The Silence Is Deafening

Everyone should just take a time out from the All Mark Foley, All The Time headlines and look into something that really reeks. To date, all we know for sure about Mark Foley is that he sent out dirty e-mails and may have had consensual sex with an adult. What we are learning about Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) makes that pale in comparison.

Mr. Reid and his wife bought some property in 1998. In 2001, he “sold” the property to the Patrick Lane Limited Liability Corporation in exchange for an interest in that corporation. Mr. Reid made no disclosure of this transaction and continued to represent that he personally owned the property. When the land sold again in 2004, Mr. Reid pocketed either $700,000 or $1.1 million, depending on who you believe. He reported this as a personal sale of land, again not mentioning the corporation. If he wasn’t doing anything wrong, why didn't he disclose the transfer or his involvement with the corporation?

When contacted by the Associated Press recently about this, Mr. Reid hung up on the reporter. He’s now claiming that transferring title in 2001 was a “routine legal move that in no way altered” his “actual ownership of the land.” That’s rich. In the alternate reality inhabited by the democrats, however, it’s easy to see how Mr. Reid could say that. Here’s how it goes: he owns a share of the corporation which owns the property, therefore, he still owns the property. That doesn’t even pass the laugh test, let alone the smell test.

Mr. Reid is going to amend his financial disclosure forms to show the 2001 transaction, along with two other transactions he neglected to mention. So far, there is no mention of whether the IRS is getting involved. Were there capital gains taxes? If so, who paid them? Did Mr. Reid advise the IRS of his windfall? Or was all this sleight of hand a clever way of not having to pay what was owed?