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Harry Reid - Got Caught

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by dbermanmd, Oct 12, 2006.

  1. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    Looks like Old Harry got caught with his hands in the cookie jar. If this is true, he has as of today refused to comment on this new report, he probably should resign. At the least he should give us all full disclosure and pending review should step down from his current post.

    AP Exclusive: Reid Got $1M in Land Sale
    Email this Story

    Oct 11, 7:50 PM (ET)

    By JOHN SOLOMON and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY

    (AP) Senate Minority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. speaks at a news conference in Omaha, Neb. in this...
    Full Image

    WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.

    In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews.

    The Nevada Democrat's deal was engineered by Jay Brown, a longtime friend and former casino lawyer whose name surfaced in a major political bribery trial this summer and in other prior organized crime investigations. He's never been charged with wrongdoing - except for a 1981 federal securities complaint that was settled out of court.

    Land deeds obtained by The Associated Press during a review of Reid's business dealings show:

    (AP) This image of a deed provided by the Clark County (Nev.) Recorder, shows a June 13, 2001, deed with...
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    _The deal began in 1998 when Reid bought undeveloped residential property on Las Vegas' booming outskirts for about $400,000. Reid bought one lot outright, and a second parcel jointly with Brown. One of the sellers was a developer who was benefiting from a government land swap that Reid supported. The seller never talked to Reid.

    _In 2001, Reid sold the land for the same price to a limited liability corporation created by Brown. The senator didn't disclose the sale on his annual public ethics report or tell Congress he had any stake in Brown's company. He continued to report to Congress that he personally owned the land.

    _After getting local officials to rezone the property for a shopping center, Brown's company sold the land in 2004 to other developers and Reid took $1.1 million of the proceeds, nearly tripling the senator's investment. Reid reported it to Congress as a personal land sale.

    The complex dealings allowed Reid to transfer ownership, legal liability and some tax consequences to Brown's company without public knowledge, but still collect a seven-figure payoff nearly three years later.

    Reid hung up the phone when questioned about the deal during an AP interview last week.

    (AP) Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks to reporters following a news conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday,...
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    But in a news conference Wednesday in Las Vegas, the senator said he believed he did nothing wrong but was willing to change his ethics report's account of the sale if the Senate Ethics Committee ordered him to do so.

    "Everything I did was transparent," Reid said. "I paid all the taxes. Everything is fully disclosed to the ethics committee and everyone else. As I said, if there is some technical change that the ethics committee wants, I'll be happy to do that."

    The senator's aides said no money changed hands in 2001 and that Reid instead got an ownership stake in Brown's company equal to the value of his land. Reid continued to pay taxes on the land and didn't disclose the deal because he considered it a "technical transfer," they said.

    They also said they have no documents proving Reid's stake in the company because it was an informal understanding between friends.

    The 1998 purchase "was a normal business transaction at market prices," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. "There were several legal steps associated with the investment during those years that did not alter Senator Reid's actual ownership interest in the land."

    (AP) Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks at a news conference at the City of Las Vegas Fire Training Center...
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    Senate ethics rules require lawmakers to disclose on their annual ethics report all transactions involving investment properties - regardless of profit or loss - and to report any ownership stake in companies.

    Kent Cooper, a former Federal Election Commission official who oversaw government disclosure reports for federal candidates for two decades, said Reid's failure to report the 2001 sale and his ties to Brown's company violated Senate rules.

    "This is very, very clear," Cooper said. "Whether you make a profit or a loss you've got to put that transaction down so the public, voters, can see exactly what kind of money is moving to or from a member of Congress."

    "It is especially disconcerting when you have a member of the leadership, of either party, not putting in the effort to make sure this is a complete and accurate report," said Cooper. "That says something to other members. It says something to the Ethics Committee."

    Other parts of the deal - such as the informal handling of property taxes - raise questions about possible gifts or income reportable to Congress and the IRS, ethics experts said.

