Posted by
Dave Perkins on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 6:34:00 PM
UPDATE-
AJ at Strata Sphere has the
best summary of how and why this all happened.
As well as some evidence that this isn't the only one.
There's a reason that the company he sold his land to in 2001 was a "handshake deal". Reid was trying to distance himself from ownership by the time the land was eventually sold for the huge profit that was guaranteed by his influence in federal land swaps and the "dropping" of his name in rezoning hearings.
He was trying to cover his influence-peddling tracks.
Culture of corruption, anyone?
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It's been a safe assumption for a good long while that Harry Reid does a lot of unethical things back home in Vegas to enrich himself, his family and his campaign-donating acquaintances. But for whatever reason, proven facts have been hard to come by.
Not anymore.
Reid's land deal would have been risky if he hadn't had influence in the zoning of the parcel. It was raw desert when bought, but it was zoned for shopping centers when sold. And in between, Reid "sold" it to a company he co-owned and did not report that he had done so. He got his original investment back when he did that, in 2001, so when it sold in 2004 and Reid collected 1.1 million dollars as his share, that was free and clear-- not a return of his original investment plus profit.
Paid $400k in 1998
Got back $400k in 2001, in the form of a document-free "handshake partnership" in the newly formed company that now owned the land.
Got additional $1.1 mil in 2004, after zoning changes which he supported in congress enabled that increase in land value.
Reid's actual profit was almost 3 times his original investment, in six years. And between '01 and '04 he never reported in Senate ethics filings that he had "sold" the land to a company in which he had an interest, essentially selling it to himself and paying himself back his original investment.
This, dear reader, is what is known as "peddling influence", and is the oldest governmental ethics violation in the book.
And I have heard in several places that this is far from the only land deal Reid has been involved with as an investor and as an influencer of zoning laws.
The above is mostly hearsay on my part, but the link to the story in the Washington Post is real and factual and utterly damaging to Reid.
"Culture of corruption", indeed. Reid appears to be on a first name basis with the big C.
Spread the word.