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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.

FOR THE RECORD
Lobbyists — A graphic accompanying an article in Monday's Section A on Nevada
Sen. Harry Reid's lobbyist relatives incorrectly said that the University of
Nevada at Reno paid $10,000 a month to the Lionel Sawyer & Collins law firm. In
fact, the university paid the firm $40,000 in the last half of 2002, according
to federal lobbyist reports.

As he introduced it, Nevada's senior U.S. senator, Democrat Harry Reid, assured
colleagues that his bill was a bipartisan measure to protect the environment and
help the economy in America's fastest-growing state.

What Reid did not explain was that the bill promised a cavalcade of benefits to
real estate developers, corporations and local institutions that were paying
hundreds of thousands of dollars in lobbying fees to his sons' and son-in-law's
firms, federal lobbyist reports show.

The Howard Hughes Corp. alone paid $300,000 to the tiny Washington consulting
firm of son-in-law Steven Barringer to push a provision allowing the company to
acquire 998 acres of federal land ripe for development in the exploding Las
Vegas metropolitan area.

Barringer is listed in federal lobbyist reports as one of Hughes'
representatives on the measure that his father-in-law introduced.

Other provisions were intended to benefit a real estate development headed by a
senior partner in the Nevada law firm that employs all four of Reid's sons — by
moving the right-of-way for a federal power-transmission line off his property
and onto what had been protected federal wilderness.

The governments of three of Nevada's biggest cities — Las Vegas, North Las Vegas
and Henderson — also gained from the legislation, which freed up tens of
thousands of acres of federal land for development and annexation. All three
were represented by Reid's family members who contacted his staff on their
clients' behalf.

The Clark County land bill, which was approved in a late-night session just
before Congress recessed in October, reflects a new twist in an old game: These
days, when corporations and other interests want to cement a vital relationship
with someone in Congress, they're likely to reach out to hire a member of the
family.

Reid said he supported the bill because it was good for Nevada — and not because
it helped his family's clients. And when it comes to lobbying relatives, he
said, he has plenty of company.

"Lots of people have children, wives and stuff that work back here," he said.
"It is not as if a lot of cash is changing hands."

Seeking favors is as old as the Capitol, but the new tendency to come at it from
the side — through family members — may be a consequence of campaign-finance
reform: As restrictions have tightened on traditional political giving, interest
groups have cast about for new ways to ingratiate themselves.

Nothing strikes quite such a personal note as channeling fees or lucrative jobs
to relatives — whether the relatives lobby Congress or perform other services.
There are no restrictions. Neither House nor Senate rules bar the practice.

At least 17 senators and 11 members of the House have children, spouses or other
close relatives who lobby or work as consultants, most in Washington, according
to lobbyist reports, financial-disclosure forms and other state and federal
records. Many are paid by clients who count on the related lawmaker for support.

But Harry Reid is in a class by himself. One of his sons and his son-in-law
lobby in Washington for companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking
Reid's help in the Senate. A second son has lobbied in Nevada for some of those
same interests, and a third has represented a couple of them as a litigator.

In the last four years alone, their firms have collected more than $2 million in
lobbying fees from special interests that were represented by the kids and
helped by the senator in Washington.

So pervasive are the ties among Reid, members of his family and Nevada's leading
industries and institutions that it's difficult to find a significant field in
which such a relationship does not exist.

Reid's chief of staff, Susan McCue, said he has had broad support in his state
for the Clark County bill and other legislation that he has championed for those
groups.

"In every instance, Sen. Reid acted in the best interest of the people of Nevada
and Nevada's economy," she said.

In an internal memo, McCue said Reid's family members had lobbied his staff by
"supplying research, technical support and strategic guidance." She described
them as "effective advocates for their clients."

Reid said he thought he might have had casual conversations about legislation
with his family members but could not remember specific cases or times.

"Have they said something? I am sure they have," he said. "I don't have meetings
with my children to go over business things."

Reid's sons — Rory, 40, Leif, 35, Josh, 31, and Key, 28 — work for Nevada's
largest law firm, Lionel Sawyer & Collins.

Rory Reid is a partner in the firm and was a Nevada lobbyist before his election
to the Clark County Board of Commissioners in November. Leif Reid is a litigator
who has represented mining and resort industry associations in Nevada.

Key Reid was hired to open the firm's Washington office in 2002 and help lead
its federal lobbying effort with former Sen. Richard H. Bryan (D-Nev.), who
splits his time between the capital and Nevada.