    (AP) Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., second from left, tours the City of Las Vegas Fire...
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    Stanley Brand, former Democratic chief counsel of the House, said Reid should have disclosed the 2001 sale and that his omission fits a larger culture in Congress where lawmakers aren't following or enforcing their own rules.

    "It's like everything else we've seen in last two years. If it is not enforced, people think it's not enforced and they get lax and sloppy," Brand said.

    SALE HIDDEN FROM CONGRESS

    Reid and his wife, Landra, personally signed the deeds selling their full interest in the property to Brown's company, Patrick Lane LLC, for the same $400,000 they paid in 1998, records show.

    Despite the sale, Reid continued to report on his public ethics reports that he personally owned the land until it was sold again in 2004. His disclosure forms to Congress do not mention an interest in Patrick Lane or the company's role in the 2004 sale.

    (AP) Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks at a news conference at the City of Las Vegas Fire Training Center...
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    AP first learned of the transaction from a former Reid aide who expressed concern the deal hadn't been properly reported.

    Reid isn't listed anywhere on Patrick Lane's corporate filings with Nevada, even though the land he sold accounted for three-quarters of the company's assets. Brown is listed as the company's manager. Reid's office said Nevada law didn't require Reid to be mentioned in the filings.

    "We have been friends for over 35 years. We didn't need a written agreement between us," Brown said.

    The informalities didn't stop there.

    PROPERTY TAXES LOOSELY HANDLED

    Brown sometimes paid a share of the local property taxes on the lot Reid owned outright between 1998 and 2001, while Reid sometimes paid more than his share of taxes on the second parcel they co-owned.

    And the two men continued to pay the property taxes from their personal checking accounts even after the land was sold to Patrick Lane in 2001, records show.

    Brown said Reid first approached him in 1997 about land purchases and the two men considered the two lots a single investment.

    "During the years of ownership, there may have been occasions that he advanced the property taxes, or that I advanced the property taxes," Brown said. "The bottom line is that between ourselves we always settled up and each of us paid our respective percentages."

    Ultimately, Reid paid about 74 percent of the property taxes, slightly less than his actual 75.1 ownership stake, according to canceled checks kept at the local assessor's office. One year, the property tax payments were delinquent and resulted in a small penalty, the records show.

    Ethics experts said such informality raises questions about whether any of Brown's tax payments amounted to a benefit for Reid. "It might be a gift," Cooper said.

    Brand said the IRS might view the handling of the land taxes as undisclosed income to Reid but it was unlikely to prompt an investigation. "If someone is paying a liability you owe, there may be some income imputed. But at that level, it's pretty small dollars," he said.

    FEDERAL LAND SWAPS

    Nevada land deeds show Reid and his wife first bought the property in January 1998 in a proposed subdivision created partly with federal lands transferred by the Interior Department to private developers.

    Reid's two lots were never owned by the government, but the piece of land joining Reid's property to the street corner - a key to the shopping center deal - came from the government in 1994.

    One of the sellers was Fred Lessman, a vice president of land acquisition at Perma-Bilt Homes.

    Around the time of the 1998 sale, Lessman and his company were completing a complicated federal land transfer that also involved an Arizona-based developer named Del Webb Corp.

    In the deal, Del Webb and Perma-Bilt purchased environmentally sensitive lands in the Lake Tahoe area, transferred them to the government and then got in exchange several pieces of valuable Las Vegas land.

    Lessman was personally involved, writing a March 1997 letter to Interior lobbying for the deal. "This exchange has been through many trials and tribulations ... we do not need to create any more stumbling blocks," Lessman wrote.

    For years, Reid also had been encouraging Interior to make land swaps on behalf of Del Webb, where one of his former aides worked.

    In 1994, Reid wrote a letter with other Nevada lawmakers on behalf of Del Webb, and then met personally with a top federal land official in Nevada. That official claimed in media reports he felt pressured by the senator. Reid denied any pressure.

    The next year, Reid collected $18,000 in political donations from Del Webb's political action committee and employees. Del Webb's efforts to get federal land dragged on.

    In December 1996, Reid wrote a second letter on behalf of Del Webb, urging Interior to answer the company's concerns. The deal came together in summer and fall 1997, with Perma-Bilt joining in.

