The Corrupt Democrats

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Wasn’t it Pelosi who said the following:

“We’ll turn the most closed and corrupt Congress into the most open and honest Congress,”

Oh really? You better start with your cohorts then:

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:

-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.

Well isn’t that special? Now the question is does this behind closed doors deal violate any Senate rules?

Kent Cooper, who oversaw government disclosure reports for federal candidates for two decades in the Federal Election Commission, 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.

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.

There is much more in this article that you should read such as the way the property taxes were paid which come across as some kind of gift…..or maybe something more.

Recall that Reid received 5 times the amount of money from Abramoff then did Delay….but we still hear the corruption charges from these dimwits.

And then we have the GOP demanding a investigation into what exactly Berger stole from the National Archives:

A group of House Republicans called Wednesday for a congressional investigation into the improper handling of classified documents by President Clinton’s national security adviser, Sandy Berger.

Berger admitted last year that he deliberately took classified documents out of the National Archives in 2003 and destroyed some of them at his office. He pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material and was fined $50,000.

Ten lawmakers led by House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R- Calif., and Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., released a letter calling for the House Government Reform Committee to investigate.

They asked the committee to determine whether any documents were missing from Clinton administration terrorism records, to review security measures for classified documents and to seek testimony from Berger.

Hunter’s spokesman, Joe Kasper, said the Justice Department had asked Congress to hold off on any oversight until the legal case concluded.

“It’s important that the House conduct its own review to ensure there is a clear understanding of the facts, and sensitive and highly classified security information is not potentially compromised in the future,” Kasper said.

I tell you what, if the news of these events had involved a Republican you would hear Pelosi and gang demanding the other side of the aisle be investigated……we hearing a peep out of them now?

As Hugh Hewitt stated:

The High Water Mark for the 2006 Democrats Was A Week Ago

Hopefully these kind of stories and remarks will get Allah from Hot Air off his ledge of despair.

This should be enough to finish off Republicans’ midterm election hopes, once and for all.

Other’s Blogging:

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It’s possible it slipped his mind, what with all of the press conferences on the Republicans’ “Culture of Corruption.”

Where’s Mel Reynolds when you need him?

Stuck On Stupid

Harry Reid’s Corrupt Connections…

 !!!Update:10/11/2006!!!(This post will continue to be bumped to the top with every Harry Reid corruption story.) Harry hangs up on AP when asked about his latest questionable money acquisition.Which party seems to be the most corrupt in hist…

yes the crumbling DEMOCRATS, IN ACTION,
BEING CAUGHT IS ALWAYS SURPRISING,