To reach the House conservatives, Abramoff turned to Sheldon, leader of the Orange County, Calif. - based Traditional Values Coalition, a politically potent group that publicly opposed gambling and said it represented 43,000 churches. ... Checks and e-mails obtained by The Post show that Abramoff recruited Reed to join Sheldon in the effort to pressure members of Congress. Reed had left the Christian Coalition in 1997 and started a political consulting firm in Georgia.

Abramoff asked eLottery to write a check in June 2000 to Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition (TVC). He also routed eLottery money to a Reed company, using two intermediaries, which had the effect of obscuring the source.

Abramoff funneled the eLottery money through Norquist’s group, which funneled it to Faith and Family Alliance before it enriched Reed’s company. Norquist’s group siphoned off a percentage as the money passed through its accounts. Faith and Family Alliance was a right wing organization that employed Robin Vanderwall as its director.

Vanderwall, a former Regent University Law School student and Republican operative, was later convicted of soliciting sex with minors via the Internet and is serving a seven-year term in Virginia state prison. ... "I was operating as a shell," Vanderwall said, adding that he was never told how the money was spent. He said: "I regret having had anything to do with it."

Abramoff also enlisted the help of Tom DeLay’s aide, Tony Rudy, to defeat the bill. In addition to bringing Rudy along on the infamous golfing trip to Scotland, “Abramoff also arranged for eLottery to pay $25,000 to a Jewish foundation that hired Rudy’s wife as a consultant …. Months later, Rudy himself was hired as a lobbyist by Abramoff.” In exchange for the favors, Rudy shared internal congressional communications with Abramoff.

Rudy worked with Abramoff and Sheldon to convince DeLay to change his position on the anti-gambling bill. They succeeded, as DeLay told House Republican leaders that he was prepared to oppose the bill.

The lengthy linked article details the political maneuvers that Abramoff, DeLay, and their cohorts orchestrated to assure that the bill didn’t receive an up or down vote. One of their Orwellian ploys: targeting conservative representatives by attacking their support for the anti-gambling bill as proof that they were “soft on gambling.”