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However, Senator Reid somehow overlooked the law, which required him as a senator to disclose the sale on his annual public ethics report and tell Congress that he had stake in the company with Jay Brown. He continued to report to Congress that he personally owned the land. After Mr. Brown had successfully rezoned the land, the property was sold in 2004 to developers for $1.1 million dollars, yielding a profit of $700,000 (175%) to Senator Reid who did not accurately list the transaction, reporting that it was a personal sale when he hadn’t owned the property personally for several years.

On March 8, 2010, Democrat Senator Harry Reid of Nevada officially launched his campaign when he filed for re-election to a fifth term. It probably won’t be so easy for him this time around. Although he faces little opposition in the Democrat primary, he is running far behind all three potential Republican challengers, the frontrunner being Sue Lowden, a former state senator and chairman of the Nevada Republican party who in a Rasmussen telephone survey published on March 5 led the senator by eight points, 51% -38%. Senator Reid could get a break if the Tea Party of Nevada candidate Jon Scott Ashjian stays in the race and siphons off conservative Republican votes.

But don’t worry too much about Senator Reid. He admits that he lacks charisma, but says that he wouldn’t be running if he didn’t think he could win. He’s been around for quite a while, and he has a way with words. Just recently he encouraged the whole nation when he reported that “…only 36,000 lost their jobs today, which is really good.” When criticized by the GOP for his statement the Senator clarified his remarks by explaining that the unemployment rate for February did not increase as widely as expected. Fewer jobs were lost than predicted. Doesn’t that mean that he was expecting things to be even worse? Didn’t President Obama, whom Senator Reid endorses, promise us that the Stimulus Package, which he passed with the Senator’s help, would keep the Nation’s unemployment from going above 8%? In a sense Senator Reid is right. The national unemployment rate is now reported at 9.7%. Things could be worse as in places like his own state of Nevada where the unemployment rate is at 13%. Earlier he observed that men who lose their jobs “…tend to be abusive.” Be careful, Mrs. Reid!

To his credit, it should be mentioned that Senator Reid, who claims to be pro-life, has done some good things for the unborn. In 1999 and again in 2003 he voted to ban partial birth abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother. In 2000 he voted to maintain a ban of abortions on military bases. In 2004 he voted for criminal penalties for harming the unborn during the commission of a crime. And in 2008 he voted to prohibit minors crossing state lines for abortion. Unfortunately, the Senator’s pro-life record has not been consistent, especially since the Democrat party gained power in the Senate. In 2007 he voted against barring HHS grants to organizations that perform abortions. In 2008 he voted against defining unborn children as eligible for SCHIP. And in 2009 he voted against restricting UN funding for population control policies.

Senator Reid has a reputation for blessing the people with words of comfort and encouragement. Some of the Senator’s comments came to light recently in a book by Mark Halperin entitled “Game Change” in which he said of President Barack Obama during his campaign that he thought Mr. Obama could be a viable candidate, due in part to his “light-skinned” appearance, and because he used speaking patterns “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” Many interpreted his remarks to mean that Barack Obama could be an acceptable presidential candidate despite being African American. In an interview with Bill O’Reilly, former governor Sarah Palin objected to Senator Reid’s observation, saying that “A lot of us don’t think along those lines that somebody’s skin tone qualifies them for president.” When the Senator realized that that his words had been made public he apologized and said, “I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words.” The President, who depends heavily on Senator Reid’s support to promote the President’s agenda, announced “Harry Reid called me today and apologized for an unfortunate comment reported today…As far as I am concerned, the book is closed.” But that wasn’t good enough for Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, who remembers well when Democrat politicians refused to accept the apology of Senator Trent Lott and forced him to resign for flattering fellow Senator Strom Thurmond on his hundredth birthday. Steele said, “There is a standard where Democrats think they can say these things and apologize when it comes from one of their own. But if it comes from anyone else, it’s racism.”

He speaks his mind, even when unpopular, as on the day when the Capitol Visitor’s Center was opened. The opening of the center was several years behind schedule and cost triple its original budget. But as far as Senator Reid is concerned it was well worth the extra time and expense because it would keep tourists away from him. As he explained in his remarks, “My staff tells me not to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway…In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. It may be descriptive, but it’s true.”

The Senator considers himself to be a religious man. In an interview at Brigham Young University he said for the record, “I think it is much easier to be a good member of the Church and a Democrat than a good member of the Church and a Republican.” He is a Democrat by conviction of conscience. Although he voted in support of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, in 2007 he voted to redeploy American troops out of Iraq by March of 2008 because, as he said, “Now I believe, myself, that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and you have to make your own decision as to what the president knows: that this war is lost, that the surge is not accomplishing anything.” He said on April 19, 2007 that the war in Iraq had been lost militarily and “can only be won diplomatically, politically and economically.” And said again, “I know I was the odd guy out yesterday at the White House, but at least told him what he needs to hear…I told George Bush what he needs to hear, not what he wants to hear, I did that and my conscience is great.”

