The Story of Harry Reid and his power and greed.

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THE STORY OF HARRY REID

( “How a second-rate politician can become a multimillionaire.”)

In a 1998 real estate deal put together by Jay Brown, a former casino lawyer and longtime friend, Harry Reid purchased two undeveloped residential-property lots on Las Vegas’ rapidly growing outskirts for approximately $400,000. Reid bought one of the parcels on his own and the second one jointly with Brown. In 2001 Reid transferred his interests at a value of $400,000 to a limited liability corporation created by Jay Brown, but he never disclosed the transfer on his annual public ethics report, nor did he inform Congress that he now held a stake in Brown's company. In 2004 Brown's company, having negotiated with local officials to rezone the property for a shopping center (Rory Reid, Harry’s son, had been elected to the Clark County Commission in 2002), sold the land to other developers in a deal that earned Reid $1.1 million -- a $700,000 pre-tax profit on his initial investment. Reid falsely reported the transaction to Congress as a personal land sale.

In 2001 Reid paid cash for a $750,000 condominium at the Washington, D.C. Ritz-Carlton where he resides. When he subsequently gave Christmas bonuses (in 2002, 2004, and 2005) to the doorman and other support staff at his building, he used $3,300 in campaign donations – a violation of federal election law. Reid’s campaign falsely listed the bonuses as campaign “salary” expenditures for two of the years in question, and as a “contribution” for the other year. When news of Reid’s misappropriation of campaign funds became public in 2006, the Senator’s office said the listing as "salary" had been a clerical error. When questioned, Reid announced, “I am reimbursing the campaign from my own pocket to prevent this issue from being used in the current campaign season to deflect attention from Republican failures.” Oh, okay!

In a $286 billion federal transportation bill passed by Congress in 2005, Harry secured $300 million in earmarks for projects in Nevada, including $18 million to fund the construction of a bridge spanning the Colorado River. On the Arizona side of that new bridge, Reid had already purchased 160 acres of undeveloped land. The building of that new bridge caused the value of Reid’s property to skyrocket. Coincidence? You decide.

Between 2002 and 2006, Harry gained monumental government concessions on behalf of a powerful Nevada land developer, Harvey Whittemore, who planned to build thousands of homes and numerous golf courses on 43,000 acres of barren land in an area an hour northeast of Las Vegas. Currently, the land had a bunch of federal restrictions on its use:: One-fourth of it was off-limits to developers because of federal protections for an “endangered” species of desert tortoise that dwelt there; another one-fourth was government-owned and was subject to a federal power-line right of way; and the territory overall was rife with streams and washes that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had designated as crucial to the health of the desert’s ecosystem, and was therefore generally off-limits to construction.

But, and thanks mainly to Harry’s intercession, the Bureau of Land Management agreed to relocate the tortoises to an adjacent federal preserve, thereby opening that portion of Coyote Springs to developers. One obstacle out of the way. The second obstacle was easy: in 2002 Harry inserted some obscure provisions into a land-management bill that relocated the aforementioned power corridor, thereby apparently freeing Whittemore to build on the 10,500-acre parcel he coveted. But the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee balked at the deal, and Reid was forced to negotiate an alternate arrangement where Whittemore was permitted to purchase the land at a fair market rate, then the government would relocated the power corridor. Finally, in 2005 Reid and fellow Nevada congressional member John Ensign used their combined influence with the EPA to remove the final environmental-impact obstacle.
In return for Reid’s help, Whittemore gave tens of thousands of dollars to the senator’s political campaigns and to his “leadership fund” (which Reid used to help bankroll the campaigns of some favored fellow Democrats). In addition, Whittemore gave $5,000 to each of Reid's two sons to finance their efforts to win local political offices. Whittemore also hired one of the sons as his personal lawyer to represent him in his current and future dealings with federal officials.

Between 2001 and 2004, Reid wrote at least four letters pressing the Bush administration to take action on certain issues of importance to Indian tribes that were clients of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, whose staff was in regular contact with Reid’s office, lobbied on behalf of tribes involved in the gambling casino industry. Each time Reid wrote a letter on behalf of the Indian tribes, he collected donations from Abramoff and his lobbying partners and clients around the same time period. All told, these donations totaled nearly $68,000. Also between 2001 and 2004, Reid received more than $50,000 directly from four Indian tribes that were clients of Abramoff.

