The complex dealings allowed Reid to transfer ownership, legal liability and some tax consequences to Brown’s company without public knowledge but still collect a seven-figure payoff nearly three years later.
Googling “Harry Reid” and “land deal” brings up some very interesting background information, and gives one a sense of the variety of land issues that Senator Reid has been involved in and how they have benefitted him in the past. This story is representative.
UPDATE: Any opinions regarding actus? Express them in the comments.
UPDATE x2: More from Real Clear Politics:
(LATE UPDATE: As you can probably see if you have clicked the YouTube embed above the video has magically disappeared. Funny how that happens to certain videos on YouTube and not others. You can watch the AP news report here.)
I don’t know the specifics of this land deal and whether Reid is getting a bum rap, but I can guarantee you that the media would not be downplaying this story if it were a Republican leader with the exact same circumstances.
TOM ADDS: One tidbit also worth noting from the print version of the Associated Press story: “AP first learned of the transaction from a former Reid aide who expressed concern the deal had not been reported properly.”
Now stop gawking and go to ahem’s post about the information war, easily the most important thing posted here today. Except maybe Sanity Inspector’s post on Daniel Pearl.
UPDATE x2: This is getting better and better.
Didn’t he just have an LLC own the land? How complex is an LLC?
An LLC isn’t complex. The way that he went about trying to launder the transaction and go about getting rezoning is.
Several thousand times more complex than actus’s thinking on any particular subject.
I see that CNN finally got around to putting this story on their website after fully exhausting the Foleygate story (for today, at least). You’d think that PETA would have something to say about the press beating dead horses.
PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals(?)) doesn’t care as long as they are already dead ans they can deposit them in a North Carolina Trash bin.
THIS IS AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST ALERT…..
Karl, actus is back…
THIS ENDS OUR EMERGENCY BROADCAST ALERT…
Republican, Democrat, or Independent. It doesn’t matter. One has to wonder though, when our elected representatives (heh) enter the halls of Congress; do they all slither inside or is there a significant percentage that slowly inches their way to the door while leaving a trail of slime on the steps?
I do have to admit that I sometimes question our policy of promoting democracy in other countries given how it works here. I think libertarianism has it right: politicians are less likely to abuse power if they have much less of it.
Thinking of that, I have a question. I just got finished reading Machiavelli’s The Prince, and nowhere did it directly state, “the ends justify the means,” or, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Am I missattributing those quotes to Machiavelli, or is the version I bought translated differently. The book’s forward does try to portray Machiavelli as less cynical than presumed.
Playboy-approved Capt. Ed has more on Reid.
BJTexs, as you can see, the only reaction to actus so far has been from Chairman Me, who simply noted how dim actus is.
But as you know, as a service to any newbies who might be thinking about responding to the actus inanity:
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Why do the regulars at PW ignore actus above all others?
Good question. The short answer is that he is to be ignored because he is a chronic dissembler, a sewer-dwelling weasel, utterly lacking in common decency. But perhaps some backstory is in order.
This is the guy who was excusing Jeff Goldstein’s blog-stalker. Let’s review the history. When Paterrico blogged the topic, the loathesome Liberal Avenger’s response was:
Patterico responded:
Then actus jumped in:
Keep in mind, actus has been to law school and knows that mental illness does not excuse criminal conduct unless the person does not know right from wrong, as Frisch admits she does. But what did he write?
actus tries to pretend he didn’t write that, claiming that what he said was that “she was so wrong as to appear crazy!†That’s dissembling, because he knows mental illness generally does not excuse sociopatic conduct, let alone the appearance of mental illness. Other lefties, like criminal defense attorney Jerilyn Merritt were able to simply condemn this sociopathy without excuse; actus was not, which speaks volumes.
The other reason you know it’s dissembling is because it fits the actus modus operandi. Regular PW readers and regular Patterico readers know that actus goes to both places to snark in order to pick ridiculous fights. It’s what he does. For that matter, note that he did so at Patterico, not here at PW, where it might well have gotten him banned in the heat of the moment. He knew exactly what he was doing, and so does every regualr reader at both blogs.
