Posted on 10/11/2006 11:21:50 AM PDT by Prost1
WASHINGTON - 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.
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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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Those files are as obsolete as the Model T. They would be worthless as blackmail.
--I don't think the MSM is going to hammer him about it--
Screw the MSM - Just visualize a campaign ad with Reid's mug prominently displayed:
'Elect Menendez (or Casey, Tester, etc.)
and THIS guy will be SENATE MAJORITY LEADER'.
There you go bringing down the Hyperexcited.
Couple of things here. the use of that word "DONATED". I'd buy that. Only it was "donated" to this LLC partnership, now was it? When you "donate" something it becomes, well, DONATED. You don't get a 1.1 million dollar profit on something you DONATED! I donate to Goodwill all the time. A few years later the Goodwill does not come back and give me profit money on my old dining room furniture.
And you said there is no indication that zoning authorities were influenced in any way. Hey, did you READ the thing? I'll allow as there are many players in this thing what with that corrupt zoning commission and those developers. Not to mention that most amazing land swap of Lake Tahoe land for prime Las Vegas area real estate.
Here's what happened: Reid and his buddies knew that with Las Vegas growing-and don't forget Reid was head of the Casino gaming poobah thing so we can assume he'd have influence on this kind of thing-the land on the outskirts that Reid bought for 400K would go up in value. So they bought the land, buried the deal in some LLC with absolutely NO record that Reid had an interest in this LLC.
Reid was paying the property tax in some fashion right along although...WHY? After all, he "donated" the land to the LLC? Then Reid makes a profit from the LLC to which he DONATED the land? Bullshit. This was a carefully crafted way of funnelling a big profit to Reid.
It's that little manner of the DONATED land that's going to get him. Not reporting this matter to the Senate, and IRS perhaps, is also a factor.
This is no little thing here.
He paid the taxes. Read the article before letting your hopes run wild.
Of course, that does not mean we can't scream accusations at the top of our lungs.
"Baloney. Hillary has nothing to do with this."
You are right. It is the Joooos.
Another Killjoy who has to look at facts before jumping to conclusions.
Big ol' Bump.
BTTT
My guess is that there is more to this story than we have seen so far. I don't think we have enough solid information to determine anything except that it "smells real fishy". -- But then as we conservatives know all too well, appearances are enough for a conviction in the court of public opinion.
No they're not.
The dirt still sticks to any pol who has been in public office of any kind (or even in private business, for that matter) since 1992.
Treason Media stories will be along these lines "Senator Harry Reid is under attack by political enemies in the Republican party for an old land deal. Proceeds from the sale were contributed to buying clothes for homeless school kids. His spokesman decries this terrible example of the Politics of Personal destruction. 'When will the GOP get around to addressing the needs of the poor and working class? We know that 299,000,000 do not have health insurance because of tax relief for the Mega Wealthy.' Reid's devotion to the less fortunate crushed by the Bush Administration policies has been lauded by religious figures across the World with Sainthood under discussion. Vatican spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, says that his Mormon belief should not pose a problem. Humanitarians across the nation are outraged at this nasty political trick and say the timing of the story is 'suspicious'.
Donated in that sense is a legal term. No reason you would understand that.
there is no indication that zoning authorities were influenced in any way
You mischaracterize what I said. I said the article does not report that there was "undue influence" exerted. It does say that the partner mentioned Reid's name in a public hearing, to lend credibility to the project. Pretty slick, but not illegal. Undue influence would involve money or threats or promises that derive from the Senator's power. Give some evidence of that and you would have something.
Knowing that an area is going to go up in value is a sign of a good real estate investor. The interest wasn't buried, it was recorded. What was buried was the continued interest after the land was "donated" by Reid to the partnership. To what effect, though. Would he have still gotten the $1.1 million if everyone knew that it was his land and the partnership's expertise that was developing the land? Yes, most likely. The development was built out, and unless someone determines that it was not really worth $1.6 million when sold, there is not much "there" there. As opposed to the Cunningham house sale, where a $900,000 house sold for $1.6 million, evidencing a bribe of $700,000.
The fact that Reid was continuing to pay property tax all along evidences that he was NOT trying to hide his continued ownership interest in the land. I don't know what you are trying to get at with that fact.
I fully accept the likelihood that Reid is dirty as sin, as many people from Nevada report. You need more than this, though, to stir up a lot of trouble for him. Something that involves him receiving UNEARNED money for favors or for lending his clout to a project. Or failing to report the income, not failing to report that a partner paid property tax one year, when Reid paid him back from the proceeds of sale.
In fact, didn't Reid do something corrupt for an Indian tribe? How did that discipline action go? Not too well, right? Better get some goods on these guys if you want to make it stick.
Senate rules say he has to report any and all financial transactions. On those transaction's, Reid claimed the property still belonged to him. He did not report THE SALE (Drudge). He either lied on his Senate report about it still belonging to him or lied about the "donation" of the land three years ago.
Either way, he still scams the taxpayers and makes $1 mill bucks off the deal.
Please let's ask HARRY REID TO RESIGN
Senator HARRY REID
528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-3542 / Fax: 202-224-7327
The story is on the front page of the Washington Times online edition and I expect on the front page of the print edition tomorrow. This is going to get real interesting.....he may have managed to not break any RE laws, but apparently his reporting to comply with the senate rules has clearly been broken. I think that ole dingy's a$$ is gra$$.
My apologies, I hate to be the Grinch at a Republican Fitzmas, but it's better to not get excited until you have something to be excited about. Don't rely on bolts from the blue, get out and work this election and win on the issues.
The key to this is the fact that he had only an oral agreement to have an ownership interest in the LLC, combined with his sale of the property to the LLC for the same prioce which he paid for it.
Conclusion: He wanted his interest to be secret!
Why? Because he knew that his ethics would be questioned because of his involvement with the other land owners who traded their private land for the federal land. He set up the situation with his pressure on the federal government so that there was something to trade for with willing accomplices.
I'll bet there are many connection betwenn all of the aprties to the land swaps, and their connections are all through the lawyer.
See #412.
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 His disclosure forms to Congress do not mention an interest in Patrick Lane or the company's role in the 2004 sale.
AP first learned of the transaction from a former Reid aide who expressed concern the deal hadn't been properly reported.
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