A deal in the desert for Sen. Reid?

RightinNYC · 01-28-07, 03:05 PM

A deal in the desert for Sen. Reid? - Los Angeles Times

Quote:

It's hard to buy undeveloped land in booming northern Arizona for $166 an acre. But now-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid effectively did just that when a longtime friend decided to sell property owned by the employee pension fund that he controlled.

In 2002, Reid (D-Nev.) paid $10,000 to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Las Vegas lubricants distributor and his friend for 50 years. The payment gave the senator full control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City that Reid and the pension fund had jointly owned. Reid's price for the equivalent of 60 acres of undeveloped desert was less than one-tenth of the value the assessor placed on it at the time.

Six months after the deal closed, Reid introduced legislation to address the plight of lubricants dealers who had their supplies disrupted by the decisions of big oil companies. It was an issue the Haycock family had brought to Reid's attention in 1994, according to a source familiar with the events.

If Reid were to sell the property for any of the various estimates of its value, his gain on the $10,000 investment could range from $50,000 to $290,000.

Quote:

Because an employee pension fund had owned the land Reid purchased, labor law experts contacted by The Times said, a below-market sale would raise additional questions. Pension fund trustees like Clair Haycock have a duty in most cases to sell assets for their market value, the experts said.

"I think this would have been considered a potentially serious issue" at the time, said Ian D. Lanoff, who led the Labor Department's pension division during the Carter administration

This is pretty interesting. I've heard rumors of this sort of stuff with Reid for a while now, but this is the most concisely laid out I've seen it before.

jujuman13 · 01-28-07, 03:13 PM

ANOTHER DEAL?

Democratic Senator for sale.
Busy man.
He somehow pursuades the Federal authorities to turn a blind eye to his breach of a Federal law, that forbids donated monies from being used for personal expenses.
Now we have all this smoke, so far very little sign of fire, with respect to a land deal.
Link
A deal in the desert for Sen. Reid? - Los Angeles Times
Newt Gingrich where are you?

CurrentAffairs · 01-28-07, 03:18 PM

Already a thread on this

chosendudenyc · 01-28-07, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RightatNYU

A deal in the desert for Sen. Reid? - Los Angeles Times

This is pretty interesting. I've heard rumors of this sort of stuff with Reid for a while now, but this is the most concisely laid out I've seen it before.

Hello fellow NY'er, isn't such a pension fund not allowed while in congress only after that congress person retires from his or her political position?

Even if that punsion fund was from another employment avenue, which I doubt, it seems unethical and possibility illegal.

It would be more acceptable if a situation like a 401k plan, where folks can use from after they have build up some limit of wealth, but for real estate to be included into a pension fund given, real estate isn't something taken out of ones wages seem a bit fishy and of need of further public and congressional observation.

jujuman13 · 01-28-07, 04:48 PM

Ah! But this man is a DEMOCRAT.
Everyone knows that Democrat Politicians do not tell lies or get into shady deals and certainly never ever dream of (let alone actually do) circumnavigate Federal laws?