Harry Reid

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Harry Reid
200px
U.S. Senator from Nevada
From: January 3, 1987 - Present
Predecessor Paul Laxalt
Successor Incumbent (no successor)
U.S. Representative from Nevada's 1st Congressional District
From: January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1987
Predecessor James David Santini
Successor James Bilbray
Information
Party Democrat
Spouse(s) Landra Gould
Religion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Harry Reid, born December 2, 1939 (age 84), is the liberal senior Senator from Nevada and U.S. Senate Majority Leader in the 111th Congress. Reid is a member of the Democratic Party, and the first member of the Church of Latter-day Saints to become Senate Majority Leader.

Early Life and Education

Born in Searchlight Nevada, Reid converted to Mormonism while attending Utah State University in 1960. [1] He went on to earn a law degree from George Washington University in 1964. [2]

Political Career

Harry Reid's career in politics began in 1967 when he was elected to the Nevada State Assembly and in 1970 was elected Lieutenant Governor. He unsuccessfully ran for the United States Senate in 1974. From 1977 to 1981, Harry Reid was the Nevada state gaming commissioner. This led his character to be parodied in the 1995 film "Casino" played by Dick Smothers. During Reid's tenure as gaming commissioner, he allowed the FBI to videotape businessman Jack Gordon, offering him a 12,000 bribe. Then, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal account, Reid "put his hands around Gordon's neck and said, 'You son of a b-tch, you tried to bribe me!'" [3] In 1979 Gordon was arrested and sentenced to six months in jail.

After serving two terms in the House of Representatives, Reid was elected to the Senate in 1986 and reelected three times. He served as Minority Whip from 1999 through 2001, again from 2003 through 2005, Minority Leader from 2005 through 2007, and was elected Senate Majority Leader in 2006.

2010 Reelection campaign

Reid is facing a tough battle for reelection to a fifth term. Nevada has been very hard hit by the Recession of 2008, and voters are skeptical of Reid's ability to help them. His approval ratings are neagtive: 37% held a favorable view of Reid's job performance, while 50% held an unfavorable view. Polls in August 2009 show him running 5 to 10 point behind both the possible Republican candidates. One announced opponent is Danny Tarkanian, a real estate professional who has run twice unsuccessfully for public office; his father was the legendary basketball coach at UNLV. Reid also trails Sue Lowden (40% to 45%), the chair of the state's struggling Republican Party who has not yet entered the race. Lowden, a former state legislator and television news journalist is considering a run.

Political Views

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (left) and Senator Chris Dodd (right)
Harry Reid has voted with a majority of his Democratic colleagues 94.8% of the time during the current Congress. [4] He has been a key spokesman for liberal positions on taxes, health care, government bailouts, unions and immigration. In 2009 Reid called opponents of universal health care "evil-mongers." He later explained "I maybe could have been less descriptive, I doubt you’ll hear it from me again." [5] Reid voted to authorize military force in Iraq in 1991 and again in 2002. However, he later became a proponent of troop withdrawal.

Some of Harry Reid's positions on social issues are outside the mainstream of the Democratic Party. He describes himself as pro-life, saying "Abortions should be legal only when the pregnancy resulted from incest, rape, or when the life of the woman is endangered." [6] Reid voted to express opposition to Roe v. Wade [7] and supported the ban on Partial birth abortion. [8] However, since being elected to his leadership position he has recieved criticism from the pro-life community for voting against the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, supporting Embryonic Stem Cell Research and voting to use taxpayer dollars to fund overseas abortions. [9] From 2007-2008, the National Right to Life Committee gave Harry Reid a 28% rating. [10]

Additionally, in 2007 Gun Owners of America gave Reid a grade of F. [11]

Controversies

As a United States Senator Harry Reid has been the subject of Controversy and Criticism. In 2006 he was ranked the 10th most corrupt person in Washington by Judicial Watch. [12]

Connections with Jack Abramoff

Reid has received over $60,000 from groups that are related to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, including about $50,000 from Native American gaming interests. Several times, Native American tribes that were clients of Jack Abramoff donated money to Reid after Reid's votes produced favorable results for the tribes. However, Reid described the Abramoff affair as "a Republican scandal."

Boxing credentials

Reid has accepted free tickets valued at hundreds of dollars for boxing matches between 2003 and 2005 from the Nevada Athletic Commission. Senate ethics rules permit gifts from such governmental agencies.

Las Vegas land deal

Senator Reid came under fire in 2006 for failing to properly report to Congress a $700,000 land deal. Harry Reid's member interest in limited liability company (LLC) was allocated $1.1 million of the gross proceeds attributable to the sale of a parcel of land. In 1998, Reid bought a plot of land for $400,000, fair market value at the time. One of the sellers was a developer who arranged a land swap that Reid supported.

