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In the midst of his recovery from a serious accident at his home in Nevada, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has gotten some more bad news: the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the felony conviction of Harvey Whittemore, a big financial supporter of the senator. According to the Ninth Circuit’s opinion, which was released on Jan. 26, Whittemore is “a prominent attorney, developer and lobbyist who has long been active in Nevada politics and political fundraising.” In 2007, he was the chairman of “a holding company with significant interests in golf courses, land development, oil and gas properties, and...

RENO, Nev. — A Nevada powerbroker who headed a billion-dollar real estate company and pulled the strings of state politics as a prominent lobbyist for more than a decade was convicted Wednesday of making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Harvey Whittemore, 59, could face up to 15 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after a federal jury returned guilty verdicts on three counts tied to nearly $150,000 illegally funneled to Reid's re-election campaign in 2007. Later in the day, U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks declared a mistrial on a count of lying...

RENO, Nevada — Former power broker Harvey Whittemore told a Nevada State Bar disciplinary panel that he did not think he broke the law when he used family and friends as "straw donors" to pump more than $130,000 into the campaign of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2007. **SNIP** During his testimony, Whittemore recalled the 2007 lunch date when Reid asked for help raising money. "'Do you think you can raise $150,000?'" he said Reid asked.

RENO, Nev. — A Nevada powerbroker who headed a billion-dollar real estate company and pulled the strings of state politics as a prominent lobbyist for more than a decade was convicted Wednesday of making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Harvey Whittemore, 59, could face up to 15 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after a federal jury returned guilty verdicts on three counts tied to nearly $150,000 illegally funneled to Reid's re-election campaign in 2007. **SNIP** Whittemore stood with his arms behind his back and shook his head slightly after the verdicts...

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- A Nevada powerbroker who headed a billion-dollar real estate company and pulled the strings of state politics as a prominent lobbyist for more than a decade was convicted Wednesday of making illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Harvey Whittemore, 59, could face up to 15 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after a federal jury returned guilty verdicts on three counts tied to nearly $150,000 illegally funneled to Reid's re-election campaign in 2007. Later in the day, U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks declared a mistrial on a count of...

Harvey Whittemore, a Reno, Nevada, businessman has been found guilty on three counts of making illegal campaign contributions to Nevada Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid...

RENO, Nev.—A jury began deliberations on Tuesday in the case of a former Nevada developer and political powerbroker who was called a greedy "ultimate insider" by prosecutors accusing him of illegally funneling nearly $150,000 in campaign money to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid Harvey Whittemore, 59, a former lobbyist and head of a billion-dollar real estate company, faces four felony counts tied to claims that he gave money to family members and employees to make contributions he had promised to Reid without revealing himself as the source. "He kept his promise and he broke the law to do it," Assistant U.S....

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted a Nevada developer with ties to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on criminal charges related to campaign contributions. The indictment Wednesday accuses Harvey Whittemore of devising a scheme to solicit campaign contributions from family members and employees in 2007 and skirt federal election law limits by reimbursing them. Federal Election Commission records show Whittemore, family members and employees of his former company, Wingfield Nevada Group Holding Co., contributing more than $100,000 in a single day to Reid in March 2007.

When the Democrats adopted the "culture of corruption" meme as their campaign theme earlier this year, we noted that the culture hardly respected party lines. The leader of the Senate Democratic caucus, Harry Reid, took contributions from clients of Jack Abramoff and intervened on their behalf at least four times, and Abramoff hired one of Reid's staffers and started holding fundraisers for the Senate Minority Leader in Abramoff's offices. Now COGirl at Hang Right Politics points us towards a Los Angeles Times report on the "culture of corruption" surrounding Harry Reid and a new real-estate development outside of Las Vegas....

One of the most inhospitable places in the country, Coyote Springs Valley is so barren that, until recently, its best use was thought to be as a weapons test range. Yet the valley — an hour northeast of Las Vegas — is on its way to becoming a real estate development of historic proportions, with as many as 159,000 homes, 16 golf courses and a full complement of stores and service facilities. At nearly 43,000 acres, Coyote Springs covers almost twice as much space as the next-largest development in a state famous for outsized building projects. Helping make Coyote Springs...