Posted on 04/28/2014 9:39:40 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
(CNN) -- A spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid dismissed as "meritless" an ethics complaint filed Wednesday by Republicans that charges the majority leader improperly used his government-funded website and Twitter account for partisan political purposes.
At issue are Reid's ongoing attacks against Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who are spending millions through their organization Americans for Prosperity to defeat Democratic candidates this campaign cycle.
Some of Reid's comments, which he has made in speeches on the Senate floor and elsewhere, also appeared on his senate.gov website and on his official Twitter account.
"Senate rules are clear: Senators and their staffs are prohibited from using official resources for partisan, electoral activities," said the complaint filed by Roger Villere, the chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana.
"Senate staff receive publicly funded salaries for the performance of official duties and no campaign or electoral activities should take place on Senate time, or using official Senate equipment or facilities."
"Republicans' blind obedience to the shadowy billionaire Koch brothers is on full display today," Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson said in a statement.
"Nothing says 'Republicans are the party of the top one percent' like lashing out with meritless complaints as a screen to defend the Koch brothers as they rig the system to benefit billionaires like themselves. Sen. Reid will continue to do everything in his power to hold the Koch brothers and their Republican enablers accountable for trying to tilt the playing field in favor of the wealthy and against the middle class."
Congressional ethics experts contacted by CNN were divided over whether Reid's actions violated ethics rules.
"Some of this material could be viewed as technically running afoul of the rule," said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Uh, slander, libelous statements, defamation of character. Hate crime? Restraining order? Hairy obviously has some weird, creepy fixation on these guys
Well at least that’s settled now. /s
Ive been looking for a single word which would best describe the great contributions of one Harry Reid for quite awhile now. Meritless fits him to a T!!
Thank you!
How could anyone say that Harry is corrupt, anti-American or a Constitution-hater??? Absurd..... (/s)
Not a smigen of merit. Not a SMIDGEN I tell ya!
Harry Reid and meritless certainly go together.
Well there you have it, no need for further investigation. (Do I really need the / Sarc tag?)
WOW...I thought his office was going to say Dingy Harry is guilty as sin. LOL!
Senators and their staffs are prohibited from using official resources for partisan, electoral activities, UNLESS THEY ARE DEMOCRATS!
Ah poor corrupt crooked reid is being picked on just because he can’t resist ANY shady, corrupt slimy deal that will line his pocket with money.
He should be removed from all positions of authority until the charges are fully investigated -—— (Lets see how many more charges come out of the woodwork when Dirty Harry has no power!)
Harry is “meritless”. In every sense.
The Number is 31,000 Jim.
The amount he paid his Grand Daughter with Campaign Cash (for supposedly trinkets to donors)
Cuff and stuff him!
We’ll let the Courts decide your legal status in this matter Harry.
Having your camp pronounce your innocence is as worthless as it is expected of you.
White Democrats have been awarded permits by the black community to utter racist comments without penalty.
His jewelry purchases from his grand-daughter using his bottomless campaign funds--- and facilitating perplexing grants to the grand-daughter's Brooklyn "theatre group" from Bill Clinton's global foundation and Nevada energy units----are the latest examples.
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BACKSTORY The development of lucrative Nevada solar farms is why the tax-financed BLM--- whose director is Reid’s former Capitol Hill senior advisor----is colluding w/ Reid to push Cliven Bundy out of the Gold Butte area the Bundy family has worked for over 140 years.
Shockingly--without fear of retribution for gross conflict of BLM/Reid interests---the BLM specifically stated that it wanted Bundy and his cattle out of the area as part of the federally-financed agency’s “regional mitigation strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone.”
The federally-financed BLM brazenly attempted a cover-up by deleting public documents exposing its plans from its web site. It is suspected---but, unfortunately, could not be fully determined as of this writing---if Harry Reid or Rory Reid had colluded with BLM in the brazen cover-up.
However, astute FReepers from the up-to-the-minute news site, Free Republic, were able to capture, and save the documents, to publicly expose the federal agency's nefarious plans.
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SOURCE First Solar Media press release: “First Solar is thrilled to celebrate this important milestone with Sen. Reid and distinguished guests,and honored to work with the Moapa Band of Paiutes on this landmark project,” said Jim Hughes, the CEO of First Solar.
Signaling the first day of construction of the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, which is about 35 miles from the Bundy homestead in Bunkerville, Nevada, Sen. Reid (far right) hoists shovel, joined by representatives from the Moapa Band of Paiutes, executives from First Solar, Inc. and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for the groundbreaking ceremony on March 21, 2014.
PIC/First Solar
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REUTERS EXCERPT/EDITED BY POSTER: In 2003, Harry Reid made a show of publicly banning relatives from lobbying him or his staff after newspaper reports showed that Nevada industries and institutions routinely turned to Reid's sons or son- in-law, lawyers at prominent area law firms, for representation.
Now, Harry Reid and his oldest son, Rory, are both involved in Chinese Energy giant's ENN Energy Group, to build a $5 billion solar farm and solar panel manufacturing plant in the southern Nevada desert.
Reid himself helped recruit the solar company during a 2011 Senate junket to China.ENN is headed by Chinese energy tycoon Wang Yusuo, who made a fortune estimated by Forbes at $2.2 billion distributing natural gas in China.
Wang escorted Harry Reid and a delegation of nine other U.S. senators on a tour of the company's clean energy operations in Langfang, and Reid featured Wang as a speaker at his 4th annual National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas last year.
Rory, a lawyer with a prominent politically-connected Las Vegas firm that is representing ENN, helped it locate a 9,000-acre (3,600-hectare) desert site that it is buying well below appraised value from Clark County, where Rory Reid formerly chaired the county commission.
The Langfang, China-based ENN Energy Group hopes to build what would be the largest solar energy complex in America. The site----chosen with Rory Reid's guidance----is in tiny Laughlin, Nevada, a gambling town of 7,300 along the Colorado River, 90 miles south of Las Vegas.
NOTE Richard Bryan, the head of Rory's law firm, was a former colleague of Harry Reid in the US Senate.
Reid and granddaughter Ryan Elisabeth Reid.
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