Harry Reid Does It Again

When you're a senator, you are held to a higher standard then the rest of us. When you're a senator that throws around accusations of corruption, you REALLY need to have your ducks in a row and not have yourself open to accusations yourself. Apparently, Harry Reid didn't get that memo.

It looks like Senator Reid paid $3,300 to a holiday fund for his staff members out of campaign contributions. Federal law prohibits those funds from being used for personal use. Now, Senator Reid is reimbursing the funds out of his own pocket, but the problem is that "On the Ritz-Carlton holiday donations, Reid gave $600 in 2002, then $1,200 in 2004 and $1,500 in 2005 from his re-election campaign to an entity listed as the REC Employee Holiday Fund. His campaign listed the expenses as campaign "salary" for two of the years and as a "contribution" one year." and "Reid's office said the listing as salary was a "clerical error."

Larry Noble, the Federal Election Commission's former chief enforcement lawyer, said Reid's explanation is aimed at a "gray area" in the law by suggesting the donations were tied to his official Senate and political work.

"What makes this harder for the senator is that this is his personal residence and this looks like an event that everybody else at the residence is taking out of their personal money as they're living there," Noble said.

Even experts think he may have done something wrong. Ethics experts told AP that Reid's inaccurate accounting of the deal to Congress appeared to violate Senate ethics rules and raised other issues concerning taxes and potential gifts.

So here's the problem that we have, Reid labeled the AP story as the "latest attempt" by Republicans to affect the election. How is this the doing of the Republican party? Did anyone from the Republican party write those checks, then LIE about it and say it was for a "campaign salary"? This goes back to my "Personal Responsibility" story earlier this month. The Democrats don't understand that when you throw stones, you'd better not live in a glass house. Senator Reid should vigorously go over his own books and make sure every "i" is dotted and "t" is crossed before he throws around accusations of impropriety. Now, the amounts were small, but it doesn't matter what the dollar amount is. Also, he is reimbursing the money. But if I violate Federal law, but I put the money back, does that excuse me from my wrongdoing?

Maybe I'm coming off a bit harsh. Maybe it was an honest mistake by Senator Reid and honestly thought this was a "gray area" thing that was ok, but it just bothers me when someone loves to throw around accusations and then admit to doing the exact same things. Senator Foley ripped into Bill Clinton about his sexual misdeeds, but then turns around and is caught doing sexual misdeeds himself.

God, I should run for office. Is it really that bad to where you think you have to lie about everything that goes on in your personal life to your constituents? Is it really that bad out there for politicians that they can't say things like "I like a fat cigar and a glass of bourbon to take the edge off a day" or "I love women and porn and when I was younger, I did everything I could with women" This is why I respect Arnold Schwarzenegger. Democrats tried to get him with the whole "You smoked pot and chased women when you were younger." And Arnold's reply "Yeah? So? I was single and it was all with consenting adults, so suck it."

Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com