Barringer, 47 and married to the senator's daughter, Lana, is a lawyer, federal
lobbyist and partner in the small Washington-based lobbying firm of McClure,
Gerard and Neuenschwander.

Barringer and Reid's sons declined to be interviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

Washington lobbying firms must file reports twice a year that disclose their
clients and the names of the people representing them. Those reports show that,
between them, Barringer and Key Reid have represented nearly every major
industry in Nevada, from mining and real estate development to tourism and
gambling to the city of Las Vegas. All of those clients rely on the senator's
goodwill on Capitol Hill.

Ethics Enforcer

Reid is the Senate's minority whip, the chamber's second-highest Democratic
leader. He is also a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and the
Environment and Public Works Committee.

During 16 years in the Senate, Reid has worked tirelessly to help his state.

The University of Nevada at Reno named a building after him as a thank-you for
securing "tens of millions of dollars in federal funds for scientific research
at the university," including $8.25 million for earthquake studies, the school
said.

The Nevada Mining Assn. gave Reid a lifetime achievement award. Throughout his
career, the senator has fought tenaciously against hard-rock-mining reforms
opposed by the industry. And the American Gaming Assn. honored Reid as one of
"America's Gaming Greats." Again, Reid has consistently represented the
industry's positions, including opposition to a nationwide ban on college-sports
betting.

"I've been proud to help educate America about the contributions gaming
entertainment makes to Nevada and across the country," Reid said upon receiving
the award.

One of Reid's relatives has represented each of those interests as a lawyer or
lobbyist, according to lobbyist reports and court records.

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., the president of the American Gaming Assn., understood the
possible sensitivity involved in hiring a member of Reid's family. He said he
called the senator before retaining his son-in-law, Barringer.

"I told him I was thinking of hiring Steve and asked if that was a problem for
him. Sen. Reid said, 'If you need him, hire him,' " Fahrenkopf said. "I wouldn't
hire any senator's son or son-in-law without checking first."

Reid said he has never used his position to steer business to his family
members.

The senator has special standing when it comes to questions of propriety. He is
vice chairman — and former chairman — of the Ethics Committee, which has almost
total discretion in setting the standards for senators' conduct.

Reid said in an interview that he sees no problem with lobbying by relatives,
because lobbyists' activities are "very transparent." That is, the law requires
them to publicly report their clients and fees.

In September 2001, Reid sent a letter to his staff telling them that he had
sought guidance from the Senate Ethics Committee and had been advised that there
was no restriction on lobbying by a relative of a senator. He told his staff to
treat his family members who were lobbyists no better or worse than any other
lobbyist.

Soon after The Times interviewed him about his children's activities last fall,
the senator decided to ban relatives from lobbying his office entirely.

The ban applies to members of Reid's family but not to colleagues at the firms
where they work, such as former Sen. Bryan.

"Sen. Reid has long held that elected leaders must take steps to prevent even
the appearance of impropriety, and it has become clear this ban is necessary for
that reason," his chief of staff, McCue, said in a memo.

Public Lands Go Private

As a senator, Reid exerts a degree of power over local affairs that is unknown
in most states.

That is because the federal government owns 87% of Nevada's land; to a large
extent, Washington decides whether cities and businesses can expand and where
economic growth may occur. Even local zoning may become a federal matter.

Over the years, Reid has used legislation to move federal land into private
hands and private land into the public realm. He says he has done so to preserve
scenic and environmentally sensitive areas while freeing up more land for urban
growth.

Such was the case with the Clark County legislation. It was co-sponsored by
Nevada's junior senator, Republican John Ensign, and the House version was
introduced by Rep. James A. Gibbons (R-Nev.). President Bush signed it in
November.

Reid praised it as balancing economic development with safeguarding natural
resources. It placed an additional 440,000 acres of federal land under
wilderness protection, he noted.

The bill also benefited at least five clients of Reid family lobbyists. And it
contained a provision potentially worth millions of dollars to a senior partner
of the law firm that employs Reid's four sons, a provision that was dropped at
the last minute after questions were raised in Washington.

The bill freed about 18,000 acres near the cities of Las Vegas and North Las
Vegas for development and annexation, by releasing two parcels of land from
"wilderness study" protection. Key Reid and former Sen. Bryan lobbied for those
provisions, lobbyist reports show. City officials did not return phone calls
from The Times.

Barringer's municipal clients also did well.

