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Great timing or it’s about time?
Reid’s ethics proposals come after many years of scandals
Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid, a Democratic candidate for governor, has proposed a series of ethics reforms.
Saturday, Dec. 26, 2009 | 2 a.m.
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When Rory Reid proposed a series of ethics reforms last week, his timing seemed impeccable.
Just days before, Dario Herrera, a former Clark County commissioner who was convicted of accepting bribes from a strip club owner in 2006, had been released from federal custody — an event noted by the local media.
The previous week, the Nevada Ethics Commission found Las Vegas Councilman Steve Ross had violated ethics rules for a series of votes on the proposed city hall, a project that could benefit the union members he represents in his day job.
Reid, a Democratic candidate for governor, said the timing was sheer coincidence. But his proposals, if enacted, would seem to go a long way toward curbing what political scientists and longtime observers describe as an endless parade of ethical scandals in Nevada politics.
“Because we’re a state that depends so much on a culture of luck and instant gratification, it lends itself to taking the ethical curve on the accelerator instead of the brake,” historian Mike Green said.
Specifically, Reid would mandate ethics education for all state employees, eliminate “nonwillful” ethics violations and make it illegal for lawmakers to lobby state agencies in a private capacity. The goal, he said, is to close loopholes and stiffen penalties for unethical behavior.
“There’s obvious problems in the way we govern elected officials in Nevada,” he said. “I think people, when they are raising their children, sense more justice than they find in our ethics laws.”
The most glaring example of unethical behavior by politicians in recent years involved four Clark County commissioners who were sentenced to federal prison for accepting bribes from strip club owner Michael Galardi.
It’s not a coincidence that Reid, who is chairman of the County Commission, has proposed such reforms as he seeks statewide office. “I got elected (to the County Commission) not knowing I would inherit a significant credibility problem with the government agency I was elected to,” Reid said.
But reforming the system from within has proved difficult because doing so requires elected officials to act against their own political and personal interests.
During the 2009 session, after the state Supreme Court ruled that the Ethics Commission had no jurisdiction over the Legislature, the Assembly and Senate formed ethics committees to police their members. Those committees never met.
To explain the challenge facing reformers, political scientists and other longtime observers of Nevada’s political system point to a wide range of factors, from the part-time Legislature, to our incestuous political culture, to weak enforcement, to Nevada’s permissive atmosphere.
“There’s a permissive culture,” said David Damore, a UNLV political scientist. “The notion that if it’s not explicitly against the law, then you’re dumb not to do it.”
There are numerous examples of conflicts, both real and perceived.
State Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, proposed a light rail line during the 2009 legislative session that would have been near property he owns. State Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, led the effort during the same session to reform the construction-defect law; his law partner was general counsel of the Nevada chapter of the Associated General Contractors and said he lobbied Care on the issue.
Also, the Legislature is filled with teachers and other public-sector employees who vote on their own salaries. Labor unions are represented, too.
In the case of Ross, who was advised not to take the union position, the conflict was largely avoidable.
Reid declined to comment on the Ross case.
“I’m not trying to make an example out of anyone,” Reid said. “I don’t want to look behind me, I want to look in front of me. I want to improve the policy.”
The group Ross heads, the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, has endorsed Reid for governor.
Reid noted Nevada’s poor rankings among the states in ethics laws (34th) and conflicts of interests (40th), according to the Better Government Association.
Experts agree the state’s current ethics laws leave plenty of room for additional regulation.
“Outside federal prosecution, the enforcement mechanisms seem to be pretty much nonexistent,” Damore said.
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Reid jr, spent years...perhaps decades....working side-by-side with crooks and somehow did not see any of it...exactly like our fearless leader, Obama.
He has proven to be an incompetent fiscal leader.
Now, he is demostrating that he has been incompetent in ethics all these years, too. Only a dummy would wait until now to propose ethic rules after seeing one after another of his follow commissioner go down in flames. Why has be waiting so long? I would not exactly call it leadership.
Now he wants to be gov?????
Boy, can the Democrats nominate bozos!!!!!!
They nominated the wrong person for gov last time.
Now, they are going to do it again.
I guess somebody in the Republican Party is buying off the in the Democratic leadership and getting the worst candidates to be nominated.
Thanks for Christmas presents.
