"John H" wrote in message
...
latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics...ck=1&cset=true
THE SENATORS' SONS: PART TWO
In Nevada, Reid Is the Name to Know
Members of one lawmaker's family represent nearly every major industry in
their
home state. And their clients rely on his goodwill.
By Chuck Neubauer and Richard T. Cooper
Times Staff Writers

June 23, 2003

WASHINGTON - It was the kind of legislation that slips under the radar
here.

The name alone made the eyes glaze over: "The Clark County Conservation of
Public Land and Natural Resources Act of 2002." In a welter of technical
jargon,
it dealt with boundary shifts, land trades and other arcane matters - all
in
Nevada.

--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

As a rule of thumb Reid is very high on the good guy list among Nevadans.

The act cited in fact is very popular because it releases public land for
use and provides part of the resulting revenues to the various governments
for infrastructure development.

Remember our problem. Land is present here in huge quantities...but little
of it is available. What we really could use is the feds to simple unload
everything that is potentially developable in the Vegas areas and nearby.
It ain't gonna happen though. The result is skyrocketing housing costs
making it difficult for lower economic folk to acquire a home.

Rory Reid, the eldest son, has made a significant contribution to the county
commissioner. The commission has historically had problems with being
bought by various developers and slime merchants. Rory appears very
straight and is a good listener. I have had direct dealings with him on
zoning matters dealing with our local neighborhood. He does not always
agree with us but he listens and shares his reasoning for his decisions.
Particularly noteworthy as he does not represent our commission district.

The Whittemore Coyote Valley thing is very interesting but the transmission
line thing is not really a very interesting issue. What you really want to
get into is how the Coyote Valley ended up in private hands. Shows the
power of DoD contractors to make a buck..and another...and another...all
from a gift from Uncle Sam. There is even some language in the basic deal
that would indicate the land should have reverted back to the Gov...wanna
bet that that is going to happen?

If you want an operator who works the system Whittemore is world class. He
is the Northern Nevada managing partner of Lionel Sawyer, our leading law
firm. He is also the primary lobbyist for the Casinos and virtually every
other big money interest in Nevada. In some ways he makes the Reids look
like small fish. Wonder why Nevada gaming taxes are very low? Whittemore.
Why is it almost impossible to go into the Limo business in Nevada?
Whittemore.

Jim Donohue