Lobbying reports show Barringer's firm received $220,000 to lobby on the bill
for the city of Henderson. While the city did not get everything it wanted, the
bill freed up 4,000 federal acres on its outskirts for development and
annexation. Sen. Reid also supported another transfer of federal land to a local
irrigation project that paid Barringer's firm to lobby on the provision. In each
case, Barringer is listed by name as working for the government entities.
Officials did not return phone calls from The Times.

Another Barringer client may have been the single biggest beneficiary of the
legislation: the Howard Hughes Corp., a division of the giant Rouse real estate
company and the biggest private landowner in Clark County.

Hughes wanted to expand its Summerlin planned community onto nearby federal
land. In exchange for the federal land, Hughes proposed to swap 1,082 acres of
rugged terrain scattered along the fringes of Red Rock Canyon National
Conservation Area.

Initially, Congress balked at the exchange. Several years earlier, it had
explicitly banned land swaps in southern Nevada because of evidence the
government had lost millions of dollars through unequal trades. Now, federal
land in the area must be sold at auction in most cases.

The Clark County bill set aside the auction requirement. Reid pointed out that
Hughes had begun pushing for the swap before the auction rule was imposed.

And, Reid argued, the exchange preserved the scenic value of the rugged land
adjoining the Red Rock conservation area. The state's leading environmental
groups had lined up behind the swap.

For its part, Hughes said that if Congress rejected the deal, it might build on
the parcels. In 2000, the company had told local tax authorities the land was
too steep to develop. But Hughes vice president Thomas Warden said the company's
position changed with the upswing in the Las Vegas real estate market.

An appraiser selected by Hughes valued the federal land at $24,448 an acre.
After the bill passed, federal land nearby was auctioned for six times that
amount.

Warden said that in such a volatile market, any number of factors could account
for the difference in prices. Chief of staff McCue said the legislation stopped
almost certain development of a "spectacular piece of land."

"We worked with the environmental community to do what was necessary to stop the
development," she said. "And we were successful."

The transfer was consummated in May. Warden said Sen. Reid had been "especially
helpful." He also credited the expertise of Barringer and his firm, which was
paid $300,000, according to lobbyist reports.

"Why were we successful?" Warden said. "It was because of the firm .... They
brought a lot to the deal."

Power Line Politics

The Hughes swap was at least done in plain sight. The company name appeared in
the Clark County bill, along with descriptions of what each party would get.

Not so with Section 709 of the original bill, "Relocation of Right-of-Way
Corridor Located in Clark and Lincoln Counties in the State of Nevada."

Only a close comparison of the provision with local property records for the
Coyote Springs valley, which lies northeast of Las Vegas, revealed that the
provision was intended to remove an obstacle to a proposed real estate
development project headed by Harvey Whittemore, a longtime friend of Sen. Reid
and a senior partner in the law firm that employs his four sons.

As U.S. Route 93 slices through the high desert, it divides two visions of the
future.

On one side of the road lay 49,817 acres of federal land for which special
wilderness protection had been proposed.

On the other side lay 42,800 acres of privately owned land on which Whittemore's
development group, Coyote Springs Investment, hoped to build the largest planned
community in Nevada history — with 50,000 homes, plus stores and 10
championship-golf courses.

A cloud hung over the plan, however: A federally mandated right-of-way for
electric power lines cuts a mile-wide swath the length of the land that Coyote
Springs wants to develop.

So far, no skeletal steel towers march across the landscape, but proposals to
erect them keep cropping up. And it's difficult to envision buyers flocking to
luxury homes whose neighborhood features hulking transmission structures. The
right-of-way made the 11,000 acres in the corridor essentially worthless, the
development company told county tax officials in recent years.

Section 709 of Reid's bill had offered a solution: Simply move the transmission
corridor across U.S. 93 and plunk it down in the "wilderness study" area. Power
lines are not permitted on such land without congressional approval. In a flurry
of technical language, Reid's land bill changed the classification.

The provision's narrow purpose was "hidden by obfuscatory language in a large
land bill," said Janine Blaeloch, director of the Western Land Exchange Project,
an independent group that monitors federal-land policy.

Reid, however, considers moving the corridor a win-win proposition. "That
property sat out there with nothing on it for many, many years," he said. "Who
gets hurt in the movement?"

Whittemore did not return phone calls from The Times.

As originally drafted, Reid's bill would have removed the power-line corridor
from the land owned by Whittemore and his partners, at no cost to them. After
Interior Department officials objected, Reid agreed that the developers should
pay the government something. Reid then withdrew the right-of-way provision
altogether, after questions were raised by The Times and the staff at the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

However, the provision removing wilderness-study protection from the federal
land was approved and signed into law, meaning relocation can be revived easily.