Rory Reid is one of the individuals directly responsible for the transformation of Las Vegas. The transformation of a reasonably nice American city into a dangerous, almost third world environment. I have watch Rory over and over grant liquor licenses, businesses licenses and other approvals to people who cannot even answer a question he has asked. How do you expect a business to operate within the law if they cannot even understand a simple question such as state your name and address. We are doomed with the Reids. Rory is overseeing the destruction of Clark County and his dad is overseeing the destruction of a once great country. Sooo sad.
"I got elected (to the County Commission) not knowing I would inherit a significant credibility problem with the government agency I was elected to," Reid said.
What a bald face lie. This inept crook has lived here essentially all his life and he has the balls to make this statement?
One needs to look no further than UMC to be able to judge his lack of political, ethical and moral capacity.
I believe this child has the ability to actually prove worse than his father.
"I got elected (to the County Commission) not knowing I would inherit a significant credibility problem with the government agency I was elected to," Reid said.
--------------
Another Democrat running on the I inherited it theme
It Lame and getting old and tired.
Being in bed with the Unions and their money means you have no ethical behavior to begin with.
The Reid Machine know where the money in this town is. Follow the money trail
New laws will not force the Nevada AG do her job right.
What a farce!!! Rory Reid the number one leader of the most corrupt Clark County Commission ever in the history of Clark County attempting to try to tell others that he is going to instill ethics in government? It is pure D fantasy in his head!!
Let's look at one prime example of Rory Reid's direct knowledge of a violation of Ethics and what he is not doing anything about!
First instance, his appointment of Susan Brager (D) to represent the Clark County District F, when it first and foremost should of had been a vote by the people of this district versus Rory Reid's appointment of this demorat to this Clark County Commissioner!
The individual is a realtor!!! As a member of the Clark County Commission, she votes on all building requests by companies to erect housing tracts, etc., and of these housing tracts, she is involved with in the selling of the homes for herself directly, for her company, Prudential America, and for her peers in the industry at Prudential America and then for all in the real estate industry here in Clark County!!!
She makes money for herself, her business, her peers and her industry!! Rory Reid knows this and has taken absolutely no actions to stem this!! Even the idiot, Susan Brager (D) when confronted on this issue, says that her voting for new home construction is beneficial, as since she is a realtor, she knows the codes,etc., and also, she ensures her phone number and contact numbers are given to the builders and they are instructed to make sure when the realtors of which she associates with come with clients they get preferential treatment in the selling and purchasing of homes, with a generous kickback to susan brager (D)!!!
In fact, this Brager (D) criminal, is routinely recognized by the real estate industry here for her work on the Clark County Commission in ensuring the realtors make outrageous profits and score preferential treatment from the builders!!
However, since this Susan Brager (D) was appointed by Rory Reid and not elected to this position, she, based upon her background info listed had never held a position of responsibility that would of had given her ethics knowledge!! She was a school aide and a realtor, and we know how realtors are, just a large group of persons who deceive you to profit themselves, much like lawyers, which is the profession of Rory Reid, who by the way is representing a company that is suing Clark County Government!!
Imagine that, Rory Reid, the Chair of the Clark County Government is actively involved with a client who is suing the very government of which Rory Reid oversees? Conflict of interest here? Or how about a total ethics melt-down by this so called crusader of ethics now, Rory Reid himself!!
Most importantly that Rory Reid is representing a company that is suing, repeat suing, the very Clark County Government of which Rory Reid is the leader of is insane and definitely laughable!
should it also cover any elected official, including Enswigne?
This will be a non-story. Terrorism, level orange, will be the story into 2010. Wait til we hear the leaders of the Republicans on talk-radio. "Obama let the guard down with his post 911 mentality..blah blah..." and allowed the terrorist on the airplane...
Obama vacations in Hawaii while the nation is under attack...and how many global travelers are going to hassle with airport security to come out and spend money in Vegas? at City Center?
We have had all the reids we can stand in local government, Nevada State Government and The United States of America. I think their altitude and attitude is in their genes. VOTE NO REID.
What it really looks like is that the Nevada Democrat Party could use a good house cleaning and a visit from Orkin to get rid of the vermin.
The Kennedy's invented a dynasty in New England. I guess the Reid's will be our dynasty.
The Reids are the picture childs for term limits for all elected officals. These guys are both corrupt and if allowed to continue serving in ANY capacity in public office will steal, rob and bilk there way at the expense of the taxpayers! Both need to be out in 2010!
What would anyone in the Greid family know about ethics. Rory is just as slimy as his despicable father.
This is some runup for a lounge lizard comedy act, right? Gried and Gried on the marquee, right? A satirical parody on how they cleaned up (for themselves) while corruption ran rampant down there...right?
