Telling like it is about Harry Reid

AP photo of Harry Reid accompanying Jane Ann Morrison column online at R-J.

I’m sure Harry Reid chuckled heartily at today’s newspaper column by Jane Ann Morrison in which she rains on his retirement celebration today by saying of him in her opening line: “Harry Reid is rude, ruthless and deceitful. He spent his political life embracing the Machiavellian motto that it’s better to be feared than loved.”

Having covered Reid for 37 years, she knows whereof she speaks. Morrison was there when mobster Joe Agosto was caught on tape saying, “I gotta Cleanface in my pocket,” meaning Harry, then head of the Gaming Commission.

She was in court when they played the video of phony Harry pretending to outraged at being offered a bribe.

Morrison recounted:

In 1979, Reid testified in court about a bribe attempt. The year before, Las Vegan Jack Gordon offered a $12,000 bribe to Reid, hoping to win approval for two new gaming devices. Reid reported it to the FBI, and his office was set up to videotape the meeting. When the bribe was offered, FBI agents entered to arrest Gordon. Reid erupted, saying, “You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me!” and started to choke Gordon. He had to be pulled off by agents.

As I watched the video in court, it seemed somewhat fake. Reid, a lawyer, knew he was being videotaped.

Somewhat fake? Morrison is too kind by half.

She also recounts a time when he flat out lied about saying something to her that she had clearly taped. But that’s never affected Harry, who has changed course countless times over the years and then denied doing so.

Morrison gave Harry his due. He did accomplish a number of things, mostly for himself and his party.

Even Harry’s former Senate colleague Richard Bryan vouched for him embracing the fear over love methodology.

Bryan has said Reid “has a memory like a political elephant. You cross him, he’ll never forget that. There will be a price to pay. Certainly there are people who paid the price.” Bryan declined to name names.

Harry’s one-time spokeswoman, Susan McCue, a woman who turned the term media relations into an oxymoron, once told a reporter Reid looks at a person’s vulnerabilities to “disarm, to endear, to threaten, but most of all to instill fear.”

Morrison accurately called that Machiavellian.

In the chapter on Reid in Peter Schweizer’s book, “Extortion: How politicians extract your money, buy votes, and line their own pockets,” the author recounts countless self-serving deals Harry cut over the years.

Schweizer opens that section with a quote from “The Godfather” by Don Corleone, “Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

The book then describes a scene at a restaurant hours after Reid was sworn in on Jan. 4, 2005, for his fourth term and became Senate majority leader. “Reid was seated in the quiet backroom of the restaurant. The lobbyists, who represented the largest and most powerful corporations in the world, took turns saying hello to the new leader. ‘It was like a scene out of “The Godfather,”’ one lobbyist told Roll Call. ‘He was in the room and people were lined up to greet him and pay homage.’”

Schweizer concludes the chapter by writing that Reid “runs the Democrat Party’s toughest family extortion syndicate …”

There are a few columnists Reid appears to like — those who fawn over him and his Machiavellian ways and snipe at those who dare to question his deviousness and vindictiveness and self-serving deeds.

A few years ago, Reid had this to say about one of them:

Some are watchdogs. Some are lapdogs.

 

Harry-the-lip just keeps making up things

Harry Reid lives in a fact-free zone.

A couple of weeks ago he was quoted by Politico as accusing the Koch brothers of trying to “buy the country.”

Harry Reid quoted by Politico

“Because of a United States Supreme Court decisions (sic) called Citizens United, there’s been some really untoward stuff going on in the political world. We have two brothers who are actually trying to buy the country,” Reid was quoted as saying.

Politico points out that in 2010, when Harry was re-elected, the Koch brothers actually gave nearly $200,000 to Democratic candidates — including a $30,000 donation to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

But if you check with OpenSecrets.org, you’ll find the Koch bothers, via their Koch Industries, are nowhere near the top in buying power when it comes to political contributions. In fact, they are 59th in the period between 1989 and 2014.

Out of the top 20 organizations in buying power, only two tilted toward giving to Republicans. Many of the top contributors are unions.

During that crucial 2010 election cycle, the Koch Industries PAC, according to FEC.gov records, spent $2.6 million.

Meanwhile, the Friends for Harry Reid committee spent $22.5 million.

Now, who is trying to “buy the country,” Harry?

OpenSecrets.org top 10

Actually, Reid isn’t buying the country. He is extorting money out of lobbyists so he can maintain his power.

Peter Schweizer’s book, “Extortion: How politicians extract your money, buy votes, and line their own pockets,” has a section on Reid.

Schweizer opens that section with a quote from “The Godfather” by Don Corleone, “Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

The book then describes a scene at a restaurant hours after Reid was sworn in on Jan. 4, 2005, for his fourth term and became Senate majority leader. “Reid was seated in the quiet backroom of the restaurant. The lobbyists, who represented the largest and most powerful corporations in the world, took turns saying hello to the new leader. ‘It was like a scene out of “The Godfather,”’ one lobbyist told Roll Call. ‘He was in the room and people were lined up to greet him and pay homage.’”

No book on political ‘extortion’ could exclude Harry Reid, could it?

Of course, any book with a title like Peter Schweizer’s, “Extortion: How politicians extract your money, buy votes, and line their own pockets,” which came out about a week ago, has to have a section on Harry Reid.

Schweizer opens that section with a quote from “The Godfather” by Don Corleone, “Do you spend time with your family? Good. Because a man that doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

The book then describes a scene at a restaurant hours after Reid was sworn in on Jan. 4, 2005, for his fourth term and became Senate majority leader. “Reid was seated in the quiet backroom of the restaurant. The lobbyists, who represented the largest and most powerful corporations in the world, took turns saying hello to the new leader. ‘It was like a scene out of “The Godfather,”’ one lobbyist told Roll Call. ‘He was in the room and people were lined up to greet him and pay homage.’”

Schweizer then proceeds to list a litany of deals and schemes involving Nevada’s senior senator along with sons Rory, Key and Joshua and son-in-law Steve Barringer. Somehow son Leif escapes scrutiny.

Not much in the book breaks any new ground for those familiar with Reid and his family. The writer leaves out a few familiar names, such as recently convicted Reid campaign cash bundler Harvey Whittemore. Reid’s manipulation of the Legislature to force the premature closure of coal-fired power plants and foist the entire cost on ratepayers was probably too recent to make the book’s deadline.

Schweizer describes Reid’s rise to power as due not to his charisma, good looks and fine speeches — that’s obvious — but to his building of a Washington and Nevada political machine known for being ruthless. He repeats a quote attributed to Reid’s one time chief of staff, Susan McCue, a woman who turned the term media relations into an oxymoron and someone with whom I’ve had the displeasure of the occasional telephonic shouting match.

McCue told a reporter Reid looks at a person’s vulnerabilities to “disarm, to endear, to threaten, but most of all to instill fear.”

The author also quoted Reid pal and former fellow senator, Richard Bryan, as saying Reid “has a memory like a political elephant. You cross him, he’ll never forget that. There will be a price to pay. Certainly there are people who paid the price.” Bryan, who works at the same law firm as most of Reid’s sons have at one time or the other, declined to name names, though I can certainly think of a few.

Schweizer concludes that “Mr. Cleanface” — a name given Reid by mobster Joe Agosto, whom the writer misidentifies as Tony Agosto — “runs the Democrat Party’s toughest family extortion syndicate …”