    In January 1998 - just days before he bought his land - Reid applauded the Lake Tahoe land transfers, saying they would create the "gateway to paradise."

    None of Reid's letters mentioned Perma-Bilt. Reid's office said the senator never met Lessman nor discussed the Lake Tahoe land transfer or his personal land purchase. A real estate attorney handled the 1998 sale at arms-length, aides said.

    "This land investment was completely unrelated to federal land swaps that took place in the mid-1990's," Manley said.

    Lessman said he never talked to Reid or asked for his help before the 1998 land sale, and only met the senator years later at a public event. "Any suggestion that the land sale between Senator Reid and myself is somehow tied in with the Perma-Bilt exchange is completely absurd," Lessman said.

    THE REZONING

    Clark County intended for the property Reid owned to be used solely for new housing, records show. Just days before Reid sold the parcels to Brown's company, Brown sought permission in May 2001 to rezone the properties so a shopping center could be built.

    Career zoning officials objected, saying the request was "inconsistent" with Clark County's master development plan. The town board in Spring Valley, where Reid's property was located, also voted 4-1 to reject the rezoning.

    Brown persisted. The Clark County zoning board followed by the Clark County Commission voted to overrule the recommendation and approve commercial zoning. Such votes were common at the time.

    Before the approval in September 2001, Brown's consultant told commissioners that Reid was involved. "Mr. Brown's partner is Harry Reid, so I think we have people in this community who you can trust to go forward and put a quality project before you," the consultant testified.

    With the rezoning granted, Patrick Lane pursued the shopping center deal. On Jan. 20, 2004, the company sold the property to developers for $1.6 million. Today, a multimillion dollar retail complex sits on the land.

    On Jan. 21, 2004, Reid received more than $1.1 million of the sale proceeds. Reid disclosed the money the following year on his Senate ethics report as a personal sale of land, not mentioning Patrick Lane.

    A BUSINESS PARTNER'S PAST

    Brown has been a behind-the-scenes power broker in Nevada for years, donating to Democrats, Republicans and charities. He represented a major casino in legal cases and dabbled in Nevada's booming real estate market.

    Brown befriended Reid four decades ago, even before Reid served as chairman of the Nevada gaming commission and decided cases involving Brown's clients.

    Brown's name has surfaced in federal investigations involving organized crime, casinos and political bribery since the 1980s.

    This past summer, federal prosecutors introduced testimony at the bribery trial of former Clark County Commission chairman Dario Herrera that Brown had taken money from a Las Vegas strip club owner to influence the commission. Herrera was convicted of taking kickbacks. Brown was never called as a witness.

    Brown declined to discuss past cases where his name surfaced, including Herrara. "The federal government investigated this whole matter thoroughly, and there was never any implication of impropriety on my part," he said.
     
  2. Alnilam

    Alnilam The One in the Middle

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    DOCTOR Berman,

    You have lost your moral bearing, and any standing you might have had here as an authority on anything, due to your crude, hateful and violent post advocating nuking California and its citizens, and surrendering its cities to an enemy. Even if you attempt to pass it off as a "joke," it is sick and vile. Sir, have you no shame?

    You no longer deserve a response to any of your ideas, having revealed yourself as a crackpot.

    I'll save this message and repeat it whenever it seems appropriate. I don't care if I am in a minority of one.

    It'll be one small voice against such insanity.
     
  3. dragonfly

    dragonfly New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alnilam @ Oct 12 2006, 01:58 PM) [snapback]331841[/snapback]</div>
    Fascinating. I was just about to post something very similar. Not only that, but he also makes stuff up. (See post #10 on the linked thread.) Add one more to the "small voices against insanity".
     
  4. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Now now....I think it's widely known that Dr.B and I knock heads on these issues all the time. But posting factual information about a politician is certainly fair game. I'm pretty sure there was a post about Foley very shortly after that info came to light. Fairs fair, tit for tat....and all that.

