Big Trouble Heading In Harry Reid’s Direction?
This LA Times article is potentially disastrous news for Senate Democrats.
It’s hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled.
In 2002, Reid (D-NV) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend for 50 years. The payment gave the senator full control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City that Reid and the pension fund had jointly owned. Reid’s price for the equivalent of 60 acres of undeveloped desert was less than one-tenth of the value the assessor placed on it at the time.
Haven’t we heard of Harry’s real estate bargains before? Did Reid think that nobody would notice? Frankly, Dingy Harry has gotten more great deals than any American politician in my lifetime.
What’s worse news for Democrats is that they’re betwixt and between on this. If they don’t make an example of Reid’s shady land deals, then they’ll be characterized as totally corrupt. Remember that Reid short-changed an employee pension fund, giving them only 10 cents on their retirement dollar. Based on this article, the assessor valued the property at more than $100,000 per acre. I’m not a real estate expert but that seems cheap in a hot real estate market.
If they do make an example of him and expel him from the Senate, that gives Jim Gibbons, the Republican governor or Nevada, the power to name Reid’s successor. If the Democrats don’t make an example of Reid, people will know that they aren’t worthy of the public’s trust. They’ll know that Democrats will sell out anyone for a buck.
Believe it or not, it gets worse:
Six months after the deal closed, Reid introduced legislation to address the plight of lubricants dealers who had their supplies disrupted by the decisions of big oil companies. It was an issue the Haycock family had brought to Reid’s attention in 1994, according to a source familiar with the events.
Can you say quid pro quo? It’s difficult, if not impossible, to conclude that this was slush money paid to Reid for his intervention on a constituent’s behalf.
If Reid were to sell the property for any of the various estimates of its value, his gain on the $10,000 investment could range from $50,000 to $290,000.
That’s probably the most conservative thing that I’ve heard from the LA Times in ages. Based on their own reporting, Reid paid $166 per acre was “less than one tenth” of what the assessor valued the land at. Frankly, I’m skeptical of that assessment. Frankly, I can’t imagine this land not being worth $50,000 per 1/3 acre lot, not $166 per acre. That would put Reid’s eventual profits alot higher than $290,000.
Based on this information, this deal makes Hillary’s futures deal all those years ago look modest. And that takes some doing. That takes alot of doing.
In a statement, Reid’s spokesman Jon Summers said that the transaction was not a gift and that the price was due to the property’s history and the fact that only a partial interest was sold. Reid’s action on the lubricants issue was unrelated to the sale and reflected the senator’s interest in fairness for small businesses, Summers said.
RIIIGGGHHHHTTT. Harry Reid, the small businessman’s hero. That should be his campaign slogan the next time he runs. That is, if he isn’t run out of the Senate before that. If he’s such a friend of small business, why would he have ripped of this small business’s pension fund that badly?
Because an employee pension fund had owned the land Reid purchased, labor law experts contacted by The Times said, a below-market sale would raise additional questions. Pension fund trustees like Clair Haycock have a duty in most cases to sell assets for their market value, the experts said.
“I think this would have been considered a potentially serious issue” at the time, said Ian D. Lanoff, who led the Labor Department’s pension division during the Carter administration…
Let’s suppose for the sake of discussion that Reid didn’t push legislation for this ’small business owner’. Let’s stipulate for this discussion that he simply paid 1/10th of the market value of the land, keeping in mind that Reid essentially bought this from the employees’ pension fund. At a time when pension funds are badly underfunded, this is serious business.
If there is justice in this world, Harry Reid will be run out of town on a rail & Republicans will have a 50-50 split in the Senate. The bad news is that I doubt that there is justice in a Democrat Senate.
Can you say ‘Democrat Culture of Corruption’?
Technorati Tags: Harry Reid, Real Estate, Quid Pro Quo, Corruption, Scandals, Hillary, Pensions
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
January 28th, 2007 at 11:36 am
[...] Cross-posted at California Conservative Categories: Senate, Corruption, Hillary, Investigations, Harry Reid, Capitalism | [...]
January 28th, 2007 at 11:53 am
[...] Original post by Gary Gross and software by Elliott Back [...]
January 28th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Its too bad the Republican party is so afraid to fight and linguini spined as to be non existant right now. If the tables were reversed, we’d hearing a drum beat from the networks about this night, after night, after night.
January 28th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
This is the best you can do today? I thought for sure you’d be ranting about how the Iraqis are finding common ground with the Democrats, not some dug-up land deal between Harry Reid and friends and business associates. But no, Mr. Gross has to take the low road, blabbing on about how improper this deal was… Reid buying some property that friends, in dire circumstances, couldn’t seem to sell. Bad Harry! Don’t help out friends in need, especially when that need is due to shenanigans pulled by Big Oil.
What crap, and how sad. This will, like the land deal brought up before the election (which, having searched high and low on this blog, I cannot find the statements of exonseration that were ultimately issued in the matter (the reporters, known Republican hacks, had basically made up the whole matter, with reputable news organizations calling the allegations “baseless” and “without merit.”
So much for being fair and balanced. And so much for these latest attempts to discredit Sen. Reid.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Liberal-freaks own the major media. Now, a senator democrat is fondling boy’s crotches, and no liberal news station pays attention.
This dude is corrupt and he calls Bush a loser, while he swindles poeples money left and right.
“Howard Hughes Corp. paid Reid’s son-in-law Scott Barringer’s “tiny” law firm $300,000 in lobbying fees and received “a provision allowing the company to acquire 998 acres of federal land ripe for development in the exploding Las Vegas metropolitan area.”
“Between 2003 and 2005, Reid accepted free ringside seats at three Nevada boxing matches. The passes were provided by the Nevada Athletic Commission. Reid accepted the tickets at a time that he was pushing legislation that would diminish the power of the commission.”
“Reid wrote letters and had “routine contacts” with lobbying partners and clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.”
January 29th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Tootuo, Zachary is right. Now, you come along with explosive allegations that Reid is “fondling boy’s crotches” without any source or substantiation. If there’s anyone that is guilty of fondling boy’s crotches whose party affiliation is in question, is is a republican such as Mark Foley or Ted Haggard (and his minions no less!). As for “swindes peoples money…” I suggest you get your inflammatory story right. Harry Reid is involved in real estate in his home state of Nevada. Big deal. At leat he doesn’t have the secret service declare the entire parcel a “secret location” and force the federal government to protect it, block it from commercial airspace use, and take advantage of his public position to rape the taxpayer once again.
But oh well, it’s just business as usual.
January 29th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
If newspapers actually did their jobs, most politicians would be in jail. That includes Republicans in case you were wondering.
January 30th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
“explosive allegations?”
Listen stupid , that’s you Stopbush. Dempcrats are in the business of making such explosive and false allegations just like you. Mark Foley never touched anyone you loser and who the hell is Ted Haggard and what elected office does he hold moron? Explain Barney Franks and Gerry Studs, the recently deceased male page molestor if you have the guts.
And Zachary , shit for brains there is no such thing as “reporters, known Republican hacks” in the MSM. There is however a slew of political hacks on Cable who have worked for Democrat Adminiatrations like Cris Matthews ,idiots like Olberman and by default 90% of the MSM simply because they vote democrat , repeat their “talking points” and lies ad infinitum.
“with reputable news organizations calling the allegations “baseless” and “without merit.”
Ha, I believe you believe that.
They like you are proven liars so STFU. You are nothing but a moron who supports the Criminal Democrat Party of Perpetual Fraud.