The Democrats fading campaign of associating Republicans with a Culture of Corruption has been floundering the last few months after accusations that Democratic leaders such as Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and Representative William Jefferson (D-LA) might not be without sin. Their muddled campaign, however, got a shot in the arm with a recent CBS report that Ralph Reed, former leader of the Christian Coalition, was paid $4 million in consulting fees by a proxy for disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to keep three rival Indian tribes from moving in on the gambling stronghold of the Coushatta tribe of Louisiana and the Mississippi Choctaws. The details were spelled out in a report from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

Reed, who left the Christian Coalition in 1997, in order to to start humping in corporate accounts, as he wrote Abramoff in 1998 in an e-mail, now faces a July 18 primary battle for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia under the Republican banner.

While the Senate report notes that the $4 million was never paid directly to Reed but funneled through Abramoff associate and publicist Michael Scanlon and his Capital Campaign Strategies firm and had no connection to casino interests, Reeds opponent in the July primary insinuates otherwise. Republican State Senator Casey Cagle, whos challenging Reed in the Georgia primary, accuses Reed of thumbing his nose at the same tax laws the rest of us are forced to follow.

While having associated himself with Abramoff and the lobbyists connections with Indian gambling money might be Reeds only crime here, Tom Grey, who heads up the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, thinks theres a stigma attached to the $4 million. When you get paid big money, it's got to be gambling money, says Grey. Even Reed admits that voters can draw the same conclusion as Grey, noting that While I believed at the time that those assurances were sufficient [that the money came from Scanlons firm and not casinos], it is now clear with the benefit of hindsight that this is a piece of business I should have declined.

With the primary only weeks away, the 43-year old consultant and candidate finds himself continuing to deflect charges that the money was tainted.

My suggestion? Do the right thing Ralph. Theres still time. Either give the money back or donate it to charity. Immediately.