Harry’s lobbyist friend Abramoff was accused of illegally giving gifts and making campaign donations to legislators in return for votes or support of legislation. He was later convicted in federal court of defrauding Indian tribes. Though Reid was a regular recipient of Abramoff's generosity, he was only nominally implicated.

In 2013 Harry’s friend Harvey Whittemore was convicted of violating federal campaign contribution laws. He was charged with four felonies and convicted on three of the counts. He was sentenced September 2013 to two years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Again, Reid was only nominally implicated.

HARRY, RORY, CLIVEN, THE COMMUNIST CHINESE AND A TURTLE...

Lately we’ve heard a lot regarding the Bureau of Land Management and armed federal agents versus Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. As a consequence of Bundy’s steadfast refusal to give in to the government’s pressure, a light has been shined on a carefully hidden series of affairs that far overshadows the gravity of a cow possibly stepping on a turtle. As we've seen in a prior episode, Harry Reid and his family are putting his position as Senate majority Leader to extremely profitable use. But what's this got to do with a cattle rancher in Southern Nevada whose cows are stepping on turtles? Well, to start with, Cliven's last name was Bundy and not Whittemore, hence, the heavy weapons were sent by the feds.

Right now let's be clear: the desert tortoise isn’t the reason for 200 heavily-armed feds playing storm-troopers. So who and what are the cause of this attempted land grab? If Harry Reid is involved, it boils down to politics and money -- and in this case, with a generous dose of nepotism thrown in. Harry is getting on in years and has two sons to take care of ...

Okay, that explains Harry, Cliven and the turtle's role, but how do Communist China and Harry's son Rory fit in? Well, back in September 2012, it was reluctantly revealed that Harry's son Rory was the paid representative for CHINESE energy giant ENN who plans to build a $5 billion solar farm on public land in Laughlin, Nevada. Rory wasn't acting alone: Senator Reid was also an advocate for the deal. As the details unfold, it turns out Harry was a principal up to his hypocritical chin in the (choose one) 1. Manipulation; 2. Conflict of interest; 3. Use of undue influence; 4. Lying; 5. Misuse of office; 6. Breech of ethics; 7. All of the above. But bear in mind: when you’re Senate Majority Leader … well, you can pull off stunts that the average (law-abiding?) citizen couldn’t get away with in a million years.

Ostensibly, the “official reason” for the government’s interest in this land was to protect the helpless desert tortoise, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act. Just coincidentally, the public land that Cliven Bundy’s cattle have been grazing on is where the Chinese company wants to put its new solar panels. Bundy’s cows were standing in the way of huge profits (to the Chinese, to the Reid family and to Rory's attorney firm).

Now, whether it was the turtle who blew the whistle or the storm-troopers invasion, questions surrounding family ties are flaring again in Nevada around the Senate majority leader. He and his oldest son, Rory, are both involved in an effort by a Chinese energy giant, ENN Energy Group, to build a $5 billion solar farm and panel manufacturing plant in the southern Nevada desert. “Involved” in this Chinese case means there are huge profits available to high-ranking bureaucrats.

Harry Reid has been one of the ENN project's most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on behalf of the project in Nevada. Rory, a lawyer with a prominent Las Vegas firm (that is representing ENN) helped it locate a 9,000-acre desert site that it is buying well below appraised value from Clark County, where Rory formerly chaired the County Commission.

To ensure there can be no suspicion of conflict of interest or unethical dealings, Rory Reid recently said, "I have never discussed the project with my father or his staff." Oh, right! And what does Harry say? A spokeswoman for the senator claimed he has not once discussed the project with his son.

We have a $5 billion project that both men are heavily involved with and they haven’t once discussed the project with one another? Oh, please!

I don't know which is most disturbing, watching the guy who hasn't even time to propose a budget for our nation spending all his time on his personal wealth, or him thinking (knowing?) that I'm too dumb to know what he's doing. Who the hell elected this guy, anyway?