Iraq "lost"

On April 19 2007, representatives of 50 Iraqi Sunni tribes announced the formation of a new democratic political party called Iraq Awakening, with the aim of fielding candidates in elections at all levels of government, including the parliamentary elections in 2009. In the predominantly Shiite country, a large scale political organization among the Sunni is precisely what al-Qaeda insurgents have opposed. Later the same day, Sen. Reid demanded the pullout of American forces, on the basis that Iraq had been "lost". [13] In May, Majority Leader Reid voted to fund the "lost" cause anyway. In a scathing rebuke MSNBC's Keith Olbermann said,

Mr. Reid, Mr. Hoyer, and the other Democrats... have failed us. They negotiated away that which they did not own, but had only been entrusted by us to protect: our collective will as the citizens of this country.... Mr. Reid has failed.

[14]

Ironically after Reid proclaimed the war lost, sectarian violence was significantly reduced.

Rush Limbaugh Phony Soldier Incident

On October 2, 2007, Senator Reid wrote a letter to Mark P. Mays, Chairman-of-the-board and CEO of Clear Channel Communications, who are Rush Limbaugh's chief patrons. In it Senator Reid essentially demanded that Mr. Mays order Mr. Limbaugh apologize for certain remarks that Mr. Limbaugh allegedly made, to the effect that soldiers who opposed the prosecution of the war in Iraq were "phony soldiers."[15] In composing his letter and his later remarks, Reid relied heavily on a presentation and alleged analysis by Media Matters for America. In fact, the only soldiers that Mr. Limbaugh ever alleged to be "phony" were certain persons who falsely claimed to have served in Iraq; some of those persons were in fact tried for and convicted of misrepresentation of service and drew prison sentences for their conduct. Nevertheless Mr. Reid obtained the signatures of forty of his Senate colleagues on his accusatory letter and read the letter aloud on the floor of the Senate.

The letter was delivered, and Mr. Limbaugh ultimately obtained it. Mr. Limbaugh publicly exhibited it to an audience in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 11. The next day he placed the letter for sale at public auction at eBay.com.[16] The letter fetched a final price of more than two million US dollars. Rush donated the entire proceeds to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, and included a matching contribution of his own. In his remarks on the air on the day that the auction ended, and for several days before that, Mr. Limbaugh speculated that Senator Reid probably never imagined that his letter would even be made public, much less set a record for the most expensive charity auction in the records of eBay.com.[17]

At noon EDT October 19, 2007, Senator Reid spoke again to this issue on the floor of the Senate, taking note of the astonishing auction price that the letter was sure to fetch (the auction was still running at the time). He suggested in his remarks that he had spoken to Mr. Mays personally about the prospect of the public auction and had expressed doubts that such an auction would fetch more than a trifling sum.[18] Rush Limbaugh played the recording of Mr. Reid's remarks on his radio program and scathingly suggested that Mr. Reid was now attempting to take credit after the fact for the success of the auction and the massive charitable donation that would result from it.[19]

Images of the text of the letter, and the signatures of the Senators, appear below:

  • Body of the letter

  • Rest of the body and twelve signatures

  • Eighteen signatures

  • Eleven signatures

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.adherents.com/largecom/lds_Reid.html
  2. ↑ http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Nov-14-Sun-2004/news/25258027.html
  3. ↑ http://www.nndb.com/people/292/000032196/
  4. ↑ http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/r000146/
  5. ↑ http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/harry_reid_protesters_evil-mongers/
  6. ↑ http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=53320#408
  7. ↑ http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00048
  8. ↑ http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00402
  9. ↑ http://www.lifenews.com/state4369.html
  10. ↑ http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_detail.php?r_id=4321
  11. ↑ http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=53320&type=category&category=37&go.x=4&go.y=5
  12. ↑ http://www.judicialwatch.org/printer_6091.shtml
  13. ↑ Reid The Reaper: Dems plan Iraq Awakening's wake, by Daniel Clark, New Media Alliance. Retrieved 06/04/07.
  14. ↑ The entire government has failed us on Iraq, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC Countdown, May 24, 2007.
  15. ↑ Reid, Harry, et al. "Letter to Mark P. Mays of Clear Channel Communications." Electronic Office of US Senator Harry Reid, October 2, 2007. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  16. ↑ Auction listing of original of Harry Reid letter. eBay.com. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  17. ↑ Limbaugh, Rush H., remarks heard on his radio program on October 19, 2007, at about 12:15 p.m. EDT, or 16:15 p.m. UTC
  18. ↑ Reid, Harry M. "Remarks on the Floor of the United States Senate regarding Letter to Mark P. Mays." Captured and published by Breitbart TV. Retrieved October 19, 2007.
  19. ↑ Reid, Harry; remarks on the floor of the United States Senate on October 19, 2007, at 12:00 noon EDT. Played and commented upon by Rush H. Limbaugh on his radio program, beginning 12:35 p.m. EDT.

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