Charles Shiflett Column June 26, 2005

I Hope Confession Is Good For The Soul

They say confession is good for the soul. I guess I'll find out after I finish writing today's column. Last
week former state representative Bob Irvin, who served as the Republican leader in the state house,
wrote a pointed letter asking Ralph Reed to drop out of next year's election for lieutenant governor for
the sake of the party.

After perusing Bob's letter, I decided I would unload some inside politics secrets about Reed's
ascendancy to the chairmanship of the Georgia Republican Party.

One reason Democrats in the peach state maintained their dominant majority for over a century, was
their ability to work within the party framework. If a newly elected state rep or senator played by the
rules, he or she would quickly move up the ranks. Buck the party leadership and retribution would be
sure to follow… everything from bad committee assignments to bills being bottled up in committee.

As the minority party, GOP leaders didn't have a big enough stick or deep enough basket of goodies
to keep the elephant gang in line. Throw in the fact that Republicans just tend to be more
individualistic, and it became an almost impossible task to stop them from destroying themselves.

Until the breakthrough of 2002 when the GOP grabbed the governor's office and gained a majority in
the state senate, Republicans spent most of their time involved in intra-party squabbles. I had a front
row seat at those legendary GOP state convention battles of the late 1980's and early 1990's and
could fill these pages for weeks with all the dirt that now has been swept under the rug.

It was during the 1980's that I first met Ralph Reed as he helped spearhead Pat Robertson's 1988
presidential bid. Ralph accumulated a lot of political power very quickly and became a player heading
up the national Christian Coalition.

Now fast forward to 2001… I had just finished a stint working for then Georgia GOP chairman Chuck
Clay as communications director of the state party. Ralph Reed had launched a campaign to be
elected party chair to succeed Clay. His primary opposition was current state senator David Schaffer
who had served as executive director of the state party back in the early 90's.

I'll say this about Ralph Reed… he's a determined individual who usually gets what he wants. He's
also the type of person who I've seen step on whomever he had to in order to accomplish his goals. I
didn't know that side of Ralph back in early 2001.

The chairman's election that year would take place at the state convention in May and insiders were
trying to put together a strategy to insure that Reed defeated Schaffer. Having been involved with state
GOP politics since the 1980's I knew the players. I also had experience helping organize state
conventions, so the Reed people at Republican headquarters hired me to assist with putting together
the 2001 convention.

We held strategy meetings and formulated our plans. One of my assignments was to analyze every
county delegation and determine whether they leaned toward Reed or Schaffer. I then designed the
convention seating so that the front sections, those along the main aisles, and those around the floor
microphones would be dominated by those primarily supporting Reed.

The delegates supporting Schaffer were broken up into smaller groups and scattered along the back of
the convention hall and along the outside walls. Though Reed's lead over Schaffer heading into the
Saturday vote was small, we created the illusion among the roughly 2,000 delegates that Reed was
way out front.

My last conversation with Ralph was a couple of minutes before he gave his stump speech that day. I
had hastily written a couple of lines for him to open his speech with… which he delivered beautifully.
Everything the team involved in Reed's campaign had done seemed to work. The undecided votes
broke for Reed and the chairmanship was his.

Within minutes of the convention being gaveled to a close, Reed's demeanor changed and most of the
folks who had helped him were shoved aside. Over the ensuing months I watched as Reed used the
chairman's office to position himself to be the GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2006.

It was widely expected that Roy Barnes would be finishing his second term in '06 and Reed would be
gunning for the open office. With very little backing from Reed's state GOP machine, Sonny Perdue
pulled the upset over Barnes in 2002 and also derailed Ralph's plans.

Here we are in 2005… Sonny will be seeking reelection next year, so Ralph Reed needs to run for
something now to maintain his visibility. Reed sees the lieutenant governor's office as a stepping-stone
to the governor's mansion in 2010. Running for U.S. Senate or the White House down the road aren't
beyond his aspirations.

Most people involved at higher-level politics are hard driving individuals who fight to win, and there's
nothing wrong with that. Ralph has assembled a top-notch campaign team and is raising huge sums of
money. A number of folks are stating concerns about Reed's candidacy, but it will be tough to slow
him down.

In his letter, Bob Irvin states his case as to how Ralph's campaign could destroy the Republican Party
in Georgia and Irvin calls on him to withdraw. I know some of this inside politics stuff can be a little
boring, but the ramifications of this shot across the bow by Irvin could help change the course of
history. Will there be a President Reed? There have been stranger choices.