Ralph Reed In A Texas Prison

Actually, it sounds like the criminal penalty for lobbying without registering with Texas authorities is a monetary one, but it's still early days.

Reed bragged in an e-mail that his lobbying organization was in touch with Texas Attorney General John Cornyn to influence Texas laws:

Reed is running for lieutenant governor of Georgia, and his bid has been complicated by his connections with Abramoff. A Senate committee investigating Abramoff released e-mails in which he and Reed discuss efforts to block gambling operations in Texas. In one, Reed says, "We have talked to the AG's office," referring to the office of then-Attorney General John Cornyn.

Reed himself had to have had a conversation with a state official or employee about the casino to trigger the lobbying-registration rules, said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice. "We don't know all the facts," he said. "There's a whole host of implications in his e-mails that he himself is making direct contact."

Perhaps Reed was lying in the e-mails. Either he's lying then or he's lying now.