NOTHING is more synonymous with the word "corruption" than the word "Gried". Unless it is Las Bugsy.....
Please, PLEASE let Jr. run!
Rover: it is fairly apparent that as a former Clark County employee, you have no life. You continually post your spurious comments regarding the County -- regardless of the underlying story to which you try to link your blog. It is also apparent that by spending countless person-hours on this and related sites, you are not "taking care of your own business"; i.e. locating a job so that you can support yourself and your family. Finally, the false and inappropriate comments that you make make about former co-employees appear to be actionable based upon defamation.
All of a sudden he's found Jesus.
Oh great. Now we're going to get a weekly story by the Sun about what a great public servant Rory Reid is.
When is the Sun going to stop carrying the water for these clowns. Have you no shame, at long last?
"Reid, a Democratic candidate for governor, said the timing was sheer coincidence." Yeah, sure. This guy is as crooked and corrupt as his daddy, Scary Reid. Both are snakes not to be ever trusted.
I find it interesting that I do not see one person on here using his or her given name.
michael green,
fear of retaliation is a valid reason for retaining anonymity. Trust me I know first hand. There are some corrupt politicos involved(Steve WOlfson for starters), in at minimum the cover-up, of an attack that landed me in a wheel chair and 3 surgeries with no arrests even though 2 of the 4 have admitted to taking part in the attack.
Not too smart to let those in such a crooked atmosphere know who is criticizing them.
See all the nut cases are out today.
I find it interesting that I do not see one person on here using his or her given name.
______________
What does this have to do with anything? For the record, RHG are my initials, and I have written many letters-to-editors to this paper and the RJ that were published using my real name. I choose not to use it here simply because of the game playing by people who don't like what I write. And I certainly don't need a revisionist historian for Harry Reid and the Democrat party insinuating there is some kind of cowardice in a common sense decision.
A pledge by Jr. not to take BIG GAMBLING or BIG MINING campaign money would get my attention but that ain't a-gonna happen now is it?
'Ya can't be taking their dirty money like Dad does and also be talking out of the other side of your mouth how you're going to fix corruption in this state.
THIS IS SO EASY TO UNCOVER.
HERE IS THE OFFICIAL LINK OF EXACTLY WHO'S DONATIN' TO WHOM:
http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/e...
(Read it for yourself 'cause this will tell the tale, it always does....)
For the newcomers out there, you will repeatedly see Sig Rogich's name used in connection with most of the prior politicians who did time, who were indicted, fined or were persons of interest in numerous cases. To clean up Nevada's political corruption, you need to eliminate Rogich from being in contact with ANYBODY running for office. He needs to be put on a black list, just like those who are prevented from playing in various gambling houses in Nevada. It's not the stink, it's the skunk. Get rid of the skunk, or move it somewhere else, and maybe we can clean up the stench in Nevada!!!
Say its not so... A reid writing about ethics...LMFAO... Well now rory are you trying to hang yourself by your own rope...Rory if you want to be busy with ethics maybe you should be busy looking into the way UMC is unethically being operated...Thats what I thought rory,,,UMC,,whats that,, Unethical Methods by a Commissioner...
Rover, I do not "follow" hate-spewing xenophobes. More to the point, the mere fact that I disagree with all of your assertions does not make me "corrupt" -- to the contrary. You have sullied the names of many Clark County employees and other local citizens; yet, if your comments were true, negative consequences would have befallen them 'way before you arrived on the scene. As I indicated previously, you would be best served by tending to your own garden.
OMLG the fact that anyone could consider another self-serving Reid for office is painful.
Do yourselves a favor, don't listen to the pundit baloney, vote for who has a record and real reason to care about your well-being.
ConservativeRita, you have put it perfectly. And since I support both Reids, I thank you, because you have expressed exactly why people should vote for them.
Media corruption should be included. Look at ch 13 and the tiregate story. Also the phoney skype with kxnt, when they ask what listeners think, and they didn't even take any calls.
Bush was a man, both Greids are slimy little weasels.
Whenever a politician starts preaching ethics alarm-bells of corruption start ringing.
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Remember the days when politicians were expected to be ethical, whether there was a specific rule regarding ethics? Now they make their own rules and cannot even operate within those rules. For Reid to talk about ethics is crazy. Why doesn't he get Harry and Ensign to go with him on that? After all, those 2 are also not known for being ethical. Reid, Frank, Franken, Ensign, Boxer, Feinstein........We have a major lack of ethics in the Senate, Does Nevada really want to put another Reid in a high position?
