SHERMAN FREDERICK: Enough is enough, Harry

[Desertdog]

Harry just made a powerful enemy.

Enough is enough, Harry Reid

Stop the childish bullying
SHERMAN FREDERICK

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/56171937.html


This newspaper traces its roots to before Las Vegas was Las Vegas.

We've seen cattle ranches give way to railroads. We chronicled the construction of Hoover Dam. We reported on the first day of legalized gambling. The first hospital. The first school. The first church. We survived the mob, Howard Hughes, the Great Depression, several recessions, two world wars, dozens of news competitors and any number of two-bit politicians who couldn't stand scrutiny, much less criticism.

We're still here doing what we do for the people of Las Vegas and Nevada. So, let me assure you, if we weathered all of that, we can damn sure outlast the bully threats of Sen. Harry Reid.

On Wednesday, before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Reid joined the chamber's board members for a meet-'n'-greet and a photo. One of the last in line was the Review-Journal's director of advertising, Bob Brown, a hard-working Nevadan who toils every day on behalf of advertisers. He has nothing to do with news coverage or the opinion pages of the Review-Journal.

Yet, as Bob shook hands with our senior U.S. senator in what should have been nothing but a gracious business setting, Reid said: "I hope you go out of business."

Later, in his public speech, Reid said he wanted to let everyone know that he wants the Review-Journal to continue selling advertising because the Las Vegas Sun is delivered inside the Review-Journal.

Such behavior cannot go unchallenged.

You could call Reid's remark ugly and be right. It certainly was boorish. Asinine? That goes without saying.

But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid's remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was -- a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he's shaking them down.

No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.

If he thinks he can push the state's largest newspaper around by exacting some kind of economic punishment in retaliation for not seeing eye to eye with him on matters of politics, I can only imagine how he pressures businesses and individuals who don't have the wherewithal of the Review-Journal.

For the sake of all who live and work in Nevada, we can't let this bully behavior pass without calling out Sen. Reid. If he'll try it with the Review-Journal, you can bet that he's tried it with others. So today, we serve notice on Sen. Reid that this creepy tactic will not be tolerated.

We won't allow you to bully us. And if you try it with anyone else, count on going through us first.

That's a promise, not a threat.

And it's a promise to our readers, not to you, Sen. Reid.


Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.

[Perd Hapley]

As it is written, so let it be done. 

[Standing Wolf]

No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.

I think we should move the nation's capital to St. Louis. There's something wrong with the air in Washington, D.C. It turns citizens into wannabe aristocrats.

[RoadKingLarry]

Could that be called speaking truth to power?

[Waitone]

No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.

Odd, I expect just exactly this kind of behavior.  I consider it to be external actions of an internal change in attitude.  The attitude being there is no longer fear of the voter in the mind of a politician.  Hopefully Nevada will re institute a healthy fear in its representatives in Washington in the next election.

[grampster]

Hopefully, Reid will not be an issue beyond the date of his next reelection bid.

I think I'll e mail the paper and ask if I can have a subscription mailed to me.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

"Never get into arguments with people who buy ink by the barrel."

[MechAg94]

The sad thing is that Reid is no different now than he has been for years.  It takes threats to wake people up to the fact that a politician is no representing his own state? 

[AZRedhawk44]

This newspaper traces its roots to before Las Vegas was Las Vegas.

We've seen cattle ranches give way to railroads. We chronicled the construction of Hoover Dam. We reported on the first day of legalized gambling. The first hospital. The first school. The first church. We survived the mob, Howard Hughes, the Great Depression, several recessions, two world wars, dozens of news competitors and any number of two-bit politicians who couldn't stand scrutiny, much less criticism.
   
We're still here doing what we do for the people of Las Vegas and Nevada. So, let me assure you, if we weathered all of that, we can damn sure outlast the bully threats of Sen. Harry Reid.

On Wednesday, before he addressed a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Reid joined the chamber's board members for a meet-'n'-greet and a photo. One of the last in line was the Review-Journal's director of advertising, Bob Brown, a hard-working Nevadan who toils every day on behalf of advertisers. He has nothing to do with news coverage or the opinion pages of the Review-Journal.

Yet, as Bob shook hands with our senior U.S. senator in what should have been nothing but a gracious business setting, Reid said: "I hope you go out of business."

Later, in his public speech, Reid said he wanted to let everyone know that he wants the Review-Journal to continue selling advertising because the Las Vegas Sun is delivered inside the Review-Journal.

Such behavior cannot go unchallenged.

You could call Reid's remark ugly and be right. It certainly was boorish. Asinine? That goes without saying.

But to fully capture the magnitude of Reid's remark (and to stop him from doing the same thing to others) it must be called what it was -- a full-on threat perpetrated by a bully who has forgotten that he was elected to office to protect Nevadans, not sound like he's shaking them down.

No citizen should expect this kind of behavior from a U.S. senator. It is certainly not becoming of a man who is the majority leader in the U.S. Senate. And it absolutely is not what anyone would expect from a man who now asks Nevadans to send him back to the Senate for a fifth term.

If he thinks he can push the state's largest newspaper around by exacting some kind of economic punishment in retaliation for not seeing eye to eye with him on matters of politics, I can only imagine how he pressures businesses and individuals who don't have the wherewithal of the Review-Journal.

For the sake of all who live and work in Nevada, we can't let this bully behavior pass without calling out Sen. Reid. If he'll try it with the Review-Journal, you can bet that he's tried it with others. So today, we serve notice on Sen. Reid that this creepy tactic will not be tolerated.

We won't allow you to bully us. And if you try it with anyone else, count on going through us first.

That's a promise, not a threat.

And it's a promise to our readers, not to you, Sen. Reid.

Sherman Frederick (sfrederick@reviewjournal.com) is publisher of the Review-Journal and president of Stephens Media.

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/56171937.html

Good.

Sounds like ol' Harry ain't long for the Senate, if he's going around deliberately attacking media outlets.

"I hope you go out of business?"  During a recession/depression?  I'm so glad he's representing the concerns of his constituency rather than protecting his sense of importance. :rolleyes:

[Regolith]

Desertdog already posted this is in the Politics forum.

I wish I could be around for Harry's next election bid, but it looks like I may no longer be a Nevada resident then, and I won't be able to help vote his ass out of office. 

[RoadKingLarry]

You can always donate to his opponent.

[sanglant]

or you could do the Acorn, absentee(or drive in so you can see him lose ) vote from your new place of residence

[Regolith]

or you could do the Acorn, absentee(or drive in so you can see him lose ) vote from your new place of residence

Naw.  I could have done that the last couple of elections if I wanted.  Wouldn't have been hard at all to get registered here in Oregon and vote simultaneously in Nevada without anyone being the wiser, but unlike ACORN and various others, I don't stoop to voter fraud. Besides, I doubt it would have made much a difference anyway.

I may donate to his opponent, but that will depend on exactly who it is and whether or not I have money at the time.

[sanglant]

hey now, i didn't mean to register in your new local to no need to get in the sewers, just onto the street

[Jamisjockey]

hey now, i didn't mean to register in your new local to no need to get in the sewers, just onto the street

Which is still illegal.  Any further talk of illegal activity on this topic may result in the banning of users.

[Gowen]

hey now, i didn't mean to register in your new local to no need to get in the sewers, just onto the street

I have no clue as to what was just said.

[sanglant]

your a king mixer you are, are you at least a clean old man?