Reid has a history of making baseless allegations

Though Harry Reid admits he lied in 2012 when he said Mitt Romney had not paid IRS taxes in 10 years, he is completely unrepentant.

“I have no repentance, because it was an issue that was important,” Reid is quoted as saying. “This has been an issue of mine for a long time.”

In another interview, he quipped, “Romney didn’t win, did he?”

Harry Reid speaking at luncheon in Las Vegas this past week. (R-J photo)

Yes, it has been an issue of his for a long time, though Reid refuses to release any of his tax returns, saying his annual financial disclosures in Congress are sufficient, though those forms only report income and investments in broad ranges. His 2014 disclosure form places his net worth at between $2.9 million and $6.7 million.

Reid did release his IRS returns once and demanded that his opponent and his family do the same. That was in 1974 when he ran against Paul Laxalt for the Senate and lost by 611 votes.

“Any man or woman who will not be completely candid about his or her finances does not deserve to be in public office,” Reid said, according to an Associated Press report.

According to a 2012 Review-Journal account by Laura Myers at the time Reid was saying Romney paid no taxes, in the 1974 race Reid questioned how former Gov. Laxalt could pay $7.5 million for the Ormsby House hotel-casino in Carson City and questioned Laxalt’s ties to Howard Hughes who was buying casinos on the Strip in Las Vegas and the land that is now Summerlin.

Laxalt complied. It turned out he was worth about $200,000, excluding the hotel, and Reid was worth about $300,000.

It also turned out Laxalt’s sister was a nun who had taken a vow of poverty, and Reid later admitted that made him look bad.

That appears to be his only regret, that it made him look bad.

Considering Reid’s recent injuries, which he said occurred when an elastic exercise band broke and sent him tumbling into a cabinet in his Henderson home, and his decision to not seek re-election, the ending on a 2014 story about Reid’s history of shenanigans seems rather prophetic:

“Reid, who will turn 75 in December, plans to run for reelection in 2016. His reelection is assured, thanks for his extensive and powerfully entrenched political machine. After that, whether he is removed from the Senate on a gurney or in handcuffs remains to be seen.”