Reid’s $1.1 million windfall
By Sean Aqui | Related entries in Breaking News, General Politics, Law, Money, NewsWe may have a prospective new Democratic candidate for my Hall of Shame.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn’t personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.
In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews.
This could be viewed as retaliation for the Foley revelations, except that it was a Reid aide that leaked the information.
The deal itself isn’t quite as bad as it sounds — Reid didn’t directly own the land, but he owned a stake in the partnership that did.
However, his failure to report the sale of the land appears to be a clear violation of disclosure rules. And the “informal” arrangement with a rather shady partner sure doesn’t polish his ethical resume.
He joins Rep. William Jefferson in the Democratic on-deck circle. Stay tuned.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 and is filed under Breaking News, General Politics, Law, Money, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 11th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
It is pointed out on Glenn Reynolds’s site that this could be completely innocent: a transfer of property to an LLC, with Reid recognizing the gain later upon the sale by the LLC. Though I disagree with just about everything Mr. Reid stands for politically, I doubt this will be anything like the Jefferson case.
October 11th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
from John in DC @ AmericaBlog:
Harry Reid bought some land in the late 90s, and over a several year period tripled his investment. Okay. Most everyone I know, other than me, did the same over that period. Still, AP calls this a “windfall.” Apparently, the AP has been asleep the past ten years while land prices have soared. Anyway, Harry Reid transferred his land to an LLC, in which he was still a party, and when time came to sell the LLC, they gave Reid his portion of the return on the land and also gave him back the value of his initial investment (i.e., the value of the land itself when he gave it to the LLC).
You still with me?
Now, you’d think perhaps the AP caught Harry Reid not reporting his holdings to the Senate Ethics Committee? No, he did it. How about not reporting the land sale and his profits to the Ethics Committee? No, he did that too. So what did Harry Reid do wrong? He didn’t tell the Ethics Committee he transferred the land to an LLC whi he was still a party in - though he did report to the committee that he still owned the land, which was true. Why does that detail matter? Got me. You’ll have to read a four page AP story to try to figure that one out.
The other “I gotcha” from the AP? They didn’t like the way Reid paid his property taxes.
Wow, so you would assume AP got a great juicy quote from George Bush’s IRS about how bad a thing Reid really did with his taxes? Not quite. Here’s how the IRS characterized the payments:
Brand said the IRS might view the handling of the land taxes as undisclosed income to Reid but it was unlikely to prompt an investigation. “If someone is paying a liability you owe, there may be some income imputed. But at that level, it’s pretty small dollars,” he said.
This is the same IRS that harasses liberal churches for sport. But they don’t think they’ve got enough to go after the minority leader of the opposition political party.
John Solomon is obsessed with Harry Reid. It’s kind of creepy.
October 11th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
The neocon repugs and the american propaganda machine-AP- trying to grab air.
October 12th, 2006 at 2:03 am
More accurately, trying to come up with whatever Democratic scandal they can find to try to splash the Democrats with the effluvia of the massive set of Republican scandals going on right now.
October 12th, 2006 at 11:06 am
I do a lot of work in real estate. There’s all KINDS of ways to move property around, invest in property and earn profit from property that can seem a bit curious to the outsider but which are all completely legal. I don’t know the details of Reid’s deal, but it seems pretty benign.
October 12th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
That ain’t normal, to say the least. Mr. Reid & Mr. Brown need to cough up the operating agreement of this Patrick Lane LLC forthwith, as well as a list of all members and investors.
So what exactly is the deal here: was 1.1 million gifted to Reid? Well that certainly would have some nice tax advantages.
WHAT? Was the property transfered to the LLC or not? Either one owns a peice of property or they don’t. Was he member of the LLC, was he not a member, did he own the land or did the LLC own the land? These are simple questions that should be answered.
NICE. God I wish I was in Congress.
REALLY NICE. Oh but wait, baby…
HEY, ONE OF YOU BRILLIANT LIBERALS, PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW A LLC IS ETHICALLY SUPERIOR TO A LAND TRUST.
October 12th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
It still isn’t as titillating as buggering a boy-page, but you take what you can get….