed’s firm, Century Strategies, to “counter a comprehensive lobbying campaign by our competitors,” and that the company was lobbying all the presidential candidates.

The Times reported that a senior project manager for Century Strategies had laid out a detailed plan for recruiting senior Bush supporters from around the country. The supporters were being asked to write letters to Bush saying they believed that the government’s antitrust case was misguided. The firm was screening these supporters to make sure that they were influential with the Bush campaign. One lobbyist said that Century Strategies was offering regional contractors $300 for each letter they generated, which was considered a high price.

The day after the report appeared in the Times, Reed apologized for lobbying Bush on the antitrust issue and promised not to lobby him on the behalf of Microsoft or others. A few days later, Bush made light of the affair at a Republican National Committee fundraiser, quipping. “Ralph Reed is right; Microsoft 98's a heck of a good program.” President Bush raised $62,250 from Microsoft’s PAC, executives, and their families, for his 2000 campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and another $197,425 for his 2004 campaign. In 2001, the Bush Justice Department stated it would no longer seek a break up of Microsoft, as mandated in a June 2000 U.S. District court ruling, which had been reversed in a June 2001 federal appeals court order.

Reed continued to work for Microsoft. In April 2005, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported he was on retainer for $20,000 a month. The company severed ties with Reed in May 2005 after liberal activists put pressure on the company, upset that it had removed its support from a Washington state gay rights bill the company had backed in the past. The bill would have made it illegal to discriminate against gays in housing, employment, and insurance. Microsoft has since said that it will support the legislation in the future.