National Dems Pump $500K into Campaign to Smear Republicans

PAC Leader is Long-Time Reid Confidante

“If this sleazy political guerilla warfare isn’t illegal, it certainly stinks to high heaven.  This is precisely why the people of Nevada are sick of the Reids.”  – Tim Murtaugh, Republican Governors Association

The Democratic Governors Association has dumped $500,000 into a political action committee – the Committee to Protect Nevada Jobs – specifically designed to aid Democratic candidate for governor of Nevada Rory Reid by attacking his potential Republican opponents in the general election (Page 65).  The PAC is run by Dan Hart, a long-time beneficiary of Reid’s, who was paid a combined total of about $700,000 between 2001 and 2009 by Rory Reid’s prior campaigns for office and Reid’s Clark County government.  Hart is also a consultant to the Nevada State Education Association, which has endorsed Reid.

It would be illegal for the PAC and Reid’s campaign to coordinate activities.

“If this sleazy political guerilla warfare isn’t illegal, it certainly stinks to high heaven,” said Tim Murtaugh, spokesman for the Republican Governors Association.  “This is precisely why the people of Nevada are sick of the Reids.”

The Las Vegas Sun referred to the DGA as “a group with clear ties to Democratic Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid” and reported that the organization declined to comment for a news story on the contribution.  Additionally, the Sun reported that Hart refused to disclose donors to his PAC until state law forces him to do so in early June, “after early voting for the primary begins.”

“Hart acknowledged this level of involvement in an opposition’s primary appears unprecedented in Nevada,” reported the Sun.

Hart was a paid consultant on Reid’s two campaigns for County Commission and a contracted lobbyist for Clark County government, where Reid is chairman of the Commission.

Beginning on October 31, 2001 and ending on November 1, 2006, Hart was paid approximately $500,000 for fees related to advertising on Reid’s political campaigns.  He was compensated with an additional $100,000 for general political consulting services.  He also was awarded a $102,000 contract to lobby the legislature on behalf of Clark County in 2009.

The International Association of Firefighters (Local 1908) questioned Hart’s selection as a Clark County lobbyist (Page 10): “…why in the world does the County contract with an outside lobbyist (Dan Hart) for $102,000 per year, with renewable options for additional years, when at the same time the County employs a full-time lobbyist at more than $100,000 plus benefits?”

The answer: Reid preferred using a lobbyist who had worked for him politically in the past.