crazy stuff on this one—so I guess it's ok." In fact, the day before Abramoff had directed Scanlon by email to run some of the fees money directly through his firm: "I want to see if we can pump up our LDA [reporting requirements under the Lobbying Disclosure Act] for the second half to make sure we don't fall out of the top ten [lobbying firms]. I can achieve this if I can run some of the money for the Coushattas through the firm and then get it to CCS." Abramoff deceived both the Coushatta and Greenberg Traurig by having the money redirected as a donation to the Capital Athletic Foundation. Abramoff and Scanlon suggested to the Coushatta that they ought to support Christian evangelical conservatives, as they were expected to oppose gaming expansion in Texas. Abramoff specifically suggested the tribe work with Republican Ralph Reed but, according to a tribal leader, he warned that "it can't get out ... It wouldn't look good if they're receiving money from a casino-operating tribe to oppose gaming. It would be kind of like hypocritical." The tribe paid Reed via Southern Underwriters, a Louisiana insurance company, which made payments to American International Center, a shell corporation controlled by Scanlon. Scanlon and Abramoff skimmed millions of dollars for themselves from fees paid through this method. Reed worked with Houston pastors and church congregations to demand that the state government prevent the Tigua casinos from opening. Reed also claimed to work directly with John Cornyn; in a November 15 email, Abramoff claimed "Ralph and I spoke last night. Cornyn is supposed to call Ralph as soon as he can make it to a phone after El Paso." However, in a Meet the Press interviews on January 8, 2006, Senator Cornyn denied any direct connection to the lobbyists. In addition to working on grassroots efforts, Abramoff claimed that he had also influenced the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Bill Ratcliff, to prevent a bill to allow the Tigua to open their casino from being scheduled for a vote in the State Senate. The opposition efforts succeeded, and the Tigua officially closed their casino on February 12, 2002. "Saving" the Tigua As the Tigua casino was being closed, Abramoff was trying to contact the Tigua tribe. He reached the Tigua's public relations representative Marc Schwartz on February 6, 2002, and met with the tribal council on February 12.