The SLS hotel/casino, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went out of his way to help, is represented by his son, Rory Reid.
One day after The Washington Times reported that the majority leader had pushed Homeland Security officials to overrule a decision not to award visas to Asian investors in the SLS (where The Sahara once stood), I discovered that Reid's son was representing the owners at the same time this was occurring in 2012. The majority leader's office portrayed his intervention, as expected, as Reid just doing his job to help create jobs. But did his son push him to intervene?
Reid's office says no. "The SLS project creates nearly 9,000 badly needed jobs and has the support of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval," the majority leader's spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman, told me. "That is the calculus in Sen. Reid's support of the project. We have a long-standing office policy that strictly bars any member of the staff's family or the Senator's family from lobbying our office on behalf of their clients. That policy applies in this case."
Under the headline, "Redeveloping a classic Strip property" and with a picture of Rory Reid, the firm's publication says: "When Sam Nazarian, one of the most creative entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry, turned his sights on Las Vegas, he recognized the opportunity to revitalize an Strip iconic property into an exciting new resort, and the benefit of working with Rory Reid of Lionel, Sawyer & Collins."
Ah, the benefit: "Mr. Reid's previous experience as Chairman of the Clark County Commission is put to good use in assisting with general legal advice for the project and helping navigate through the maze of regulations required to access economic incentives offered on the state and local levels."
That's a pretty brazen description in itself -- the assertion that Reid the Younger's former government position could help, a rare public acknowledgement of how the revolving door provides, well, benefits. And maybe the company never thought Reid the Younger's father might also come in handy.
The SLS hotel/casino, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went out of his way to help, is represented by his son, Rory Reid.
One day after The Washington Times reported that the majority leader had pushed Homeland Security officials to overrule a decision not to award visas to Asian investors in the SLS (where The Sahara once stood), I discovered that Reid's son was representing the owners at the same time this was occurring in 2012. The majority leader's office portrayed his intervention, as expected, as Reid just doing his job to help create jobs. But did his son push him to intervene?
Reid's office says no. "The SLS project creates nearly 9,000 badly needed jobs and has the support of Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval," the majority leader's spokeswoman, Kristen Orthman, told me. "That is the calculus in Sen. Reid's support of the project. We have a long-standing office policy that strictly bars any member of the staff's family or the Senator's family from lobbying our office on behalf of their clients. That policy applies in this case."
Reid the Younger's law firm, Lionel, Sawyer & Collins, devoted a portion of its "2012 Year in Review" to boasting of Rory Reid's involvement with the hotel/casino.
Under the headline, "Redeveloping a classic Strip property" and with a picture of Rory Reid, the firm's publication says: "When Sam Nazarian, one of the most creative entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry, turned his sights on Las Vegas, he recognized the opportunity to revitalize an Strip iconic property into an exciting new resort, and the benefit of working with Rory Reid of Lionel, Sawyer & Collins."
Ah, the benefit: "Mr. Reid's previous experience as Chairman of the Clark County Commission is put to good use in assisting with general legal advice for the project and helping navigate through the maze of regulations required to access economic incentives offered on the state and local levels."
That's a pretty brazen description in itself -- the assertion that Reid the Younger's former government position could help, a rare public acknowledgement of how the revolving door provides, well, benefits. And maybe the company never thought Reid the Younger's father might also come in handy.
But he did.
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