The only thing it is time for in Nevada is the removal from office of all the Reids and proteges. Interesting how the closer election gets how motivated the Reids get, Daddy Reid just put a torpedo into this great Nation, now he is about Nevada. To allow his son to become anything more than a has been in Nevada Politics would be ridiculous. Nevadans, I beg of you wake up and smell the stink og corruption that the Reids have perfected to a fine art,
Like father, like son....
Roverrover2
Your comments here caught my attention so I searched your name. There's really too much to read, but I did notice you say many of the same things over and over and that you are on many sites. I see many statements you have made, but very few facts to back them up. But, that does not surprise me because many bloggers seem to ramble on with themselves as their only listeners. You obviuously have issue with the County and City because most of your posts appear on stories involving the County. I even see post against an electrical company. However, the thing that catches my attention most is that I see post as far back as May 09. Why, exactly, are you so upset with so many at the County? Do you really believe everyone you have named is involved in your demise? If so, sounds more like a conspiracy than anything else. Lastly, in all respect to you, do you think it's normal to fight this long? Based on your comments it seems like you've made zero progress.
I nominate Harry Reid as ethics advisor Emeritus.
How far from the tree do the rotten apples fall?
Rotten apples usually fall to the left of the tree...
If Bush had been a man, he wouldn't have had to get 4000+ soldiers murdered to try to prove his manhood.
Moving right along, I am curious about the reference to Susan Brager. She was elected to the County Commission, defeating Lynette Boggs McDonald. I am sure Reid supported her, since both are Democrats, but that hardly means he appointed her.
George Bush? Who brought up George Bush? I don't remember George Bush being part of this discussion.
Maybe it is the way Liberals secretly greet each other. You know, like:
Good morning, Bush is a criminal...
Good afternoon, Bush is a liar...
Good evening, Bush is not a man...
Good night, Bush makes me crazy...
I am so sick of these people who think they can shut you up by saying there are no "facts" in your post.
If you want the facts, look it up yourself. Stop thinking it is our job. If we can do it, so can you. You won't believe anyone anyway, so either do it yourself or don't post about it.
And, if you don't take the time to do the research, please don't vote.
Geezelouise and I agree on something. Woo-woo...
Also for those who don't say anything other then posting a site address to go to:
I don't care about your site if you don't bother to give a preview of it's contents... It's find to reference facts but not the whole story...
I know his brother and he is a nice guy. I bet Rory is a nice guy too but if he has the same ideals as his father, than he is not good for Nevada or anywhere else.
Michael Green, You seem to have forgotten that the reason Bush went to war was because we were attacked. Over 3000 civilians died on our soil. Bush waited nearly a year before invading Iraq. (Plenty of time for them to hide the evidence). Using your logic, I guess one must blame the current president for all of those who have died under his watch in 2009. Oh, that's right, he's increasing our troop count in Afghanastan. Maybe he agrees with Bush on that one. Now.....Back to the story....This was a Reid Article.........
Speaking of ethics...
Will you (Las Vegas Sun) come out and endorse lil' Reid for Governer already!
It is more than obvious to most of us that you are in bed with the man, at least be somewhat ethic and announce your bias so all the press coverage of the man is known for what it really is!
STV is right.
It won't surprise anyone that the Sun and the other magazines will support Rory. Again, I'm not saying he is a bad guy but if he plans on following his father's footsteps, than I am not interested.
Senior Reid, he must be a great man. This is why his son wants to be president of nevada. With him and a few more in charge, then we can get State income tax to pay me and my family so we can afford to live here ! Its tough but Reid will fix it just like his dad.
Yes Jaun, "Bribe em Harry" and son are the best things that have ever happened to Nevada. Too bad, So sad...
"If Bush had been a man, he wouldn't have had to get 4000+ soldiers murdered to try to prove his manhood."
This comes from a man who teaches in college.
I am not one bit surprised. There are tons of globber heads like this in our higher educational system.
Very silly silly man........
On a scale of 1 to 100, this is a 1 million as the dumbest statement ever made by a so called history professor.
Yep....the idiot thinks Bush went to war to prove his manhood. I plant that statement next to the ones that say Bush and Cheney orchestrated 9/11.
Keep making these statements, Mr. Green. You are only revealing your true self.
What is that whoosh whoosh sound.....that is your credibilty being flushed down the toliet.