Posted on 01/30/2007 5:08:27 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
Voters looking for clues as to how or, more to the point, whether the Democrats are going to redeem their issue of honesty and integrity on Capitol Hill will be keeping an eye on the growing scandal around the majority leader in the Senate, Harry Reid. He is caught up in a corker of a controversy over a questionable land deal.
One might think that after all the legal fees and energy the Clintons spent defending Whitewater, a top Democratic politician would know better than to get into a complicated, questionable land deal. But the message doesn't seem to have reached Mr. Reid, who is the subject of a fascinating dispatch in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.
The Times' dispatch, from Bullhead City, Ariz., begins, "It's hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled. In 2002, Reid (D-Nev.) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend for 50 years. The payment gave the senator full control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City that Reid and the pension fund had jointly owned.
"Reid's price for the equivalent of 60 acres of undeveloped desert was less than one-tenth of the value the assessor placed on it at the time. Six months after the deal closed, Reid introduced legislation to address the plight of lubricants dealers." And that's not all. The newspaper reports that "since taking full control of the parcel in 2002, Reid has pushed for federal funding for a new bridge over the Colorado River a few miles from his property."
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Because he was going to sell the land to his own company (himself - after the environmental laws were changed in his partners name), he could get out of paying taxes on the sale as well.
so start flipping it to all the bloggers...
OH MY! This is huge...the LA Times articles mentioned the bridge that was to be built and said it was a few miles away. I'm telling you, it is less than a mile and would enhance the value of that land IMMEASURABLY. Let's see how long this stays in the news.
Oh Sorry. I was talking about his second land scam - not this new one. I thought you were posting about that one. The one I'm talking about is the partnership scam in Nevada.
My apologies.
Well here is the corker. The reason that the nitwit in Florida retired so quickly and the Dems could play it up is that they say the Repubs are all about "Family Values". The Dems celebrate "gay back alley under age male buggering", so when they do it, its no big deal, they are not hipocrits.
But, the Dems have been playing up the "Culture of Coruption" card really heavy, especially Harry Reid. Now the show is on the other foot. The Dems are the party in power and they couldn't go 1 month without a scandal.
I think this could be huge!
Some folks are just more equal than others.
that's ok... I was wondering how a tortoise could survive in our oppressive heat here! I'm just in shock about all of this. I had no idea he owned that land. I drive by it everday. I recently commented to my husband that whomever owned that land was one lucky landowner! $166 an acre??? THAT'S CRAZY. This land is across the highway from the Colorado River and million dollar homes. Sickening.
Could he go to jail for this? If not, could he be forced to step down? I know, by whom. I just got hopeful for a minute that this could turn things around in the Senate but I'll go back to the American Idol thread.
under ERISA rules, yes -- a $1 million fine, and 10 years in jail, or both.
The land deal I'm talking about was the second one he "accidentally" forgot to put in his Senate report. It was a scam for a real estate deal.
He bought protected land, got the environmental law changed through his partners name so environmentalists wouldn't link it to him, and sold it to a developer ( his partner) at a huge profit - tax free, because he owned half the partnership.
He flipped the paper work back and forth, using his name when necessary, or his partners name when necessary so no one would catch on.
He was asked about it right after the dems were elected but not yet in Washington. There's two. This one makes three, unless there's more to this second scam then once thought.
Who in law enforcement is investigating this? What are the chances he goes to jail? It would be great to have McConnell as Majority Leader.
OK. Got you. The Nevada scam and the tortoise deal was land scam #2 (His sons are elected officials in Nevada. They own the law there).
This one is in Colorado. This would make it land scam #3.
It's an under the table pay off. The lubricant dealer wants a tax break, and "for the right price", Reid will deliver.
ABSCAM, part II.
This one is nothing by comparison.
Sorry. It's only huge if the editorial board of the NYT says it is. No chance this goes anywhere. IMHO
How cool is that, Harry Reid is like the Real estate guru of Congress.
He could make millions selling a book on how to avoid taxes ,take bribes, and use taxpayers money to pump up his own real estate values.
You have to admire a man like this. Hes got no fear of the law. Its going to take a Mac Truck to stop him.
I think the NYT may be forced into reporting this.
Now the Dems are in power. This makes Eyeball Pelosi look like a fool.
The most ethical congress ever and already 1 month into it, a huge land stealing/bribery scandal.
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