Harry Reid Is So Slimy That Even Monsters From The Black Lagoon Would Avoid Him!

Politico: Reid's Favors to Family Dragging Him Down

Tuesday, 08 Apr 2014 09:53 AM

By Drew MacKenzie

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has found himself slowly sinking into the political quicksand as he faces close public scrutiny over potentially enriching family members through his powerful position as a Democratic leader.

The Nevada senator has recently become embroiled in the embarrassing controversy surrounding the $31,268 that his campaign paid to his granddaughter Ryan Elisabeth Reid for the purchase of gift items from her jewelry line, according to Politico.

But his weakness for pulling strings to help family members was first exposed by the Los Angeles Times a decade ago when a Nevada land bill proposed by Reid appeared to benefit his son-in-law Steve Barringer’s consulting firm and his sons’ legal firm.

The Howard Hughes Corp. paid $300,000 to the Washington firm Barringer worked for to push a provision allowing the company to buy 1,000 acres of federal land for development in the then burgeoning Las Vegas area, according to the Times.

The bill also benefited a real estate development headed by a senior partner in the Nevada law firm that then employed all four of Reid's sons — Rory, Leif, Josh, and Key — by moving the right-of-way for a federal power transmission line off his property and onto what had been protected federal wilderness.

In its report, the Times said, "So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family, and Nevada's leading industries and institutions that it's difficult to find a significant field in which such a relationship does not exist."

Reid’s reputation for promoting his family’s power, status, and wealth was further enhanced when it was revealed that he had lobbied the mayor of Henderson and a councilwoman to support his son Josh Reid’s application to become the city’s attorney.

Although Josh got the job in 2011, the officials said that Reid’s phone calls did not influence them.

Reid has also faced allegations that he used his connections in 2012 to help his son Rory’s legal firm receive legal fees from a Chinese company building a solar plant in a dusty corner of Nevada, according to Bloomberg. 

The company’s billionaire founder, Wang Yusuo, joined with Reid to win incentives, including paying just $4.5 million for land to build the plant, which was one-eighth of what it was assessed for. The project produced legal work for Rory’s firm, which has donated $40,000 to Reid during the past three cycles, says the report.

And earlier this year, Reid’s blind spot for his family made him the target of an ethics and conflict-of-interest complaint after he helped to fast-track U.S. visa applications for Chinese investors in the new Las Vegas casino SLS represented by his son Rory, Ryan Elisabeth’s father.

Until the recent controversy, Politico writer Jon Ralston said in a report titled "Harry Reid’s Kryptonite," referring to his family, that the senator was Mr. Teflon.

"Even when Reid gets caught pulling strings for his family, nothing seems to stick," Ralston wrote.

But the scandal surrounding his campaign payments to his granddaughter has brought intense scrutiny, with Jahan Wilcox, a Republican National Committee spokesman, calling it a "personal slush fund."

The latest family problems for Reid began when it was revealed that his campaign had paid a total of $16,787 in 2013 to Ryan Elisabeth for "holiday gifts" for the senator’s staff, consisting of jewelry items created by his 23-year-old granddaughter.

The nepotism issue escalated when it was learned Reid’s campaign had paid another $14,481 to Ryan in 2012, bringing the total in payments over two years to $31,268.

Although he appears to be enriching a family member, Reid defended the payments by stating that he had complied with Federal Election Commission standards that allow the purchase of goods from relatives if those goods are sold at fair market value.

The Democratic leader explained, "I thought it would be nice to give supporters and staff thank you gifts that had a personal connection. But I have decided to reimburse the campaign for the amount of the expenditure."

But to Ralston, who worked the political beat for two Las Vegas newspapers before joining Politico, the appearance of impropriety still lingers.

"I gave the money back so I don’t look guilty of something," said Ralston in Politico, quoting what he thought Reid was really saying.

Politico also pointed out that although the law allows for "nominal gifts," there needs to be a great deal of such gifts to reach $31,268. One report even calculated that with a piece of jewelry from Ryan Elisabeth’s line costing $70 on average, it would be the equivalent of buying 450 "nominal gifts" over two years.

