More of Sen. Reid's Questionable Deals Exposed: Ghost Companies, Strange Loans

LAS VEGAS, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, 1001 Reasons to Vote Against Harry Reid, an independent committee, released the second in a series of research reports on Sen. Reid and financial improprieties.  This report, entitled "Connecting the Dots: Harry Reid's Financial Disclosures" is drawn from 20 years of financial disclosure records from Sen. Reid. The report can be accessed here: http://www.harryreidvotes.com/buzz/

The report has found problems in the following areas, here are some highlights:

• Complete lack of details about two entities in which Reid is listed as holding a position — Harry Reid Ltd. and Reid & Alverson Investments, Ltd.  After exhaustive searching through public records, we have not been able to find any information about these two companies.  Ordinarily, basic information about the formation, ownership, officers, business licenses and status of the U.S. corporation is easily available from the Secretary of State of the state of incorporation.  Despite a lack of paperwork of any sort, Harry Reid Ltd. is cited as the source of income of several hundred thousand dollars for Sen. Reid.  This raises even more questions.
• A curious loan made from "Harry Reid, Ltd." to Harry Reid.  Given the peculiarity of loaning oneself money, we seek information regarding this loan and clarification of its purpose. Additionally, information should be available as to the nature of business conducted by Harry Reid Ltd.  All that can be determined from the disclosure is that the loan was of between $50,001 and $100,000.  It was payable on the demand of Harry Reid Ltd., and it provided a 10% interest rate, which does not appear to have compounded.  Twenty-five years later, in 2008, Harry Reid repaid the loan, generating between $5,001 and $10,000 in capital gains income to Harry Reid Ltd.  This suggests the interest was not compounded.
• Another curious loan from Irving "Ash" Resnick to Harry Reid.  Ash Resnick was a legendary figure from Vegas' past, an associate of Meyer Lansky and Fat Tony Salerno.  Needless to say, questions about his involvement with organized crime arose.  Reid has a record of fighting the Mafia in Las Vegas, so we seek clarification of why, as a sitting member of Congress, would he take a loan from a Mafia-connected figure.  Additionally, Resnick donated $4,000 to Reid's campaigns.

These are just a few of the questions the committee has, and we are going to make documents we uncovered available online so that journalists are able to search them and use them as references. It is our hope that our initial findings inspire others to ask additional questions.  Above all, we look forward to Sen. Reid answering this new round of questions and amending his past disclosure records prior to the release of our third report.

The first report in the series focused on the cozy relationship between Sen. Harry Reid and Arcata Associates.  Arcata is a Las Vegas-based defense contractor controlled by the Wong family whose executives have given close to $139,000 to Sen. Reid and to the Democratic Party.  Sen. Reid rewarded Arcata with $3.36 million in earmarked projects in just the past two years.  The report is here: http://www.harryreidvotes.com/buzz/Harry%20Reid's%20Pay-to-Play%20Politics.pdf

'1001 Reasons to Vote Against Harry Reid' exists online at http://www.harryreidvotes.com for the purpose of educating the public about Senator Reid's voting record and raising the funds necessary to finance television and radio ads this fall.  It is an independent 527 committee chaired by Nevada resident and former U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian.  Voters are encouraged to visit the HarryReidVotes.com website and use the interactive quiz function http://www.harryreidvotes.com/quiz/ to see how their views align with Senator Reid's votes.

SOURCE 1001 Reasons to Vote Against Harry Reid