Caught in the Searchlight: Hsu, Reid, and the Searchlight Leadership Fund

Original FReeper research | 9/13/2007 | Fedora

[FastCoyote]

“By April 2007, FEC documents indicate that Giarraputo had been replaced as Searchlight Leadership Fund treasurer by Memphis-based attorney Claude E. Zobell, Jr. A Utah native, Zobell is the brother of Charles Zobell, managing editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He served on the US District Court of Nevada in the early 1980s, when Reid was chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. He became Reid’s first chief of staff in 1983 when Reid became a Congressman, and he has prepared Reid’s financial disclosures since then, including the disclosures misreporting Reid’s dealings with Jay Brown.”

The guy you need to look up is Don Williams, political consultant/culinary/quasi mafia link who helped on Reid’s failed early campaign in the 70’s. Don’s actually a good guy, but he knows where the bodies are buried.

[EverOnward]

Bump for later read — good research, thank you

[Fedora]

Thanks for the tips. There’s stuff on his Searchlight properties in his Senate financial disclosures, too. Some of the other folks you mention connect with the Strippergate investigation. I snipped a lot out to keep this short, but like you say, it goes on and on. . .

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[FastCoyote]

GSting is the name of strippergate (as you call it). Be wary, everyone is linked together. Oscar Goodman - Jay Brown - Harry Reid - Dario Herrera - Erin Kenny - Lance Malone - Jim Rhodes - the police - A lot of people already going to jail. Wonder why the national media are too stupid to do their homework.

A big question is who squashed the investigations just prior to the 2006 election? There were at least an AP group and an LA Times group after Harry and it all dried up. I wonder if anyone in the FBI ever reads this stuff?

[TigersEye]

These donations to Searchlight expose a funding conduit
reaching to the heart of Harry Reid’s political machine.

bump

[greyfoxx39]

Did you know that Clarice Feldman at the American Thinker has picked up on your research?

Caught in the Searchlight: Hsu, Reid, and the Searchlight Leadership Fund

The dogged researcher Fedora, shows that Hillary is not the only one with a Hsu problem. Harry Reid is also intimately tied to the mysterious donor with no visible means of support.

Great work!

[SunkenCiv]

Federal Election Commission documents record that on May 17, 2007, Hsu donated $1,000 to the Searchlight Leadership Fund, a political action committee associated with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid... These donations to Searchlight expose a funding conduit reaching to the heart of Harry Reid's political machine. The financial trail stretches back to Reid's hometown, his longtime business associate Jay Brown, and his Nevada gambling industry patrons; and it connects the Hsu affair to scandal-ridden lobbyists William Oldaker and Jack Abramoff, Reid's financial consigliere Claude Zobell, and a political action committee targeting freshmen Congressmen.

Thanks Fred!

[Fedora]

Yeah, Strippergate goes by the name GSting/G-sting, too, there’s a Las Vegas and a San Diego end to it. I forget which name it’s keyworded under here.

I think AP and LAT are still on the story, but they need support from law enforcement and the courts, which they’re obviously not going to get locally from Oscar Goodman’s people. . .Don’t know what DOJ has been doing with it, I’m pretty sure the Bureau has been following it but once an investigation gets handed off to DOJ you get into the type of complications you see in the William Jefferson case, where you’ve got hard evidence but there’s all kinds of 4th Amendment red tape the lawyers can keep tied up for years. Bringing down someone in Reid’s position is no small task. Still, it can happen. Jim Wright had to resign.

[Fedora]

I heard that got picked up, hadn’t seen the actual link yet. Thanks for the heads-up!

[Tunehead54]

Quick! I think Rush picked your story up! 12:24:pm 9-14-07

[kabar]

Reid also received contributions from Abramoff collecting nearly $68,000 in donations from Abramoff's firm, lobbying partners and clients.

Reid wrote letters helpful to the Indian tribes for Abramoff. What did Hillary do for Hsu in return for $850,000?

[Fedora]

Thanks! I missed it, but I’ll see if I can find it online.

[Fedora]

Thanks for the link. Another way to approach the excellent question you raise: what donor could afford $850,000?

[mabelkitty]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/09/hus_and_reids_searchlight_lead.html

This is also a Must Read on Lucianne’s site!!

Great job, as usual.

[Fedora]

Thanks, mabelkitty!—good to see you! :-)

[piasa]

Perkin Coie - Russia collusion / Fusion GPS bump
Nice research as usual, Fedora!

Oldaker was exposed again by the Majority Accountability Project in April 2007, and by June 2007 he was forced to resign again. Meanwhile in May, he joined the board of directors of his lobbying client Neuralstem.
His duties at the Democratic Freshmen PAC were reportedly going to be taken over by the law firm of Perkins Coie, which lobbies for various interests ranging from natural resources and computers to Indian casinos. Perkins Coie advised President Clinton during his impeachment hearings and currently serves as counsel to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). A June 22, 2007 FEC document recorded that the PAC was now based at 607 14th Street NW, Suite 800 and was using an email address of PLGroup@perkinscoie.com, indicating Perkins Coie’s offices. The PAC’s website continued to list an address in Oldaker’s law office at 818 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1100 as of early September 2007.

[piasa]

April 2007 FEC documents list Searchlight Leadership Fund as having an address of 607 14th Street NW, Suite 800 in Washington, DC, with an email address of PLGroup@perkinscoie.com: the same Perkins Coie addresses used by the Democratic Freshmen PAC in its June 2007 filing.