Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Reid shines in setback

Friday, July 12, 2002 | 9:09 a.m.

NEVADA SEN. HARRY REID has a quiet demeanor that fools some people into underestimating his ability and courage. This has been his strength since working with his father in mines near Searchlight and as an amateur and college boxer. Although he sometimes had only enough money for a meal, he didn't allow this discomfort to detract from his concentration on school studies and research. He returned from Washington, D.C., and successfully passed the Nevada bar exam a year before finishing law school.

This week The Wall Street Journal's Shailagh Murray wrote about Reid's long struggle in an attempt to block Republicans in Congress from approving the dumping of nuke waste on Nevada.

Murray wrote, "The fact that the campaign went on for so long is a testimony to Mr. Reid's formidable persuasive powers -- a gift that could still put him in line to be his party's next leader, despite the biggest defeat of his career."

Later Murray quotes Anna Aurilio, lobbyist for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a large environmental outfit. Aurilio said, "This is the best vote we've ever gotten in the Senate. We absolutely credit Harry Reid with that."

The WSJ article took a close look at reasons why Reid is respected in that august body. Murray wrote, "One reason Sen. Reid is popular is his no-frills approach to his leadership job. He isn't one of the Senate swans who run from news conferences to television talk-show studios. Mr. Reid is nearly always present on the Senate floor; when he isn't there, he is working the phones in his nearby office. 'He's constantly there, facilitating, making it work,' says Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus."

The Harry Reid I have come to know during the past 46 years is the man who, last Tuesday, looked into the Senate gallery where several highly paid nuke lobbyists were sitting and said:

"Madam President, I know there are people in the audience all around here who are being paid lots of money. They are coming here to see what is going to happen. They are being paid lots of money. They drive here in limousines and have Gucci shoes and nice suits. It is interesting to know that in the places where they work, Washington and New York, they have editorials supporting this bad situation, trying to ship Yucca Mountain waste on our highways, railways, and our waterways.

"In this morning's paper, it says the Senate should pass the Yucca Mountain bill now. This is part of the unending stream of money. That is what this is all about -- money, lots of money; money to run newspaper ads; unlimited vacations to Las Vegas to look at Yucca Mountain for two hours and spend three days being wined and dined in Las Vegas; unlimited dollars to send representatives to Capitol Hill.

"I know how this works. The state of Nevada had a few dollars and we wanted to hire a lobbyist, but we could not find one. They were all hired by the Nuclear Energy Institute. We could not hire them. They had conflicts of interest. So all you people here, just bill everybody, feel good about it; you are perpetrating a travesty on the people of this country."

Were any of the lobbyists squirming? I don't know, but if they were it was because they were in a rush to drink, dine or go to the bank. Again another powerful corporate energy group had influenced enough congressmen and White House officials to get their way. Some day Americans will again reap the sad results of their Pyrrhic victory. The losers will be the same people who have lost their jobs and 401(k) earnings in recent months because of the prior victories corporations have won in Congress.