The actus modus operandi is also on display in a later thread at Patterico, in which he defends GiGi’s fabricated garbage about Rush Limbaugh and underage prostitutes.
Everyone should visit the thread where I confronted actus with his vile garbage to enjoy the spectacle of the loathsome little creep melting down into a puddle of laughable dissembling, profanity and otherwise childish behavior.
This bit is nice also, in which actus tries to pretend he’s not comfy defending GiGi’s fabricated filth, only to be confronted with what he actually wrote, which, for the record, was:
Mind you, he has no sort of direct evidence about teenage prostitutes, but maintains it’s not baseless. And that he does not condemn the admitted sleaze.
Above the entertainment value to regular PW visitors, the linked threads should inform any new visitors that the odds of having a reasonable discussion with this mope are slim to none, with slim already on the train, heading out of town.
This is why the PW regulars deal with actus as they do. It’s really not even ignoring so much as shunning him due to his chronic bad-faith dissembling, his apparent comfort defending the indefensible, his (as RiverCocytus put it) “spittle, splutter and spindoctoring.”
Or, as Christoph susccintly put it at Patterico:
Regular PW readers and regular Patterico readers know it. And now folks just stopping by know it.
So…um..Karl.
Quit dissembling now. How do you really feel about actus?
If ya gonna snipe, better check yer camo cause “third eye Karl” is sweepin’ the ridge with his scope….
Which frankly is odd since he claims to have no interest in criminal law. A guy so willing to defend the indefensible ought to be assisting Ramsey Clark over in Baghdad.
Isn’t
from Lord Acton?
CHICKEN-DISSEMBLER!!!!
I went to public school, so it’s entirely possible I was told the wrong thing. Come to think of it, my world history teacher was also the girls’ volleyball coach (lucky bastard).
re: Reid
There is no “there” there. And you all know it.
By the way, this place has really gone to crap.
And yet, you keep coming here. Poor judgment on your part, really.
Ladies and gentleman we have us a “troll storm” all of whom apparantly have studied at the actus school of snark and run. They all sound like one of those carnival barkers with the big voice selling $.99 plastic snow blizzards made by emaciated kiddies in Sri Lanka. All bluster, no substance, sort like Twinkies.
Either someone is looking to make a name for themselves or the powerful Olaf has kicked the training dummy program into high gear, sacrificing depth and facts for quantity and shallowness.
Oh, the pith! Gods, the depth of analysis, the grasp of arcane data that brings new meaning to the arena of ideas! How shall we stand to such a shitstorm of fecundity?
You, sir, have not been paying attention. Thus Spake has already designated this site as 100% Pure Shit!
And now, please, kindly frack off.
david–
From Tom Elia at The New Editor:
It’s not so hard to understand how someone with the power to do it might be a greedy, arm-twisting land speculator/deal-broker, who broke the law, but there you have it.
Hey, it’s not like he IMed underaged pages with solicitations or did some book deal that broke Congressional rules, technically, still . . .
It’s an election year. Live with it, douchebag.
For those of you not familiar with david, let me explain what he will post if continues to post in this thread:
1. “I’m trying to keep an open mind on this one, but the facts simply say you’re wrong.”
2. Psychobabble that basically amounts to proclaiming all conservatives mentally disturbed (That’s so Michael Savage of you by the way, david.)
3. Several more statements that we all do really, or should, know that what he is saying is true.
4. Probably something about glomming onto Reid’s harmless, even admirable, antics in order to get away from the oh so important question of whether or not Foley had netsex with pages who were old enough to consent by DC law.
5. And of course, unrelenting triumphalism for razor sharp wit
Now, the only question is: Will he stick with the gameplan, or try to change it up because he got called out for it and simply can’t accept the fact that he’s so utterly predictable? Dude, that’s so Matrix.
<futureSpeaker>: sup?
<bbbbadtothebone>: what r u wearing?
<futureSpeaker>: Perry Ellis biz suit
<bbbbadtothebone>: ur hot. are your tits all sweaty?
<futureSpeaker>: harry, this is nancy
<bbbbadtothebone>: ooooooh shit sorry
<futureSpeaker>: is it true?
<bbbbadtothebone>: what?
