[jrooney]

Comey, a democrat, whom set up Fitzgerald with all those special magical super duper powers, was believed to behind the deal for Burglar. Comey is gone now. Reid is in trouble and will not get a pass on this.

[Defiant]

I just read the article in full (always a good idea), and I don't see a lot to the story. It makes Reid look bad, and he may have violated some technical reporting requirements, but I don't see any reporting of outright corruption. It doesn't say where he got the $400,000 initial investment, and it doesn't say that the zoning changes that the partnership got were obtained through undue influence.

So, basically, Reid invested $400k in a property in 1998, donated it to a partnership in 2001, the partnership got the land rezoned, and in 2004, the property was sold for an amount that earned Reid $1.1 million. That is not that unusual, folks. Properties can double in 6 years, and zoning changes can add to the value, especially if the architectural plans are already completed, and the project just needs to be built.

This deal is worthy of further investigation, but based on what is known, Reid only gets a slap on the wrist for failing to report properly, not jail time for corruptly accepting unearned monies.

No mention in the article on whether the $1.1 million sale was properly reported to the IRS as a $700,000 capital gain (or whether Reid paid Bush's reduced 15 percent capital gains tax rate on it instead of the 20 percent that Reid voted for). More facts may change things, obviously, but don't get too excited yet.