Harry, Rory & Cindy Reid . . . Live from Las Vegas!

Things are dizzy in southern Nevada today!

I am presently in Pasadena attending a two-week course at Fuller Theological Seminary as part of the Doctory of Ministry (DMin.) degree program I began this past summer. It so happened that I had Friday afternoon and Saturday free so, having "seen all the sights" in LA already I acted on impulse and drove to Las Vegas, Nevada, a 4.5 hour drive (each way).

While heading south from Las Vegas to see Hoover Dam this afternoon (I'm now safely back at Fuller) I noticed two large billboards looming over US Interstate 415.

The first was an ad for Rory Reid's campaign for reelection to the Davis County Board of Commissioners. Rory, of course, is U.S. Senator Harry Reid's oldest son who may or may not have been serving on the County Board when it granted a rezoning request for property that brought a $1.1 million windfall profit to his father. The ethical impropriety in not reporting this transfer and sale of property to the Senate ethics committee (as required by law) is currently being critiqued as are the legality and ethical problems associated with the profiting from the sale of a piece of property that Reid apparently no longer owned.

The second billboard, not too far away from Rory's, was another campaign ad, this one for a "Cindy Reid" for reelection to the Nevada State Board of Education.

The name "Reid" seemed unlikely to be a mere coincidence so, when I could get online access this evening I checked and discovered two things about Cindy Reid:

1. She is Rory's wife, and;
2. She was never elected to the State Board of Education in the first place, but "appointed" (apparently to fill a vacancy?) by Nevada Governor Ned Guinn to serve a term that began on February 3, 2005 and will end on January 1, 2007.

I don't know what to make of this but it does look as though having the name "Reid" can go a long way in advancing a person's career in politics (at least in southern Nevada) . . . and keeps control of some very important government matters in the hands of people who are related to someone who seems to enjoy having his own hands in these matters as well!

Note: I do not want anyone to think that I am overlooking what is certainly a sincere, intelligent, informed and talented involvement in local politics by Rory and his wife. In reality, I commend them. But, given the recent revelations of how this sort of political nepotism can potentially be abused I thought this information might at least add something to the current discussion and debate over ethical misconduct among members of Congress.