Judicial Watch investigates Senate Majority Leader Reid

Judicial Watch investigates Senate Majority Leader Reid

Judicial Watch has filed an open records lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management as part of an investigation into the role Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid played in a massive Nevada land deal.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, says he wants to find out whether Senator Reid (D-Nevada) improperly used his influence on Capitol Hill to push the project at Coyote Springs, Nevada, in exchange for campaign contributions and other favors from lobbyist and long-time friend Harvey Whittemore.

"Coyote Springs is a major, major development in Nevada," says Fitton. "Harry Reid was front and center in pushing it. So we want to get documents from the Bureau of Land Management over at the Interior Department about the contacts that Reid had with them. Reid is up to his neck in allegations and scandal, and this is just one of many."

But Fitton knows it would be difficult to get the Bush Justice Department to prosecute Reid, even if Judicial Watch obtains the documents and finds there is evidence of wrongdoing.

"There is a go-slow approach, and I think it's because it's a Republican administration. They take a slower time in going after Democrats because they realize they'll be attacked for playing politics with the prosecutions," he explains.

Fitton says Judicial Watch is also investigating Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) and Governor Jim Gibbons, both of whom supported the Coyote Springs project at key stages and received campaign donations from Whittemore.