$380,000 pitch to Enron Bush campaign aide devised lobby plan
BY Joe Stephens, Washington Post
Sunday, February 17, 2002
San Francisco Chronicle
Washington -- Just before the last
presidential election, Bush campaign
adviser Ralph Reed offered to help
Enron Corp. deregulate the electricity
industry by working his "good friends"
in Washington and by mobilizing
religious leaders and pro-family groups
for the cause.
For a $380,000 fee, the conservative
political strategist proposed a broad
lobbying plan that included using
major campaign contributors,
conservative talk shows and nonprofit
organizations to press Congress for
favorable legislation. Reed said he
could place letters from community
leaders on the opinion pages of major
newspapers, producing clips that Reed
would "blast fax" to Capitol Hill.
"We are a loyal member of your team
and are prepared to do whatever fits
your strategic plan," Reed wrote in an
Oct. 23, 2000, memo obtained by the
Washington Post.
"In public policy," he wrote, "it matters
less who has the best arguments and
more who gets heard -- and by whom."
The memo offers a glimpse into the
relationship between Enron and the
influential conservative, who was first
recommended to the company in 1997
by Karl Rove, now a senior Bush
adviser. Reed, head of the
Atlanta-based consulting firm Century
Strategies, is the former executive
director of the Christian Coalition and
current chairman of the Georgia
Republican Party.
Reed has drawn criticism for his 1997
work on a single Enron issue, a
Pennsylvania deregulation matter, but
Century Strategies Vice President Tim
Phillips said yesterday that the firm's
relationship with Enron continued
until October 2001, when it ended by
"mutual agreement."
Phillips said Enron never finalized the
specific lobbying job outlined in Reed's
memo, but he declined to answer
questions about what tasks Reed did
carry out for the Houston company.
Reed did not return phone calls.
Last month, Judicial Watch, a
conservative watchdog group, accused
Rove of arranging the 1997 Enron
contract to avoid paying Reed from
Bush campaign funds. Others have
questioned whether the Bush camp
had hoped to ensure Reed's allegiance
early in the presidential campaign.
Enron has offered little information
about its dealings with Reed.
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