The Reid Influence

So the Reid corruption scandal is starting to explode. First there is this report by the WaPo which details much more then just non-disclosure of financial dealings. No, we’re talking influence peddling:

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.

[…]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.

Ok, so Reid bought the land only after a land swap deal was made by Del Webb so that the corner property could be included. No big deal right?

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.

Wrong! So Reid actively worked on behalf of Del Webb to get the land transfer done, while getting some hefty political donations in the meantime, and once the land transfer was done Reid brought the land.

And then we have the land itself. The land was zoned for residential property only….so what in the world would Reid do?

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.

What is unsaid here is that Reid’s son sits on that Commission that approved the rezoning. Plus Reid’s name was dropped at a hearing to influence the rezoning.

AJStrata summarizes this part nicely:

So somehow the land that was not available became available – and Reid purchased it. And somehow the land that was zoned residential (and therefore would gain marginal value over time) became rezoned right before Reid sold the land to this shell company for what he paid for it! For NO PROFIT. Not even the normal inflation of money. This is right after the zoning came through that would drastically increase its value! One could have said how unfortunate that Reid sold right at the time the value would start shooting up. But he did not sell the land it seems, he simply transferred it in some verbal, mythical business deal. So when the land did sell to a developer, Reid – who clearly sold the land to this company – got a huge (and hidden) windfall.

Plus, a curious commentor at The Strata-Sphere has done some real estate digging and found some interesting land deals by Mr. Reid. Check them out.

But either way you look at this we have a perfect example of a politician who uses his influence and connections to make deals that profit himself.

I mean take a look at the Coyote Springs Valley in Nevada. This empty piece of land is on it’s way to becoming a huge development:

with as many as 159,000 homes, 16 golf courses and a full complement of stores and service facilities. At nearly 43,000 acres, Coyote Springs covers almost twice as much space as the next-largest development in a state famous for outsized building projects.

But how is this development coming to fruition? Why an alliance between Reid and another developer:

The relationship between developers such as Harvey Whittemore and politicians such as Reid is especially close in Nevada, home to a small fraternity of movers and shakers, powerful demands of rapid population growth and a huge amount of federally owned land.

Over the last four years, Reid has used his influence in Washington to help the developer, Nevada super-lobbyist Whittemore, clear obstacles from Coyote Springs’ path.

At one point, Reid proposed opening the way for Whittemore to develop part of the site for free, something for which the developer later agreed to pay the government $10 million.

What did Reid get in return?

Since 2000, Whittemore, his wife and the Coyote Springs company have given Reid’s senatorial campaign and political action committees at least $45,000. That included $35,000 for Reid’s leadership PAC, the Searchlight Leadership Fund, which helped him advance as a Senate leader. Most of that money was contributed in 2002 shortly after Reid introduced the Clark County land bill.

In 2000, Whittemore gave an additional $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Reid promoted as a party leader. Prior to 2000, the Whittemores had given Reid and his Senate campaign committee a total of $6,500, plus $5,000 for his leadership PAC.

Whittemore also helped Reid’s sons, all of whom at various times have worked for the law firm in which he is a senior partner, Lionel, Sawyer and Collins. Rory Reid is a partner in the firm. When he ran successfully for the Clark County Board of Commissioners, Whittemore contributed $5,000.

He also gave Josh Reid $5,000 for an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the city council in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Rory and Josh Reid have been active in Democratic politics.

Jon Summers, an aide to Sen. Reid, said, “Harvey Whittemore has a history of giving money to political candidates far and wide and to both political parties.

“However,” he added, “as a registered Democrat, it is only logical that he would give a larger percentage to Democratic candidates and committees.”

I don’t know about you but this smells of bribery. Reid uses his influence to clear the way for this developer and then receives large amount of donations and his son’s get some help with their political careers.

Remember Reid was given much more money from Abramoff then Delay received, he received expensive boxing tickets while a related bill was pending, and now all these suspect land deals.

The party of corruption indeed.

Macranger recalls this quote from Reid last year:

So the next thing I assume I’ll be hearing from Republicans, they want to change rules some way, as they do on the House when you get a problem with ethics, they just change the rules.

Will we be seeing the same thing here on the Democratic side?

Finally, Mr. Reid sent out an email today with this header:

Subject: Friday the 13th – Republican Leadership Is Scary

How ironic.

By the way, if you want to hear the interview hang-up go to my post with a video that works.

UPDATE

AJStrata who has been working overtime today on this story, and getting linked by Rush (congrats AJ), found this amazing article:

The federal Bureau of Land Management is reviewing a pending Nevada land swap that has drawn criticism because data justifying the deal came from the developer via its employee who set up shop in a local BLM office.

BLM representatives in Nevada and Washington, D.C., said they won’t simply rubber-stamp the land exchange sought by the developer, Nevada Land Resource Co., but they also defended the procedure, saying it’s authorized by Congress.

The process was criticized Monday by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. The Senate majority whip said he’d support legislation to end landowners direct involvement in the government’s handling of their own deals.

“I’m not saying it’s illegal”, Reid said. “I just don’t like the way it looks.”

Reid added he’s writing BLM Director Kathleen Clarke to express his concerns about the pending trade of a square mile of private land in northern Nevada for a square mile of BLM land in southern Nevada.

“This is cheating,” he added. “What has happened is all this downsizing of government. It’s the responsibility of taxpayers to fund this agency. The BLM shouldn’t have to hire someone from the outside to come in.”

This is hilarious. He is calling a land swap deal with the government “cheating” but engaged in the very same thing…..wow, just wow.

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