Posted on 09/19/2007 2:24:50 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
A conservative group said Tuesday it is suing the Bureau of Land Management for records about any role Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other Nevada politicians had in a real estate development project in the state.
The group, Judicial Watch, said the BLM had not responded to a Freedom of Information Act request March 8 seeking correspondence with Reid, D-Nev., Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada and the state's Republican governor, former Rep. Jim Gibbons, about the Coyote Springs development.
The Los Angeles Times reported in a story last year that Reid and other Nevada politicians intervened with federal officials on behalf of Nevada lobbyist Harvey Whittemore and his 43,000-acre development of homes and golf courses northeast of Las Vegas.
Specifically, the Times reported that Reid and Ensign met with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency to relay developers' concerns about permits being delayed because of potential environmental impacts. One of Reid's sons, Leif, has represented Whittemore as an attorney.
Reid and others in the Nevada congressional delegation have said the development represents economic benefits for the state.
"This is clearly a politically motivated move by a right-wing group attempting to get headlines," Jon Summers, a spokesman for Reid, said in a statement after the suit was announced.
Summers said that because 87 percent of land in Nevada is managed by the federal government, members of Congress work closely with federal agencies on land use issues.
"Every member of Nevada's delegation strongly supports this project, which would create more than half a million jobs and provide more than 150,000 homes when complete," said Summers.
Judicial Watch filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Washington on Sept. 5. The Bureau of Land Management did not respond immediately to a message left after hours with its press office.
No, that was some Las Vegas area property that Reid supposedly bought with a handshake and hid from congressional disclosure until it was rezoned for a shopping mall and suddenly was worth a couple million bucks. The city grew out to his ("you don't pay anything unless it becomes worth something, then you pay some of the original desert price") property.
yitbos
Congress passed a law that the BLM had to sell some land each year in Nevada. Usually, the fed land is traded for private land that abuts a conservation area.
In the case of Boulder City, NV, the city wanted to prevent Las Vegas from annexing (buying,trading) BLM land that would encroach on BC's slow growth valley. We are one valley over a hill from Las Vegas.
Our congressional delegation arranged legislation that defined the land, its use, and its price. All the land purchased is under covenant with the feds on its specific use. Las Vegas and Henderson can't get within a few miles of us. But they are trying. Heck, soon, Henderson will have annexed west to the California Border.
Just to give an example of state and federal representation in this state: My brother-in-law (Boulder City resident) is the state assemblyman for district 20. That district runs from Henderson (borders S LV) south to the NV,AZ,CA pinpoint and east to Mesquite on the Utah border.
See map of NV Dist 20 Click on lower right district (blue).
yitbos
No monsters there!
.
Just two regular guys.....
Yep, you’re right, just move on....lol.
You can still see the location - North of the cutoff to 168. The Lincoln County boys put them (the prostitutes) out of business as the USAF was supposed to open a missile test range (Yes, Ried on that one as well).
The range fell thru and the County was out a major industry.
There is literally nothing around for miles. I guess this is to be another Mesquite - which took decades to get going. I used to drive from Nellis to Panaca every week to support the EW range that used to be in the area. Even lived in Panaca for a while. Not much going on in the south of the County.
With the price of mortgage loans, gas and energy going up - I see this going nowhere.
I don't suppose the credit meltdown and NV home default rate helps any.
They do have a golf course or two built and some subscribed homes. Future construction is "finance before build", I think. They aren't building casinos (yet). And they do have the water.
A couple of Clark county commissioners bought desert out Summerlin way in the early '80s. Built a road to their booneyville property and waited. We know what Summerlin is today.
yitbos
Mesquite started with a small casino and a couple of golf courses, but it sits across I 15 - and is sort of close to St George and LAs Vegas,
I am reminded of a couple of “developments” - one outside of Cedar City Ut and Yucson AZ. The one is AZ is like a small slice of a suburb sitting in the middle of the desert - has a park, a 7-11 and nothing else. The one in Ut never went anywhere.
The feds did pass the Interstate Land Sales Act of 1968 thanks to these frauds - so the Springs may pass the smell test.
But with no Kali-for-niains with 1000s of $ from flipping there 1 bedroom condos - where IS the money coming from?
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