Nevada Gold Mines

While the Clark County bill focused on real estate, Reid has not neglected the
state's other economic engines, also among his children's broad base of clients.

The mining industry is second only to gaming in Nevada. The state is the
third-largest gold producer in the world.

Reid, a native son, grew up in the down-at-the-heel mining camp of Searchlight,
in a family so poor they lived in a tin-roofed shack with no plumbing. The
town's water supply was almost undrinkable, but there was a swimming pool —
built for the brothels that helped keep the community alive — which opened to
local children one day a week, he wrote in a book about his hometown titled
"Searchlight: The Camp That Didn't Fail."

His father worked in the mines. After Reid put himself through law school and
got into politics, he became one of the industry's foremost defenders.

Hard-rock mining needed such a champion. In recent years, it has been under
almost constant siege because of its environmental destructiveness, as well as
what critics see as its almost-free exploitation of federal land.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently concluded that "mining in the
Western United States has contaminated stream reaches in the headwaters of more
than 40% of the watersheds in the West."

Even with modern improvements, the industry still relies on chemicals and mining
techniques that have contaminated thousands of acres of public land with
cyanide, heavy metals and other toxic substances.

For five years beginning in 1997, Reid helped beat back or stall a series of
reforms that he considered excessive, using his position on the Appropriations
Committee to attach delaying riders to must-pass bills — including an
emergency-aid bill for Kosovo.

Though some reforms eventually passed, several of those the industry considered
unacceptable have been weakened or eliminated under the Bush administration.

During much of that time, his son-in-law and sons represented mining interests
in Washington and Nevada.

Mining companies paid $200,000 in lobbying fees to the law firm where Barringer
worked from 1999 to 2000, and he worked on their accounts during that period,
records show.

Barringer joined his current firm, whose specialties include mining, in 2001.
The National Mining Assn. and mining companies active in Nevada have paid that
firm $780,000 in fees since his arrival, lobbyist reports show. Barringer has
been one of the partners assigned to the mining accounts, the reports show.

Doug Hock, a spokesman for Newmont Mining Corp., said the company used Barringer
"based on his expertise in mining and environmental law" and not because of his
family ties.

The mining firm Placer Dome Inc. began paying the Lionel Sawyer law firm $5,000
a month in 2001 to be its "eyes and ears" in Nevada and sought out Rory Reid's
services, said Placer Dome Vice President Joe Danni. Placer also works with
Barringer on federal issues, he said.

He said neither Reid nor Barringer would improperly take advantage of their
family ties to the senator.

"My view of Rory and Steve is they are both very principled individuals," he
said. "I have never lost sleep over it."

Sen. Reid and industry spokespeople say family members have been paid for their
professional services, not their relationship to an important senator.

"Steve Barringer has been a lawyer for more than 20 years," Reid said. "They are
not hiring some doofus."

Gambling, Nevada's No. 1 industry, is another frequent target of reform that has
sought the help of Reid and the services of his family members.

In 2001, for example, serious efforts were underway to impose a nationwide ban
on college-sports betting. The National Collegiate Athletic Assn. backed federal
legislation that would outlaw it everywhere, including Nevada, where it is a
legal, multimillion-dollar business.

Reid and his fellow members of the Nevada delegation began promoting a competing
bill that also promised a crackdown on collegiate sports betting — outside of
Nevada.

The American Gaming Assn. enlisted Barringer and other lobbyists to promote
Reid's bill and defeat the other one. The result was a stalemate and no action,
though another bill to ban all college betting has since been introduced in the
House.

The American Gaming Assn. is one of Barringer's most faithful clients, following
him from one firm to another and paying his present firm $180,000 over the last
two years.

Beyond Nevada's largest industries, Sen. Reid has helped a helicopter-tour
company fighting new federal flight restrictions around the Grand Canyon. The
company used his son-in-law Barringer to lobby on the issue. A chemical company
seeking federal money to clean up radioactive waste and a hydrogen-fuel maker
looking for a federal contract also got help from Reid. Both hired son Rory to
lobby on unrelated issues in Nevada.

If there is an appearance of a conflict, Reid said, it is unavoidable in a
large, talented and politically active family such as his.

"My kids are well-educated. They are nice young men. My daughter is a lovely
young woman," Reid said, adding that his son-in-law is a "brilliant lawyer."

"I have done, I think, everything I can to protect myself and to protect my
boys," he said.

"The only thing I could do to help myself is to have less kids."

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--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

"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