Reid praises book despite portrayal

Although he does not come across as a particularly sympathetic figure in a book written by the wife of a new Ohio senator, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., last week praised the book and said he sent a note to the author.

Connie Schultz, who won a Pulitzer Prize two years ago as a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, describes Reid's hardball political style in several sections of the book, "And His Lovely Wife."

Schultz, the wife of Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Reid and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, pressured Brown to get into the 2006 race against Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio.

When Brown resisted, citing his concerns about the impact of a Senate race on his marriage and his wife's career, Schultz said Schumer minced no words.

"He said, 'Well, Connie had her chance at the brass ring. Now it's time for her to support you,'" Schultz wrote.

"I wanted to ask Schumer what exactly Sherrod had sacrificed for me to win a journalism prize."

Brown's indecision also led to a "short and painful" meeting with Reid in Washington after he announced his candidacy in October 2005.

"Reid had wanted Sherrod to get in far earlier, back in July (2005), but Sherrod and I weren't ready then," Schultz wrote.

In August 2005, Brown even announced he would not run, which made Reid encourage Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett to enter the race.

"Harry said 'I've created a real mess with Paul Hackett, and I'm going to have to fix it,'" Brown told his wife in a phone call.

After Brown won the Senate seat, helping Reid become majority leader, Schultz said she and her husband received an invitation to the White House.

Schultz was in no mood to attend. "I'd had it up to my feathered bangs with frozen smiles and good behavior," she said.

But Reid had other ideas. "Harry wants us to go," Brown told his wife. "It's a gesture of good intention, it shows we want to work with the other side, that we're putting all the nastiness of the campaign behind us and will work together to get things done."

So the couple flew from Ohio to Washington, where their first event was a photo op with Reid, Schumer, "and all the senators-elect except for Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) who had the nerve to take care of herself and go on vacation with her husband."

When it was time to meet the press, Reid said, "Let's get the wives out here," Schultz wrote. "I stood behind Sherrod, put my hands on his shoulders, and tried to ignore the cameras and not cry with pride," she said.

Reid said the book depicts him fairly.

"I wrote her a letter. I thought it was an outstanding book," Reid said.

TAINTED LOVE?

Several family members of casino mogul Steve Wynn showed up in last week's newly released presidential campaign finance reports. Steve, wife Elaine and daughter Kevyn all made big donations to the campaign of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.

But another Wynn, Kenny, gave $3,000 to the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Kenny Wynn, Steve's younger brother, has a checkered past.

In 2004, he left his post as president of Wynn Design and Development just days before it was learned that he was targeted as part of a global investigation of child pornography dubbed Operation Predator.

A law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told the Review-Journal at the time that Wynn came under suspicion when investigators discovered his name on a Web site where pornographic images of children were trafficked. His computer was seized.

No charges have been filed against Kenny Wynn, and the case's status is unclear.

In November, Steve Usiak, resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's office of investigations in Las Vegas, said the investigation was "still open or pending" and wouldn't explain why it was taking so long.

Usiak could not be reached for comment this week, and a spokeswoman for the agency would not confirm the existence of an investigation involving Kenny Wynn.

In 1992, Kenny Wynn was fined $10,000 by the Gaming Control Board after he admitted to substance abuse.

Attempts to reach Kenny Wynn, now an executive at Molasky Pacific, were unsuccessful last week. A query to Wynn Resorts resulted in a receptionist tersely stating Kenny "has nothing to do with the company."

A Clinton spokeswoman said the campaign was looking into the contribution.

ROTTEN PORK

Last week's hubbub in the House over federal money for the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas wasn't the only Nevada earmark coming under criticism.

Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, singled out a request by Reid in its "pork alert" last week on the most "outrageous" projects contained in the Fiscal 2008 Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill.

Reid wants $200,000 to finish turning the old post office in downtown Las Vegas into a history museum.

Although Reid was one of 11 senators whose pet projects the group criticized, the group's spokeswoman, Leslie Paige, said he should be singled out because of his leadership position.

"Anybody in a leadership position should be taking the bull by the horns to make the process better," she said. Leaders such as Reid, she said, were critical of the prior Republican leadership's use of earmarks, but now that they are in power, they are no better.

"Has anyone else competed for this money? Couldn't this be funded by the state of Nevada or the city of Las Vegas?" Paige asked.

Reid spokesman Jon Summers portrayed the Washington group as out of touch with local needs.

"This is funding for a museum to teach people about Nevada's rich history," he said. "The fact that this out-of-state group labels an educational resource as wasteful speaks volumes about its misplaced priorities."

COUNTY GOP

Despite rumors that Clark County Republican Party chairman John Hambrick would face a challenge to his bid for another term, he ran unopposed last week.

Danny Tarkanian had planned to run against him but was sidetracked by state party chairwoman Sue Lowden, who offered him a place on a party committee that he took instead.

Bad blood remains within party factions who like nothing better than to argue passionately over things like bylaws. But it didn't prevent Hambrick, a former Secret Service agent, from sailing to another two-year term.

Review-Journal writer Carri Geer and Stephens Washington Bureau chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report. Contact political reporter Molly Ball at 387-2919 or mball@reviewjournal.com.