Well, well, well, lookee what we have here. Contrary to what many in the state-controlled media would have us all believe, that Republicans are the corrupt ones, while Democrats are as pure as the wind driven snow, it appears that old ‘Dingy Harry’ might now find himself sinking slowly into some political quicksand. ‘Dingy’ now finds himself on the receiving end of some closer than normal public scrutiny over the potentially enriching some family members through his position as a Democrat leader. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer turd. Whoops, did I say that? Yup, by golly I did, and I meant it too, every last word.
So anyway, everyone’s favorite creep from Nevada, and a fella who seems to have a rather strong dislike for anyone with the last name of Koch, has recently become embroiled in an embarrassing little 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. But his penchant 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 ‘Dingy’ appeared to benefit his son-in-law Steve Barringer’s consulting firm and his sons’ legal firm.
You see, it seems that the Howard Hughes Corp. paid something in the neighborhood of $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 just happened to then employed all four of ‘Dingy’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." ‘Dingy’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, we’re somehow expected to believe officials when they make the idiotic claim that ‘Dingy’s’ phone calls didn’t influence them in any way.
And it was back in 2012 that old ‘Dingy’ was only too happy to once again use his connections in an effort 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. The company’s billionaire founder, Wang Yusuo, joined with ‘Dingy’ 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 ‘Dingy’ during the past three cycles. Nothing shady going on here, right? Nope, nothing to see here, move along, move along.
And then it was earlier this year that ‘Dingy’s’ apparent 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. And until this 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. Well of course, he’s a slimy Democrat, and Democrats can get away with anything.
‘Dingy’s’ latest family problems 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 ‘Dingy’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, ‘Dingy’ defended the payments by stating that he had complied with FE standards that allow the purchase of goods from relatives if those goods are sold at fair market value.
‘Dingy’ 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, what ‘Dingy’ was really saying was, "I gave the money back so I don’t look guilty of something." 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.
This beady-eyed little shit belongs behind bars and not in the Congress of the United States and definitely not in a position of leadership. But the fact that he is able to remain doing so goes to show you just how far the American people will go in accepting this kind of sleazy behavior as long as they are able to keep receiving their government goodies. This guy’s not got a thing to worry about, the media aren’t going to rat him out and the voters are going to vote him out, out of fear of losing those things which they have come to feel entitled to. So until We the People can bring ourselves to demand better of our public servants, nothing will change.
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