Reid should have stayed out of son’s job hunt process

If being tested by fire were a prerequisite for the Henderson city attorney's job, Josh Reid would be overqualified for the position he seeks.

Not that he'll get credit for his ability to take a punch. His critics say being a son of powerful Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is his sole attribute. Chants of "the fix is in" reverberate from Water Street to local editorial offices.

"Who is Josh Reid?" asks Henderson resident Robert Sulliman in a letter published Sunday in the Review-Journal. "Yes, he is the youngest son of the Democratic Senate majority leader, Harry Reid. That is where his real qualifications end, compared to the other applicants."

Brutal.

But the elder Reid and Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen opened the door to such criticism when they conversed about the city attorney job opening following the departure of Elizabeth Quillin. At the time, applicants for the job had to have a minimum of 10 years of experience as an attorney with at least five years with a public agency.

With just short of 10 years as an attorney and sporadic representation of government clients such as the Las Vegas Valley Water District, Colorado River Commission and the Moapa Band of Paiutes, Josh Reid technically didn't qualify under the original standards.

As the Review-Journal's Jane Ann Morrison first reported, those prerequisites were changed, the minimum standard was lowered, and Josh Reid moved on to the round of six semifinalists.

When the political fog settled, he was a finalist alongside the highly experienced Christine Guerci-Nyhus. She not only exceeded the original qualifications, she now serves as the interim city attorney. Trouble is, Henderson's political prognosticators have already handed the job to Reid.

No one is going to believe Henderson officials lowered the bar independent of Reid's application. Nor should they. There's little room for coincidence even in small-town politics.

But writing off this as a simple juice job also sells short the younger Reid. He not only holds a master's degree in environmental science from Yale and a law degree from the University of Arizona, but he also has served as a member of the Board of Education and University Board of Regents in Utah in addition to his decade of legal experience.

His representation of clients as diverse as the Moapa Paiutes and the Basic Management Corporation of Henderson proves he's no neophyte. If anything, a council member should raise the issue of whether he has too many connections to companies that interact with Henderson government.

In his supplemental questionnaire on file in the Henderson Human Resources Department, he emerges as a thoughtful intellect. He is a knowledgeable advocate of the Nevada Open Meeting Law. He also calls for a review of the city's expensive use of outside attorneys, noting the potential for cost savings at a time budgets are tight.

As a manager, he describes himself as a mentoring, team player. "Micro-management in the practice of law is inefficient and in my experience giving people ownership in their work creates better results," he writes.

But never mind all that.

The Henderson City Council is scheduled to vote today. Its members are receiving threats from irate citizens such as Sulliman, who jabbed, "This is a message to Mayor Hafen and the City Council: Do not select someone like Josh Reid who, at best, meets the lowered standards, to be the next city attorney."

Henderson officials invited vilification by underestimating the potential political fallout of a selection process involving the senator's son. And the elder Reid lived up to his reputation as a political micromanager by stepping into terrain his talented offspring was capable of negotiating on his own.

But if Josh Reid lands the Henderson city attorney's job today and rises to the challenge of representing a dynamic city at a difficult time, he might one day erase the memory of the selection process.

Not that he'll get credit for that, either.

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