Recent Articles
Dina Titus to colleagues: Harry Reid is ‘done’
Clearly worried about the political landscape heading into the fall elections, Democratic Rep. Dina Titus tells colleagues Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is “done,” Politico is reporting today.
“Reid is done; he’s going to lose” in November, Titus said during a closed door meeting last week with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and colleagues, according to Politico. The paper cites three people in the room who heard the comment.
Titus denied that she had singled out Reid, Politico said.
But she acknowledged that she said Democrats would be “f—-ed” if they failed to heed the lessons of Massachusetts, where Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat last week, the paper reported.
The frank talk is sure to add a new dimension to the Reid-Titus relationship.
Titus spoke to Reid last night and denied making the comment.
The majority leader accepted her explanation, a Reid aide said.
“They have had a good relationship for years and he takes her at her word,” said Reid spokesman Jon Summers.
The two have a frosty history, especially after Reid did not appear to give his robust support for her failed campaign for governor. But they had appeared to have patched up their differences as Titus unseated a Republican congressman in 2008 and came to Washington.
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Local firm under scrutiny for contributions to Reid
A local architecture firm that recently won an $8.3 million federal contract to redesign a U.S. border crossing in California is being investigated by the Federal Election Commission for irregular campaign contributions to Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who is up for re-election next year.
Henderson resident Randy Spitzmesser prompted the FEC probe of his former employer, Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects.
On behalf of the architecture firm, Las Vegas attorney Stan Hunterton told the Las Vegas Review-Journal by fax last month, “We do not believe that anything was intentionally done wrong” regarding campaign finances.
Spitzmesser also thinks Henderson-based Tate Snyder Kimsey did not adequately disclose its recent history of legal disputes to the agency that awarded the border-crossing job.
His FEC complaint alleges the architecture firm illegally forced him to donate $1,000 to Reid in February and then covertly repaid him after he complained he didn’t have the money to spare. The firm hid the transaction, he said, by adding an extra $1,000 to a check that was also his reimbursement for legitimate business expenses. Federal laws prohibit campaign contributions that come from corporations, disguise the true donor’s identity or involve coercion.
“We should not force our political will” in the workplace, is how Spitzmesser explained his resistance to supporting Reid. He said he voiced his opposition directly to Windom Kimsey, a firm principal. Spitzmesser said Kimsey responded that individuals who did not support Reid “will not have any work for the upcoming year.”
In late June, the firm laid off Spitzmesser, citing a lack of work. Less than a month later, it won a huge assignment from the U.S. General Services Administration to modernize and expand the land port of entry in Otay Mesa, Calif. Federal stimulus dollars will pay for the project.
Reid and his re-election staff are aware of the FEC probe, campaign manager Brandon Hall said Friday.
Reid’s own party bails on his government-run health bill
…A day after Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Democratic bill would include the option of a government insurance plan, moderates in his own party lost no time Tuesday in voicing their displeasure. Reid, D-Nev., needs every Democrat to break the filibusters Republicans are vowing to mount. But some of the moderates refuse to say whether they’ll stick with their leader on procedural votes, let alone those on the merits of the bill…Full story HERE at AJC.
Harry Reid faces tough re-election
SEARCHLIGHT, Nev. — Along a curve of desert highway near the gated home of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, mechanic Bill Johnson is struggling to keep his checkbook balanced.
With Nevada’s economy poisoned by recession and the nation’s highest foreclosure and bankruptcy rates, business at Johnson’s boat-repair shop has nose-dived 40 percent since last year. He cannot afford health insurance, and his sewer bill jumped to $875 a year.
“I really have to pose a question: Harry, what have you done for me lately?” asks Johnson, who vows to vote against Reid and other incumbents unless health care is made affordable…Full Associated Press story HERE.
THUNE: Reid shutting GOP out of health care talks
…”Well, nothing could be further from the truth,” Thune said. “This is all being done behind closed doors. Senator Reid somewhere in the Capitol is in an office with a handful of members of the White House staff and a couple of other Democrat chairmen and they’re writing the bill, so the whole idea that this is transparent and open really is just a bunch of hot air.”…More HERE from the Argus-Leader.
Liberals turn fire on Reid — Will he buckle?!
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is feeling the heat from his liberal colleagues to include a government-run health insurance plan, or “public option,” in the Senate health care bill.
Now, as Reid and other negotiators move closer to unveiling their health care plan, liberal advocacy groups are ratcheting up the pressure, saying they will run Reid out of Washington if he does not bring a public option to the Senate floor….Full story HERE on CBSNews.com.
Look out, Harry! Tensions are a risin’!
Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid had assembled his leadership team for a quick strategy session at the Capitol last week when somebody noticed that Sen. Chuck Schumer was absent.
“Where’s Chuck?” the person asked.
“He’s probably out there talking about me,” Reid quipped…
Full story HERE in the Politico.
Dirty Harry’s Dirty Campaign
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is prepared to run a sharply negative campaign if that’s what it takes to win reelection next year, with a top adviser predicting that the Nevada Democrat will “vaporize” his Republican challengers with attack ads…
Full story in the Politico here: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=6FCC770D-18FE-70B2-A8654D310EDEEBAA
Harry has a dilemma!
It’s become increasingly clear in recent weeks that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in deep trouble in his re-election race next fall.
A new independent poll conducted for the Las Vegas Review Journal shows Reid trailing two unknown opponents — former state party chairwoman Sue Lowden and businessman Danny Tarkanian — and just 38 percent of Nevada voters had a favorable opinion of their senator.
Full story in the Washington Post: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/nv-sen-harry-reids-dilemma.html
What’s the rush Harry??
Eight Democratic Senators have written Majority Leader Harry Reid and asked him to post the final health care bill on the Internet for at least 72 hours before any vote. They also want all amendments posted before they are debated.
The Democratic dissenters are picking up on an amendment first proposed by GOP Senator Jim Bunning during the Finance Committee’s deliberations on health care. Mr. Bunning said he had been inundated with complaints from voters who “are tired of us taking the easy way out, tired of us not reading or having the time to read the bills.” Mr. Bunning’s amendment was voted down 12 to 11 after Finance Chairman Max Baucus said he could not waste any more time before passing a bill. Only Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln sided with the Republican minority in supporting it.
She’s not alone anymore…
Full story HERE at the Wall Street Journal.