Ralston said that when he appeared last month on Fox News, host Sean Hannity introduced him by saying, "Tonight we have an in-depth investigation into a scandal that is just beginning to break, and it’s one that could mean the end of Harry Reid’s political career."

Related Stories:

• Boehner: Harry Reid 'Sounds Completely Unhinged'
• Harry Reid: Obamacare 'Costs Me About $4,500 More'

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Another Example Of Puff Pieces Which Ignore The Failures Of ObamaCrapCare!

IRRATIONAL HATRED OF OBAMACARE IS HARD TO FATHOM

 

By Cynthia TuckerApril 5, 2014 1:01 AM

My friend Isatou has just received an invoice from Kaiser Permanente, testament to her new coverage through the Affordable Care Act -- usually called "Obamacare." She's thrilled to finally have health insurance so she can get regular checkups, including dental care.

A reasonably healthy middle-aged woman, she knows she needs routine mammograms and screenings for maladies such as hypertension. But before Obamacare, she struggled to pay for those things. She once had to resort to the emergency room, which left her with a bill for nearly $20,000. (She settled the bill for far less, but it still left her deeply in debt.)

She is one of more than 7 million people who have signed up for health insurance through the ACA, stark evidence of the overwhelming market demand. Despite a badly bungled initial roll-out, a multimillion dollar conservative media campaign designed to discourage sign-ups, and a years-long Republican crusade against it (50 votes to change the law), millions got health insurance.

That hardly means Obamacare is a raging success. It's much too early to know how it will affect health outcomes for the previously uninsured. But it's abundantly clear that the ACA has already made great strides in improving access to health care. And that alone is quite an accomplishment.

Now, young adults can stay on their parents' health insurance policies until they are 26 years old -- a boon in an economy where many young folks are struggling to find decent jobs. Now, patients with previously diagnosed illnesses ("pre-existing conditions," in insurance lingo) can't be denied coverage. Now, the chronically ill don't have to worry about hitting a lifetime cap that would deny them essential procedures or pharmaceuticals. Now, working folks who don't get insurance through their employers can purchase affordable policies.

Factoring in the Medicaid expansion, the ACA has extended health care coverage to an additional 9.5 million people, according to the Los Angeles Times, which gathered data from national surveys. Needless to say, millions more would have been covered if so many Republican governors, mostly located in Southern states, had not callously refused to accept the Medicaid expansion despite the fact that it is largely paid through federal government funds.

The GOP's relentless opposition has been puzzling. Republicans have resorted to extreme measures to try to derail Obamacare, including an implicit threat to prevent the National Football League from participating in a marketing campaign to encourage people to sign up.

Oh, did I mention 50 votes to repeal or alter the law?

Even acknowledging that our politics have become bitterly polarized, I don't understand this one. Even taking into account the GOP's irrational hatred for President Obama, I don't get it. Even though I know that Republicans believe in less government, I don't understand their approach to Obamacare.

First off, the ACA adheres to market-based ideas, many of which were first suggested by conservatives. Instead of a single-payer system like, say, Medicare, the ACA relies on private insurance companies. It adopts the individual mandate that was supported by many Republicans, including Newt Gingrich, back in the 1990s and later adopted by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts.

Second, Republicans are free to offer up a health care scheme that is more in keeping with conservative principles. But the "repeal and replace" mantra is rarely heard anymore since it has become increasingly clear that the GOP has no intention of coming up with a plan to replace Obamacare. While there are various counter-proposals floating about, none has garnered the support of a majority of Republicans in Congress.

Is the ACA perfect? Absolutely not. There is much in the law that needs to be worked on, refined, improved. But the GOP doesn't seem interested in that. Instead, its members have taken to engaging in increasingly ridiculous criticisms, including the charge that the White House has made up the number of successful enrollees.

It's strange. Could it be that Republicans are simply furious that millions of Americans like Isatou finally have health insurance?

(Cynthia Tucker, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a visiting professor at the University of Georgia. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.)

After All The Lies, Should We Believe Obama On ObamaCrapCare?

The Best Description Of ObamaCrapCare We Have Ever Seen

Ukraine And Crimea--Just Whetting The Appetite Of The Russian Bear. More Goodies To Come As America And The World Stand By!