Where would we be if the Senator were not a man of conscience? He is the one who was continually accusing the Republican majority and administration as the “culture of corruption, even as he, in the true spirit of the Christmas holidays, was using campaign donations to pay $3,300 in Christmas gifts to his staff. This was, of course, against federal election laws, but don’t be too hard on Senator Reid just because of that. After all, his staff did say that his attorneys had approved the use of the funds in this manner, and once he was discovered the Senator even assured that he would personally reimburse his campaign for the expenses.

This veteran of the senate had learned over the years how best to employ his power with the utmost of impeccable integrity, skillfully coordinating and integrating his political skill with his own real estate enterprise. In 2005 The Senator earmarked a transportation spending bill with funds to build a bridge between Nevada and Arizona, saying that it, along with other projects, was “incredibly good news for Nevada. It was also incredibly good news for Senator Reid since the bridge was to be built near a property of 160 acres that the Senator owned, and it was expected to raise the property value substantially.

In 1998 Senator Reid and his wife bought an undeveloped property for $400,000 in Clark County on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Jay Brown, a lawyer and the Senator’s friend of 35 years, bought the adjacent property. Then in 2001 the Senator sold his property for the same price to a company, which he co-owned in partnership with his lawyer friend in order to make it easier for them to rezone the undeveloped property for the building of a shopping center.

Then again Senator Reid sought to apply his wisdom to unselfishly assist the Democrat party when on December 3, 2008 he called the office of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to discuss the appointment to fill the Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Senator Reid insisted that he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. He discouraged the governor from appointing either Illinois congressmen Jackson or Davis or State Senate President Jones (political godfather to President Obama) because Senator Reid did not believe that any of the three were electable. Just six days later Governor Blagojavich was arrested for attempting to sell the senate seat.

But the Senator certainly did not use all of his skill and power selfishly. He was more than willing to help a friend in need. Harvey Whittemore, an attorney-lobbyist and great family friend whose personal attorney was Senator Reid’s own son Leif, had envisioned a $30 billion golf course development which was to be named Coyote Springs on a 10,500 acre spread which he had bought in 1998. But there were some problems. A quarter of the land was subject to a federal power-line right of way. Another

quarter of the land had federal protection for the desert tortoise, and there was a series of streams and washes that required special permission to build on. No problem with a dear friend like Harry. After five years the Bureau of Land Management finally agreed to exchange the land for another spread adjacent to a federal preserve elsewhere. Then friend Harry in the Senate attempted to insert provisions into a land management bill, which would relocate the power corridor so that Mr. Whittemore could start to build, but the Senator was forced to withdraw the provisions when the Bureau of Land Management and the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee noticed them. Undeterred, The Senator boldly stood up for his friend, trying to give Whittemore the land for $160,000, but Congress frustrated his kind gesture once again. Alas, the best the Senator could do for his friend was to arrange for Whittemore to buy the land at a fair market rate, but finally the government was forced to relocate its power corridor so that Whittemore could develop the property.

Mr. Whittemore was by no means ungrateful for the Senator’s noble and unselfish efforts on his behalf. Whittemore rewarded their friendship by contributing $45,000 to the Senator’s Political Action Committee, and has also donated $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the year 2000 when it pushed Harry Reid for Senate Party Leader. And, of course, the dear children were not forgotten. Rory Reid received $5,000 from Mr. Whittemore for his successful election to a seat on the Clark County Board of Commissioners, and Josh Reid received another $5000 for his unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the city council.

Senator Reid has not one single drop of bigotry in his veins. His thoughtful assistance has extended to Native American tribes, clients of Jack Abramoff. One client, the Coushattas, had gone on the warpath against a rival tribe to block them from opening a competing casino. On their behalf, the Senator interceded with the Secretary of the Interior, Gail Norton. The next day the Coushatta tribe issued a $5000 check to Senator Reid’s tax-exempt political group, the Searchlight Leadership Fund, and another tribe client of Mr. Abramoff is reported to have sent another $5000. In all, over a three-year period from 2001 to 2004 the Senator received about $68,000 from Abramoff and his grateful clients. Mr. Abramoff testified to prosecutors that $30,000 was the amount which the Senator requested in campaign contributions.

Unfortunately, fatigue from the Senator’s diligent labor for a time affected his memory as he insisted that he hadn’t even met Abramoff, had received no money at all from him, and could recall none of the nearly two dozen phone contacts to the Senator’s office shown by Abramoff’s phone records. “Don’t try to say I received money from Abramoff. I’ve never met the man, don’t know anything,” he insisted. In fact, the Senator had intervened on government matters at least five times to help Mr. Abramoff’s clients, once by opposing legislation on the Senate floor, and four times by sending letters to the Bush administration on their behalf. The Senator did receive donations from the clients about the time of each intervention. And a former staffer of the Senator was sent to work for Mr. Abramoff and held a campaign fundraiser in his office. Senator Reid did, however, remember vividly all of the Republicans accused of exploiting Mr. Abramoff and his clients, saying that it was "a program where the lobbyists paid and the Republican members of Congress played."

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