Posted on 05/27/2006 7:42:20 PM PDT by ncountylee
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says the Bush administration has agreed to abandon its claim to millions of dollars generated by the sale of public land in southern Nevada.
The Nevada Democrat said Friday that he had brokered a deal in which the White House promised to drop its claim on the money in return for Democratic support for the confirmation of former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as Interior secretary.
Kempthorne was approved by the Senate on Friday, overcoming objections from a handful of Democrats. He was later sworn in by White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice present.
"I said before that I couldn't support Gov. Kempthorne's nomination unless we could come to an agreement about key public land issues," Reid said in a statement from his office. "I'm happy to say that we have.
"The White House has agreed to honor the purpose of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, and will not try to divert any funding away from the state of Nevada for the duration of this administration," another two years, Reid said.
The Bush administration and lawmakers in Congress have sought the funds generated by the sale of land under the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at lasvegassun.com ...
Wonder if Harry's family had any part of this land deal?
Does any FReeper know Kempthorne's position on ESA, property rights, predator "re-introductions"?
So basically Reid said, I'll give you my vote, and the vote of other democrats, for your candidate, in return for my state getting a lot of money which should go to the taxpayers of the country.
And this isn't a bribe how? Because that's just the way washington works.
Looks like plain blackmail to me.
It's not blackmail if it's written into "law".
Remember "we are a nation of laws".
"The Nevada Democrat said Friday that he had brokered a deal in which the White House promised to drop its claim on the money in return for Democratic support for the confirmation of former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as Interior secretary. "
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These is sheer BLACKMAIL! Every time you think the Dems can't sink any lower, they do.
It doesn't look to be blackmail, but the law. Whether or not it's a good law is up for debate, but the money is designated to be spent in Nevada. If the President wants to lower the deficit, he should not sign the porker spending bills Congress sends him.
"Under the law, 85 percent of the proceeds have funded parks and trails and conservation improvements throughout the state. Portion also go to the Southern Nevada Water Authority and into the state education fund. "
Under what law and what land?
Again, the journalist avoids telling us the full truth. If things had been clear cut, the Bush administration wouldn't have gone after the proceeds. Could it be that the land was FEDERAL land, and Nevada enacted a law to keep the money from the sale of Federal land? That's stealing.
Also note that President Bush said he won't pursue it under his administration, but that doesn't preclude the next president from pursuing it. And if Reid thought that this was all legal, why did he have to resort to promising votes in exchange, instead of letting it all play out?
As I said, without doing additional research it's hard to tell exactly what the situation is, but from what we know, something is rotten in Nevada.
I still suspect that one of his son's or son-in-law's law firms is somehow involved.
I'd have sworn that the Republicans were the majority party. I must be wrong, all I can see is that Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Fat Teddy are the only ones calling the shots. I think most of the senate and the president are MINOs (Males in Name Only).
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