Emmer to head Faith and Freedom Coalition

Posted at 5:50 PM on December 8, 2011 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2012

Republican Tom Emmer will head the Minnesota chapter of the Faith and Freedom coalition.

"I'm excited about this opportunity to work with the Minnesota Faith & Freedom Coalition toward building a stronger conservative grassroots movement in Minnesota as we seek to restore America's greatness and founding principles." Emmer said in a news release.

Emmer, who lost the race for governor in 2010 and has been blamed by one MNGOP official for driving up the party's debt, will lead an organization that is working to build it's organization in the state. The group says it was responsible for making more than 890,000 voter contacts in the state during the 2010 election cycle.

The group, which was formed by former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed, works to increase restrictions on legalized abortion, opposes same-sex marriage, supports "limited government" and opposes tax hikes.

Comments (2)

This is the same Ralph Reed that was implicated by Jack Abramoff in his trial before Abramoff was convicted on numerous felony counts for breaking numerous ethics laws. When running the Christian Coalition Reed called gambling "a cancer on the American body politic" that was "stealing food from the mouths of children." After leaving the Christian Coalition, Reed had a change of heart and became an Indian casino advocate working with Abramoff. Fearful that his Indian lobbying might be made public, Reed had Abramoff launder his payments through two different companies to hide the connection. Reed sent bills to Abramoff and that one of his consulting companies, Century Strategies of Duluth, Georgia, received $250,000. An invoice to Abramoff from another Reed company, Capitol Media, for $100,000, stated only that the payment is for "Louisiana Project Mgmt. Fee." Reed's involvement with the casino effort followed his departure from the Christian Coalition in 1997 and his reinvention of himself as a corporate lobbyist and campaign hatchet man. One of his first clients was the Enron Corporation--a deal arranged by Karl Rove when George W. Bush was starting to think about running for President in 2000. Enron paid Reed's Century Strategies more than $300,000 to generate support for energy deregulation. In the 2000 GOP presidential primary, Reed justified his big Enron fee by helping to smear John McCain during the South Carolina primary. In 2000, he was paid almost $3.7 million for helping Bush. Reed's ethical lapses are the main reason why Georgia voters rejected his bid to become Lt. Governor of Georgia. Reed's rejection of his previous positions was so total that he was condemned by Pat Robertson, his former boss at the Christian Coalition. Reed was such a sleazeball that Abramoff said "he's a bad version of us." Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPWAmMRD-RM And now Emmer's working with Reed?! All I can say is to warn Emmer that if you "lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas."

Posted by Tom | December 9, 2011 11:43 AM

The Faith and Freedom Coalition website has laudatory statements from Donald Trump, Newt Gringrich, Herman Cain and Dick Morris. Apparently you don't have to be a serial adulterer, prostitute customer or divorce champion to be noted by Faith and Freedom, but it clearly helps. Apparently "family values" means that you shiould have as many wives and mistresses as possible. Since the role models the FFC has on its website fit that description, what else could we assume from their highlighting these people? The only person missing is Louisiana Senator David Vitter, famous for his multiple prostitute visits in Washington, D.C. and Louisiana. But Vitter has been hailed as a "family values leader" by the FFC. http://ffcoalition.com/#

Posted by Lucky | December 9, 2011 1:07 PM

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