    That said.... Please don't post entire articles, first paragraph and link to the story is adequate and minimizes our risk for copyright infringement.

    Also, I'm not exactly sure I understand what the 'bad thing' is here....certainly sounds like some kind of kick-back occured, but it's not clear to me who, or why...why did Reid get out of the property in the first place if he stood to profit? I think I need a 3rd grader explaination of what occured and why it's wrong.
     
  5. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alnilam @ Oct 12 2006, 02:58 PM) [snapback]331841[/snapback]</div>
    Sir, my moral and ethical compass is intact. Maybe you sir have lost your sense of humor or ability to discern fiction from non-fiction. Why would I want to nuke california and loose all that wonderful wine of the napa valley? And what we do without Hollywood or Silicon Valley? And surrendering cities has never happened here - my reference was to the FACT that the french gave up Paris without firing a single shot. I do have shame - but it does not apply here.

    A response was not expected from some because of the veracity of this post - it is easier for some to ignore bad news when it applies to them or those they hold high.

    Have a nice day - send my best to good old rich Harry - I wonder if he paid taxes on that illegal windfall. Harry - how can we listen to you anymore and take you seriously?

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ Oct 12 2006, 03:13 PM) [snapback]331853[/snapback]</div>
    I am assuming you believe the AP has made this all up?
     
  6. dragonfly

    dragonfly New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 12 2006, 02:52 PM) [snapback]331892[/snapback]</div>
    Problem is, how can we distinguish what is factual from what is not? Isn't there a board standard against intentionally lying? Do I have to look up every single thing dbermanmd says from now on because I don't know what is made up and what isn't?

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Oct 12 2006, 02:57 PM) [snapback]331898[/snapback]</div>
    I can't tell what he makes up and what he doesn't. How could I?
     
  7. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 12 2006, 03:52 PM) [snapback]331892[/snapback]</div>
    You are correct - sorry about the post.
     
  8. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    As long as we send millionaires to Congress we will continue to have this problem.

    Money attracts money and money demands money.
     
  9. dragonfly

    dragonfly New Member

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    Other lies perpetuated by the OP:

    With regards to Clinton: "He contained North Korea - damn, that is the best piece of PR I have seen on this BB ever. Jeez - he ARMED them... He gave them the nukes"

    Again with regards to Clinton: "got convicted of perjury"

    How many times do we have to out him? Or is it ok to just make stuff like this up on this board?
     
  10. dbermanmd

    dbermanmd New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dragonfly @ Oct 12 2006, 03:59 PM) [snapback]331901[/snapback]</div>
    Easy - everything you read that you agree with is factual, everything you read that you disagree with is a falsehood.

    BTW - this story is from the AP which tends to be very PRO-Democratic. Don't worry it wont make the MSM because it would harm whatever chances the dems have to win this election.
     
  11. Alnilam

    Alnilam The One in the Middle

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Oct 12 2006, 12:57 PM) [snapback]331898[/snapback]</div>
    "and if noko could take out california or parts of it - so be it - they never wanted money spent on star wars or related technologies - they never wanted a strong military deterence - ironic they are first in noko's nuclear sights - ironic how they must be feeling in berkeley tonight - must be resting comfortably :)

    seriously, we can understand why noko launches a nuke at us and takes out part of california - if they do i hope we dont do anything silly in return like strike back and make any more people mad at us or give reason to those to attack us again. i would just offer a peace settlement - give him san fran or la in return for a peace treaty"

    From the collected works of that great American humorist
    David Berman, M.D.
     
  12. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    Guys, guys. dbermanmd is just kidding. He wants to see how stirred up he can get people. Get real. No one is really that oblivious. It's a joke!
     
  13. tleonhar

    tleonhar Senior Member

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  14. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 12 2006, 12:52 PM) [snapback]331892[/snapback]</div>
    Third Grade Explanation:

    A politician owns some land.
    If that land is rezoned and the politician makes an obscene profit, people would wonder if the politician used his power as an elected representative of the people for his own personal financial gain by using his power and influence to have what would otherwise be less valuable land rezoned into more useful and valuable property .
    This is referred to as Political Corruption and Undue Influence.