<futureSpeaker>: nevada. OMG. reprotrs calling all morning
<bbbbadtothebone>: nev where’s that?
<futureSpeaker>: im serious. hw much did u make?
<bbbbadtothebone>: r ur tits all sweaty?
<futureSpeaker>: not funny, how much?
<bbbbadtothebone>: almost 2x my $$$
<futureSpeaker>: way <wink>
<bbbbadtothebone>: way
<futureSpeaker>: and u didnt call me?
<bbbbadtothebone>: my deal
<futureSpeaker>: rezoning?
<bbbbadtothebone>: u woud know
<futureSpeaker>: lol nxt time call me
<bbbbadtothebone>: ok…not
<futureSpeaker>: but bad timing WTF? W_T_F!
<bbbbadtothebone>: i knw
<futureSpeaker>: hu blw t whistle?
<bbbbadtothebone>: x assistant?
<futureSpeaker>: find out immed.
<bbbbadtothebone>: ok, later
* <bbbbadtothebone> has quit #townhouse (Connection reset by peer)
* <gilesgoatboy69> has joined #townhouse
<gilesgoatboy69>: chick magnet here. lmao
<futureSpeaker>: kerry, u worthless pos. go assail bush nork policy. m bsy
<gilesgoatboy69>: i i, capt
* <husbandOfthePrez> has joined #townhouse
<husbandOfthePrez>: WTF r u doing here kerry? yr supposed to b assailing bush nork policy. go
<gilesgoatboy69>: outa here, bye
* <gilesgoatboy69> has quit #townhouse
<husbandOfthePrez>: nancy, wht color undies r u wearing today?
<futureSpeaker>: bill, we hav to stp mtg like ths….
Before you embarrass yourselves further, call your tax accountant and read him that article. You’ll find the author is ignorant.
(Hint: people don’t sell land to their LLC’s)
Oh. That does seem like some magical laundering: the whole time he was disclosing that he had an interest in the property. I dont know much about laundering, but I thought the point was to separate the stuff from you. Not to tell everyone that you do own it.
For real? they were a quite short chapter in my business associations book. An aside at the end.
I’m shocked someone made money in real estate in the 90’s. But the law he broke was that he didn’t say he had exchanged his interest in the property for interest in the LLC? It seems like he was disclosing an even greater interest in it than he had.
david:
You’re what’s called, technically, a ‘useful idiot’. If you had one fucking clue, you’d realize Reid is a crook. But you’re just a fool. A fool and a tool. You’re the kind of guy who believes Wal-Mart is ‘the great satan’ for creating jobs in impoverished neighborhoods while a cynical criminal like Harry Reid is a saint for collaborating with the Mob to defraud American taxpayers in the sale of public lands.
Asshole.
actus: dear god, you’re an idiot. really. truly. i’d buy you a beer if I ever met you, but you’re fucking stupid.
Thank you for including my argument.
Explain it to me. Because it seems here the problem is Reid was claiming to directly own the property when actually he owned a stake in the LLC that had it. Thats the violation here, right?
Ahem, is it? Listen, you really don’t want to go out on this limb. Don’t you feel it? This is obviously not your area of expertise. It is mine. I’m telling you, other than identifying the property as held personally, rather than in the LLC, there is nothing there. I could go on about related party transactions with LLC’s and nonrecognition events between partners and partnerships, but really, you’re just going to have to trust me on this. Sleep on it, call your accountant tomorrow, ask him about it, then I’ll check back for your sheepish apology.
Of course, you are directly quoted above to the exact contrary. The regulars here know you defend the indefensible. You are fooling no one, except possibly yourself. Which may be why people are starting to call you stupid, in addition to “pig.”
Don’t hold your breath…
So you keep saying. Surprising isn’t it? that I would know that its not an excuse, and yet say something that can be an excuse or can be something else.
Don’t worry.
actus–
Well, this really is quite simple, once again. What benefit might accrue to him by claiming that he owned the property outright when he had actually “sold” it at no profit to his friend, for about a 70% share in the LLC?
