Brothel-bashing Reid should dig into state’s other problems

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a lover of the fight-game metaphor, split the ropes Tuesday at the Nevada Legislature and went after an opponent way below his weight class when he took time to thump the state's brothel racket.

Reid devoted three paragraphs of his address to banning state-sanctioned whorehouses -- insert Legislature joke here -- and briefly argued the activity was holding back the Silver State. Those paragraphs attracted national media attention, most of which neglected to mention Reid's defense of the federal stimulus, the importance of the One Nevada electric transmission line, the state's abysmal financial support for public education, and the need to do away with term limits.

And then there was the brothel commentary.

"So let's have an adult conversation about an adult subject," Reid said. "Nevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment, not as the last place where prostitution is still legal. When the nation thinks about Nevada, it should think about the world's newest ideas and newest careers, not about its oldest profession."

Nevada's legal pimps and their representatives whined on cue, but Reid is right as far as it goes. Legal brothels are as corny a part of Nevada's illegitimate past as the quickie divorce racket and the Marryin' Sam hustle. Under the guise of being legal and taxed, the scandal-plagued operations send a titillating telegram to tourists but a gaudy message to corporations searching for new places to put down roots.

Legal prostitution has outlived its faux frontier imagery, and isn't exactly a healthy way to generate tax revenue. (Let's remember Nevada's legal whorehouse "frontier" only extends back to 1971.) All well and good.

But talk about picking on an easy target.

What will the Searchlight senator do next? Take a righteous stand against interstate littering?

Reid's brothel-bashing comments grabbed a lot of attention, but I think had the effect of diluting his overall message. Of course licensed whorehouses are a social sore, but there was a flaw in Reid's ointment.

When he argued businessmen are reluctant to move operations to the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center because of legalized prostitution in Storey County, he neglected to mention the man developing the enormous corporate park is Lance Gilman, who owns the Wild Horse Adult Resort and Spa and the World Famous Brothel.

Meanwhile, brothel racket advocates tried to paint Reid's comments into a political conspiracy.

But the senator's comments weren't jabs at rural Nevadans who didn't vote for him, as Moonlite BunnyRanch operator Dennis Hof has lamely suggested. Coming from a marketing-savvy guy known as a sharp operator, that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.

Truth is, not many rural residents I know take great civic pride in their local brothels. Beyond generating some tax dollars, buying Little League uniforms, and occasionally bribing a cow county commissioner, brothel barons aren't exactly altruists. They're pimps who practice legally because the state allows them to. That's no reason to give them the key to the city.

Reid's real mistake was in picking on such a bantamweight target. You're the Senate majority leader, man. Cinch up your shorts, lace up those Everlasts, and throw a haymaker.

Step up and take a swing at the Primo Carnera of Nevada politics, the mining industry. Pressure from you could tip the scale and encourage the gold barons to leave a little dust behind to help Nevada's schoolchildren in their time of need.

That assumes you secretly believe mining can do more for the Silver State.

Too bad Sen. Reid won't duke it out with his old allies in the mining industry, which takes billions in natural resources from Nevada and pays a relative pittance.

Now that would be a bout of political pugilism worthy of Reid's weight class.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.