With brashness and boldness, Reid built legacy of political success

Harry Reid is rude, ruthless and deceitful. He spent his political life embracing the Machiavellian motto that it’s better to be feared than loved.

Reid isn’t your typical politician. He isn’t handsome or charming, he doesn’t like to socialize and he is barely civil at times, much less warm and friendly.

But Reid, whom I’ve covered for more than 37 years, is also a superb political strategist. He blocked efforts to store high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain during the 30 years he’s been in the U.S. Senate. He brought home the bacon. His effectiveness was indisputable.

The Democratic leader is retiring this month. He’ll give his farewell speech Thursday amid honors from colleagues past and present, and his Senate portrait will be unveiled in the evening.

Whether he was Senate minority leader or majority leader, Reid knew how to use power and find the votes he needed for whatever he wanted. And Nevada benefited. That clout dissipates with his retirement.

Reid associates me with the worst period of his life, the “Cleanface” era, because that’s when I began writing about him. As federal court reporter, I covered the 1979 release of FBI affidavits and transcripts of meetings, including one bugged meeting in 1978 where mobster Joe Agosto said, “I gotta Cleanface in my pocket.”

The FBI identified “Cleanface” as Reid, the Nevada Gaming Commission chairman from 1977 to 1981.

The Gaming Control Board ordered a lengthy investigation and concluded Agosto was simply boasting. State officials cleared Reid, but the FBI did not. The feds never charged Reid with anything.

Reid’s rude and arrogant persona have been demonstrated time after time, not just with me but with others. And stories about this persona in action, such as when he called President George W. Bush a “liar” and a “loser,” have been told and retold.

During the Cleanface era, I remember Reid approaching me at a private party with his wife, Landra, and introducing us, saying something along the lines of, “Here’s the woman who writes all those terrible things about me. See, she’s not so awful.”

It was not meant as a compliment.

In 1979, Reid testified in court about a bribe attempt. The year before, Las Vegan Jack Gordon offered a $12,000 bribe to Reid, hoping to win approval for two new gaming devices. Reid reported it to the FBI, and his office was set up to videotape the meeting. When the bribe was offered, FBI agents entered to arrest Gordon. Reid erupted, saying, “You son of a bitch, you tried to bribe me!” and started to choke Gordon. He had to be pulled off by agents.

As I watched the video in court, it seemed somewhat fake. Reid, a lawyer, knew he was being videotaped.

He wasn’t wild about those stories, either.

When an editor, without my knowledge, added Cleanface allegations to the end of my Gordon verdict story, Reid called me yelling. When he found out I wasn’t responsible, he sent yellow roses to my apartment.

My cat destroyed them.

In 2002, when I was the RJ’s political reporter, I protected myself and guaranteed word-perfect quotes by always using a tape recorder — especially with Reid. With the recorder in clear view between us, I asked Reid, a Mormon, what he thought about the plastering of stickers reading “Mormon bigots” on the political signs of two Las Vegas GOP candidates, Tom Christensen and Garn Mabey.

Reid answered: “Maybe they’re doing it to themselves. I don’t know, but if I was trying to generate sympathy and get the Mormons to turn out, that’s what I would do. My guess is as good as any, but maybe some of Christensen’s people figure that’s a way to engender sympathy and get the Mormons to turn out for him.”

Later, Christensen called me and said Reid denied saying that. So I invited Christensen to the RJ and played him the pertinent part of the interview that Reid had denied saying. The quote was accurate.

Who knows what Reid will say or what others will say about him Thursday. Republicans may grit their teeth trying to honor the guy who managed to get the Affordable Care Act passed. With all the ugliness that passed between them, what will Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., say?

I almost wish I could be there. Almost.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column runs Thursdays. Leave messages for her at 702-383-0275 or email jmorrison@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @janeannmorrison.