If the transaction to sell the rezoned property is performed by the LLC, in his lawyer friend’s name, then do people realize that it’s actually a transaction on behalf of Reid, appart from the people on the zoning commission and the Clark County commission? Why would he not want that known?
I suspect that it may have something to do with his hardass attitude toward Nevada farmers who have had their own land issues. Why did the zoning board initially reject his application to have the property rezoned?
But most importantly, the fact that this was brought forward by a former aide suggests that Reid knew or should have known that his representations violated disclosure laws.
Harry wants to holler about the culture of corruption? Fine. Expect to be treated like Caesar’s wife. Is there something wrong with that?
Were you just born an insufferable prick or is it something you had to work at? If you don’t want to have a discussion go somewhere else, you are one of the few trolls I wish JG would just ban. You are nothing but annoying noise, bringing nothing but pretentious bluster to the table. Trust me on this.
If he owns a share of the LLC, that would be something that the buyer of the LLC would know. It would also depend on what recording requirements Nevada LLC’s have.
But we know that they did. He should have disclosed he did not have an interest in the property, but had an interest in the LLC. Interestingly, his deficient disclosure ties him more directly to the property.
Carefully hidden on the face of his Senate disclosure forms?
Talk to your accountant yet?
Doesn’t lack of knowledge of a particular topic ever give you guys pause before you start arguing such strongly held opinions? Think about it, what do you really know about this? The reason I ask is because the answer is clearly “very little.”
david–
What do you have to say to this?
Is that a sale, or not? Is there a there there yet?
The only strongly held opinion is that you are a pretentious jackass. I don’t have an accountant, I am a working stiff, although I know since that doesn’t fit your stereotype of a war-mongering rethug you will probably assume I am a liar. I come here to learn and discuss, not be condesended to by jerks. I personally don’t know anything about this type of deal other than the allegations spelled out above, so if they are baseless this would be a golden opportunity for the left to score some points with me by explaining why. Instead you have just pissed me off and lead me to believe you are nothing but bluster. If you have a point, make it, otherwise go away.
Damn! I left out rhetorical questions that presume his opponent simply doesn’t have enough information to see it his way. Sorry, guys. The list is a living document.
actus: Go back to work. You’re defrauding your employer. Besides, you forgot to give the lady her small orange juice.
This is what you wrote:
There’s no “something else.” That you continue to dissemble isn’t surprising. It’s what you do. That you think you might be fooling anyone here is mildly surprising, though perhaps your problem is a bit more deep-seated than I first thought.
So, actus, how does it feel to be Karl’s bitch? Looks like the beginning of a new career path…
No, it’s not.
No, there isn’t. The reporter clearly does not understand the subject matter and has not consulted a CPA or Atty.
Fine. When a member contributes property to an LLC, it is not a sale. I don’t know how else to express that that transaction is in no way a sale under any legal or tax definition. There is no potential for recognition of gain or loss. An LLC is a partnership for tax purposes. As a practical matter, the member records the deed to transfer ownership to te LLC and the LLC records a journal entry for the asset and the corresponding member’s capital interest, both in the amount of the Member’s basis (400,000 in this case). The LLC is a pass through entity, Reid’s tax liability for the gain on the 2004 sale was unaffected by the contribution to the LLC. The LLC reports gain on the excess of the proceeds of the sale over its basis in the land (Reid’s 400K and whatever the other guy paid for his), gives Reid a K-1 with his share, and Reid reports his share on his 1040. Typically, the reasons for holding assets in an LLC are not financial but rather legal, in that there is some degree of shield from personal liability for claims against the property (like kids getting hurt playing there, similar to a corporation’s). Also, the typical non-pro developer treats everything as though owned personally and lets the CPA clean up the books for the tax return. It is not unusual for him to ignore the entity. Suffice it to say, Reid never “stopped owning” the land, he simply changed the form of ownership.
By the way, this particular setup is the simplest available to achieve what has become a standard arrangement for holding real estate development investments. I see this stuff literally every day, but usually much more complicated.
Thanks for listening, maybe this will help.
We don’t know the nature of the “sale,” do we? Apart from the percentage stake in the LLC, we DON’T KNOW whether he received cash or anything else. We don’t know whether he used insider information to determine that the land would make a good investment. We don’t know from whom he purchased it in the first place. We don’t know why the zoning commission voted against an exemption and then the county commissioners overruled.
