Rory Reid guilty; gets whipped severely by Nevada standards with wet noodle
That’s how everyone should take the news that failed gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid (and son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) cheated big time on campaign laws in the last election.
You can see the story here. He has to pay $25k personally and admit that the Secretary of State could prove he cheated in a court of law.
But let’s be honest. A $25k personal fine for Rory is next to nothing. It’s like a working man or woman getting fined twenty-five cents. While it is big in terms of sorry Nevada history on campaign integrity, it means next to nothing on a practical level. Nevada enforces campaign and election laws with the same zeal as a brothel tests customers for herpes.
Rory ran hundreds of thousands of dollars through his campaign. If he’d cheat on one thing is it not logical to assume that he’s guilty of other campaign diversions. Hey, I’m not saying, I’m just asking the question that ought to be asked of a campaign cheat. What else went on? Who got wealthy from the Reid hide-the-money campaign?
In the meanwhile, don’t get lulled into thinking that this fine is any big deal. If he’d been fined, say, 25% of his total campaign take and banned from running for office in the future, then I’d be impressed and stipulate this whole deal might be a deterrent in a future. As it is now, this is nothing but show.