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 Senate Majority Leader says Nevada Democratic Party makes its own decisions; adds "I don't like FOX"
By Hugh Jackson
03/09/07
(Disclosure note: The author is also the writer of the Las Vegas Gleaner, a local blog that has made fun of the Nevada Democratic Party's decision to let Fox broadcast a presidential debate.)
On the same day that a host of Democratic Party officials expressed support for FOX News Network hosting a Democratic presidential debate in Reno in August, Sen. Harry Reid took pains to distance himself from the decision.
"I had nothing to do with choosing FOX," Reid said in a conference call with bloggers who have slammed the inclusion of FOX as a decision that lends credibility to a network with a strong anti-Democratic bias. Reid also said he did not know who within the party had made the decision. And Reid repeatedly stressed that he does not control the Nevada Democratic Party.
State party spokesperson Kirsten Searer said in an interview later Thursday that the decision to choose FOX was in fact made not by Reid but by state party Chairman Tom Collins. Consultants for the media firm hired by the party to help with the caucus, Washington, D.C.-based New Future Communications, were approached by FOX, Searer said. The consultants were attracted to the cable network as a means of reaching out to potential new Democratic voters, and also liked the idea of a potentially large local audience delivered through FOX's KVVU broadcast affiliate in Las Vegas. Upon the consultants' recommendation, Collins, as state chairman, approved the decision, Searer said.
When the party announced in February that Fox would be broadcasting the debate, it issued a statement in which Reid was quoted as saying "This is more great news for Nevada. I'm happy FOX News will be a partner for the August presidential debate."
Asked Thursday if we was standing by that statement, Reid said "I hold elation" over the attention that the Nevada caucus is getting from presidential candidates and that Nevada debates will be televised. But he suggested his statement might have been different "had I known at that time that it would be a controversy."
In addition to distancing himself from the FOX decision Thursday -- "I don't like FOX News" -- the Senate Majority Leader reiterated several times that the Nevada Democratic Party is independent and not controlled by him, at one point going so far as to say "I just don't know what's going on in the party."
Reid has been praised by several party leaders for the pivotal role he has played in bringing the caucus to Nevada.
In January, Reid was joined in Las Vegas by national labor leaders, dozens of local Democratic elected officials and several hundred Nevada Democrats to announce the formation of the Nevada Caucus Commission and a tentative schedule of presidential debates and forums, including a "Mid-August debate focused on Western regional issues to be held in Reno."
Asked Thursday if the Caucus Commission had played any role in the decision to have Fox broadcast that August debate, Reid said he didn't know. Reminded that he served on the commission, Reid, after conferring with a staffer, said that nearly every elected Democratic official in the state of Nevada is on the commission.
The commission includes more than two dozen current and former elected officials, along with several Democratic Party officials and a handful of community, business and labor leaders. The Caucus Commission has three co-chairs: state party chairman Tom Collins, Rep. Shelley Berkley, and Reid.
Reid also said neither he nor his staff had seen or was involved in the preparation of a memo sent out by Collins to state party members Wednesday, a memo that was designed (but failed) to placate critics of FOX's role broadcasting a Democratic debate. In that memo, Collins said that Reid "has asked us to take another look at the parameters of this debate in order to ensure that all Democrats are comfortable as we move forward."
Reid echoed that sentiment Thursday, saying he is continuing to reassess the controversy over the FOX debate.
But while Reid was distancing himself from Fox, twenty county Democratic Party chairs and executive board members issued a joint statement Thursday supporting the decision to have FOX broadcast the debate.
"Not all of us originally supported the idea of working with FOX," the statement said, "but many of us did because we know that a significant number of Nevadans - including Democrats - watch the network, and we want to use the opportunity of our early caucus to reach out to those viewers."
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I have to be candid, it has been my experience that the national level politicians (and candidates) really do not know what is going on in the NSDP - there's a total disconnect (which is really disturbing in itself) - so, I believe Harry.
Now, Tom Collins can try to blame and damn the "consultants" - wonder who they are and who hired them?
And why didn't Tom Collins ALSO consult with the NSDP Executive Board, you know, BEFORE he made his all-powerful final decision?
Now, I can go back at being angry with Harry for sending our troops into an unjust war and failing to get the VA fully funded!
And it raises a couple of other questions: should Tom Collins still be chairing the 2008 Presidential Caucus and serving as a Clark County Commissioner? I mean the guy is a homophobe, a religious zealot, a sexist and a bully - should he really be representing any majority group?