    Apparently, in an effort to try to hide the corruption, the politician used a friend who owns a company. The politician “sells” (not really) the land to the friend. The land is then rezoned and sold. Obscene profits are made. The politician is then paid obscenely years after he “sold" the land to the friend. This is known as a Kick Back.

    Why this is wrong:
    Politicians are elected to represent the people, not to use that power and influence for personal gain at the expense of the people they are supposed to represent.

    See:
    Kick Back . . . . http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=k...p;x=18&y=14
    Undue Influence . . . .http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=undue+influence&x=28&y=15
    Corruption . . . http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=c...p;x=24&y=15
    Political Corruption . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_corruption

    Also See:
    Whitewater . . . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewater_scandal ;)
     
  15. Alnilam

    Alnilam The One in the Middle

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JeffG @ Oct 12 2006, 01:55 PM) [snapback]331945[/snapback]</div>
    You laughing?

    That's my point. HE is a joke. He says vile things like this on the one hand while expecting to be treated seriously on the other. I don't believe he actually wants California bombed, at least not by nukes. The fallout would probably infringe on him somehow and THAT would be the crime. But I think a lesser disaster would cheer him considerably, like the religious leader who said that Katrina was God's wake-up call for abortionists and homosexuals. He delights in bad things happening to his "enemies."

    You don't really have to be a racist to tell an ethnic joke. It just makes you look that way. If you talk stupidly all the time, guess how you will be viewed. If you want to associate with intelligent people, you have to pay the dues: learn something first. Parrots are not viewed as original thinkers.

    I didn't see any mention of France in his post as referenced in his weasel-word "explanation."

    If all he can do is get people stirred up, then he has no real use, does he? Most of us who give our country any real thought are already stirred up. We are looking for answers to problems, not the endless stream of lies, distortions and contempt that pours out of his fingers. Point after point of his diatribe has been refuted by dozens of us, yet he presses on, ruining any chance of a good discussion.

    No one is really that oblivious, huh? Welcome to FHOP!
     
  16. JeffG

    JeffG New Member

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    I ran into a simlar situation on another discussion board. It turned out that the 'conservative' was actually a 15 year old pretending to be a law student. This one is pretending to be a doctor. The next one will probably pretend to be president.
     
  17. Alnilam

    Alnilam The One in the Middle

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Oct 12 2006, 02:21 PM) [snapback]331958[/snapback]</div>
    I'm not here to praise Harry Reid, but if he is guilty of a crime, I would bury him in the same cell block as Mr. Jefferson, another of "our own," will soon inhabit.

    Were you so strongly defensive of the transactions of the Brothers Bush in the oil, baseball and banking industries a few years back? Moral equivalence is not in play here. If one of ours goes bad, it isn't a wash when pitted against one of yours.

    More Third Grade stuff: 1 + 1 = 2, not zero. You don't receive a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for your crime just because another is committed on the other side.

    Daniel is right when he says that both parties are liable to corruption. I, as he, want them all out. I'll give you my opinion of Reid when I read more.

    I thought Bush (and Cheney even more) evaded military service. Clinton did too. Fair enough? (Does "Undue Influence" come to mind when Bush's slot in the Texas ANG is brought up? And he couldn't even do that obligation right!)

    I've got to go to work. The youth of Republican Orange County await my wisdom in the college class I teach. Doesn't that scare the hell out of you?
     
  18. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Oct 12 2006, 04:21 PM) [snapback]331958[/snapback]</div>
    Thanks...at least for the part up until the last time "friend" was used there. The snide part wasn't really necessary, but the first paragraph clarifies things for me. Prob. could have figured it out, but not while at work and not when it's about a democrat....now, if it had been a republican.... ;)
     
  19. dragonfly

    dragonfly New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alnilam @ Oct 12 2006, 05:39 PM) [snapback]331965[/snapback]</div>
    It just made my day. Teach them all you know Alnilam!
     
  20. prez1

    prez1 New Member

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