Senator: Reed helped to conceal Indian payments

By ALAN JUDD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 11/02/05

Ralph Reed helped orchestrate an effort to conceal payments he received from the gambling revenues of a Louisiana Indian tribe, according to a U.S. Senator speaking at a hearing in Washington.

Reed directed that his compensation from the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana be routed through "a variety of entities ... because of his concern about being publicly associated with gambling money," U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said as the Senate Indian Affairs Committee opened its latest in a series of hearings into lobbying fees charged to tribes that own casinos.