Reed campaign challenges claim in widely circulated e-mail.
Ralph Reed's campaign is denying reports circulated in an e-mail to Georgia news outlets that the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor is losing business at his political consulting firm and having to lay off employees.
The e-mail, which was sent by a rival's campaign consultant, suggested Reed was having business difficulties because of press coverage of his involvement with high-profile Washington power brokers to oppose a gambling casino in Texas and a statewide lottery in Alabama in campaigns surreptitiously funded by rival gambling interests.
Reed, former executive director of the national Christian Coalition who has strong ties to the Bush White House, has not been accused of wrong doing, but revelations about his activities have turned his first bid for elective office into a national race to watch.
In the race, still 14 months off, Reed faces state Sen. Casey Cagle for the GOP nomination for Georgia's second-highest office, now held by Democrat Mark Taylor. Taylor is seeking his party's nomination to challenge Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue for the governor's office.
The e-mail was sent by Joel McElhannon, Cagle's political consultant, who wrote in the e-mail that he didn't want the information to be attributed to him or to the Cagle campaign.
"We're hearing things. We thought we'd throw it out there," McElhannon said in an interview. "I'm relaying information shared with me by employees laid off from Century Strategies (Reed's Duluth-based firm)."
Lisa Baron, a spokeswoman for Reed, said the widely circulated e-mail was not true.
"Anyone who has run and operated a successful small business understands that you may staff up or staff down depending on certain projects, but the assertions in the e-mail that is being passed around to reporters in an effort to hurt Ralph Reed is not true," she said.
She said Reed's consulting firm has had between eight and 14 employees since its formation and now has nine. The number has changed within the last two weeks, she acknowledged, but she would not say by how many "out of respect for the privacy rights of our employees."
(5-24-05 article by Dick Pettys of the Associated Press.)
_______________
It's going to be an exciting 14 months between now and the primary.
The e-mail, which was sent by a rival's campaign consultant, suggested Reed was having business difficulties because of press coverage of his involvement with high-profile Washington power brokers to oppose a gambling casino in Texas and a statewide lottery in Alabama in campaigns surreptitiously funded by rival gambling interests.
Reed, former executive director of the national Christian Coalition who has strong ties to the Bush White House, has not been accused of wrong doing, but revelations about his activities have turned his first bid for elective office into a national race to watch.
In the race, still 14 months off, Reed faces state Sen. Casey Cagle for the GOP nomination for Georgia's second-highest office, now held by Democrat Mark Taylor. Taylor is seeking his party's nomination to challenge Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue for the governor's office.
The e-mail was sent by Joel McElhannon, Cagle's political consultant, who wrote in the e-mail that he didn't want the information to be attributed to him or to the Cagle campaign.
"We're hearing things. We thought we'd throw it out there," McElhannon said in an interview. "I'm relaying information shared with me by employees laid off from Century Strategies (Reed's Duluth-based firm)."
Lisa Baron, a spokeswoman for Reed, said the widely circulated e-mail was not true.
"Anyone who has run and operated a successful small business understands that you may staff up or staff down depending on certain projects, but the assertions in the e-mail that is being passed around to reporters in an effort to hurt Ralph Reed is not true," she said.
She said Reed's consulting firm has had between eight and 14 employees since its formation and now has nine. The number has changed within the last two weeks, she acknowledged, but she would not say by how many "out of respect for the privacy rights of our employees."
(5-24-05 article by Dick Pettys of the Associated Press.)
_______________
It's going to be an exciting 14 months between now and the primary.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 3:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home