Sunday, January 28, 2007
Questions Surround Reid Land Deal
NewsMax - New Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bought undeveloped land in Arizona far below its assessed value, then introduced legislation that could have aided the seller of the property.
Revelations about the land deal follow last year’s reports that Reid, a Nevada Democrat, had collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn’t personally owned the property for three years.
In the newly disclosed land deal – uncovered during an investigation by the Los Angeles Times – Reid paid $10,000 to gain control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City, Ariz., in 2002.
The money was paid to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Los Vegas lubricants distributor and Reid’s friend for 50 years. The deal gave Reid – who had already owned a five-eighths interest in the property, equivalent to 120 of the 160 acres – full control of the parcel.
The purchase price for the remaining three-eighths, or 60 acres, breaks down to just $166 an acre, less than one-tenth of the value an assessor had placed on it at the time, according to the Times.
Six months after the deal closed, Reid introduced legislation that sought to protect lubricants distributors from abrupt cancellations by their suppliers.
The Haycock family had lost business in 1994 when Mobil Oil Co. canceled the family’s distributorship of lubricants.
The Times noted: "It is a potential violation of congressional ethics for a member to accept anything of value – including a real estate discount – from a person with interests before Congress.”
But Reid’s spokesman, Jon Summers, insisted that the transaction was not a gift and the Senator paid a fair price for the pension fund’s minority interest.
And Clair Haycock told the Times that Reid "has never taken any official action to provide personal financial benefit to me, and I would never have asked him to.”
Nevertheless, Prof. Crocker H. Liu, chair of real estate at Arizona State’s University W.P. Carey School of Business, told the Times that the price Reid paid to gain control of the parcel "strikes me as low. But I don’t know what other considerations – valuable or otherwise – were part of this transaction. Usually when a purchase price is that low, there is other juice in the deal.”
Footnote: Since taking full control of the property, Reid has urged federal funding for a new bridge over the Colorado River – a few miles from his Arizona property.
NewsMax - New Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bought undeveloped land in Arizona far below its assessed value, then introduced legislation that could have aided the seller of the property.
Revelations about the land deal follow last year’s reports that Reid, a Nevada Democrat, had collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn’t personally owned the property for three years.
In the newly disclosed land deal – uncovered during an investigation by the Los Angeles Times – Reid paid $10,000 to gain control of a 160-acre parcel in Bullhead City, Ariz., in 2002.
The money was paid to a pension fund controlled by Clair Haycock, a Los Vegas lubricants distributor and Reid’s friend for 50 years. The deal gave Reid – who had already owned a five-eighths interest in the property, equivalent to 120 of the 160 acres – full control of the parcel.
The purchase price for the remaining three-eighths, or 60 acres, breaks down to just $166 an acre, less than one-tenth of the value an assessor had placed on it at the time, according to the Times.
Six months after the deal closed, Reid introduced legislation that sought to protect lubricants distributors from abrupt cancellations by their suppliers.
The Haycock family had lost business in 1994 when Mobil Oil Co. canceled the family’s distributorship of lubricants.
The Times noted: "It is a potential violation of congressional ethics for a member to accept anything of value – including a real estate discount – from a person with interests before Congress.”
But Reid’s spokesman, Jon Summers, insisted that the transaction was not a gift and the Senator paid a fair price for the pension fund’s minority interest.
And Clair Haycock told the Times that Reid "has never taken any official action to provide personal financial benefit to me, and I would never have asked him to.”
Nevertheless, Prof. Crocker H. Liu, chair of real estate at Arizona State’s University W.P. Carey School of Business, told the Times that the price Reid paid to gain control of the parcel "strikes me as low. But I don’t know what other considerations – valuable or otherwise – were part of this transaction. Usually when a purchase price is that low, there is other juice in the deal.”
Footnote: Since taking full control of the property, Reid has urged federal funding for a new bridge over the Colorado River – a few miles from his Arizona property.