As I said before, land deals are something a lot of politicians in both parties use for financial gain, but I think this deserves scrutiny. Or are you stating that Reid didn’t know that he was violating ethics guidelines?
If he did know, then why did he choose to obfuscate? You don’t address this question, and you don’t know enough about the issue to state outright that there’s no there there. We shall see.
But this wouldn’t be the first time that Harry’s benefitted from a shady land deal, if that’s what it is.
But this would be the first time anyone has ever sold a piece of real estate to their LLC.
Call a random CPA out of the phone book and ask him about this. I’m telling you, you do not understand it. Why do you keep going on about it? You are guessing.
No, I’m not guessing. I want to know why it is that Harry misrepresented the nature of his investment and violated the law. Clearly you don’t. If you ask yourself why you don’t, then turn it around 180 degrees, you’ll have the answer to your question regarding my motives.
If this were a scandal about electrical wiring, and you were an electrician, and I knew nothing about wiring, how would you feel if I kept writing back about you being wrong whenever you tried to explain it?
I explained the whole thing earlier. I think it’s just inconvenient for you to “get” it. Go back and read that explanation, including
I’m not saying he’s technically correct, just it’s a perfectly understandable mistake with no benefit to him.
I’ve answered all of your questions, I should be billing you for this. Now quit arguing something you have no idea about.
Listen david–
You haven’t answered my questions. You are making excuses for Reid. I don’t believe them. You don’t know enough about the transaction to answer them. I will let you know when I’m satisfied with the answers.
Meanwhile, I will push to get those answers, and I’m not going to let it drop. And the more you ask me to let it drop, the more determined I am going to be to get those answers.
It’s not inconvenient for me to get it, you just have a problem with someone being as partisan as you are. As far as the time, I’m sure that you’re billing it to someone else.
Knock yourself out. Just remember who explained it to you first.
David, with all due respect to your expertise, you are the one not getting it.
This is not a question about the technical aspects LLC ownership of property as opposed to individual ownership nor, as you keep writing, is it about the “typical non-pro developer” because Harry read is the Friggin’ Senate Minority Leader!
His position, like any other member of congress, requires transparency in his personal financial dealings. As a result, there is a different set of rules that he is required to follow regarding the reporting and transparency of financial transactions. If you add in the fact that he does benefit financially from the deal with the goings on with the zoning board, the fact that he overlooked this little “technical requirement” raises legitimate questions. Not for the “typical non-pro developer” but the Friggin’Senate Minority Leader.
It is you, not Dan, who doesn’t want to get it. You’d rather beat Dan over the head with your “expertise” while ignoring the important issue.
So stop arguing things that you obviously know nothing about.
david–
Thanks for your permission to knock myself out. I will keep in mind that I heard it from you first when it inevitably turns out that there was nothing untoward about the transaction.
david: You’re the kind of moron who can give a detailed explanation of how many fairies fit on the head of a pin. The only problem is, there’s no such thing as fairies.
Reid is guilty of much more than a little paperwork problem.
I’ve spent the last several years changing my career so it wouldn’t be repetitive. So it looks like karl’s cut and paste job insn’t going to cut it into the future.
Inside to what?
BJTexs,
Rest assured, I wouldn’t employ actus for any purpose. His latest in this thread, however, is quite possibly the most incoherent thing he’s posted in some time. I would be tempted to think that being exposed is getting to him, but he clearly has no guilty conscience with regard to his chronic dissembling and defense of filth. Thus, there is likely some other reason why he’s losing the ability to construct a meaningful sentence.
I’ve been writing like this for a while. Have you not been paying attention?
actus admits his writing is incoherent? I guess that would be a better defense than trying to claim that his quotes reprinted here said the opposite of what they actually say. Too bad he did all the pathetic dissembling first.
Or is he admitting it’s getting to him? Hard to tell, really, due to the incoherence.
Opposite? or complement?
It is getting kind of boring.
For all of the PW regulars, the actus act got tired long ago.
For new vistiors, the warning is merely a public service.