Harry Reid Denounces Rush Limbaugh, History Of Talk Radio Suppression

SENATOR CENSOR

Reid Has Long History Of Talk Radio Suppression






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While Harry Reid may claim to believe that talk radio is "by and large" to be tolerated by the American people, the truth is that his new attempt to bring down Rush Limbaugh merely caps a decade-long effort to destroy talk radio critics.

Far from being new to this destructive game, Reid polished his censorship craft while a little- known Nevada senator, long before he would rise to the national stage as majority leader. From talk radio to grassroots political organizations, Mr Searchlight has always been known in the Silver State for his thin- skin and thuggish, mob- inspired antics.

How does your Radio Equalizer know this? From having once been a target of Reid's Hugo Chavez- like zeal for media control.

In 1998, the Las Vegas Review- Journal reported on Reid's attempt to sue yours truly right off the airwaves. Had a move out of state not already been in the works to join a new station, there's little doubt Reid would have succeeded. In 2004, your Radio Equalizer wrote about the controversy for WorldNetDaily.

From the Review- Journal piece:

(15 February 1998)
Reid's staff scrutinizes talk show commentary

By Jane Ann Morrison
Review-Journal

An ongoing conflict with a conservative think tank's scathing commentary is not the only dispute Sen. Harry Reid and his staff have had recently with conservatives on radio.

The Democratic senator's staff is reviewing a tape of a show by former Reno talk show host Brian Maloney to see if anything slanderous was said, Reid spokeswoman Jenny Backus said.

Some radio executives shrug the complaints off as another sign that because the senator is engaged in a close race with Rep. John Ensign, a Republican, his staff is paying closer attention to negative radio programs.

Maloney, who recently left Reno conservative radio station KOH 780-AM for a job in Seattle, contends the complaints are an effort to stifle his free speech.
In a recent interview, Maloney said he hosted a program that discussed a Wall Street Journal story about how Reid advocated a Del Webb Corp. land exchange in Clark County.

The three-hour show aired on Jan. 16, and on the following Monday, Backus said she requested a copy of the show.

"Whenever somebody wants a tape and suggests courses of action, that implies they are looking at legal action," Maloney said. "I really felt this was an attempt to stifle my free speech."

While KOH management didn't tell him to back off, Maloney said he could tell they were concerned.

Backus and Reid contend they have a legitimate right to complain if Maloney's comments were false. "I'm very happy he's left," Reid said.

The senator said he didn't know if Maloney's program really hurt him politically because "he was so absurd."

After Maloney was hired by the Seattle station, he said Reid staffers called KOH to find out about his departure.

"I don't like the retaliatory tone of all of this. It seems vindictive," Maloney said. "I can't believe I'm reading a Wall Street Journal front page story on the air and I'm getting in hot water."

Dan Mason, KOH program director said there may have been a little pressure applied by Reid's staff to have Maloney back off.

He wasn't as upset about the issue as Maloney, figuring recent events are a sign that Reid is "engaged in a real election. That may make him pay a little more attention to the radio shows."

Ensign and Reid both are frequent guests on talk radio shows across Nevada, where they can deliver their message directly.

"Talk radio is like going to a town hall meeting," Ensign said. "You have to answer people who totally disagree with you. I get treated more positively than Harry does on talk radio."

Reid said he enjoys appearing on talk radio but believes its power has "peaked out. It's not as big as it was a year or two ago."

And as that article notes, Reid was busy looking for ways to shut down other critics, including those based at a conservative policy institute:

(15 February 1998)
Group, Reid battle over commentaries

A U.S. senator accuses a conservative institute of running political ads under the guise of commentary.

By Jane Ann Morrison
Review-Journal

A conservative Nevada think tank that has blasted Democratic Sen. Harry Reid on the radio has been ordered by one broadcaster to lay off the attacks -- a move prompted by complaints by Reid's staff.

Democratic Party officials are now threatening to challenge the tax exempt status of the group, which buys air time on KNUU-AM 970 radio for its daily commentaries.

Reid described the Reno-based group, the Nevada Policy Research Institute, as "right wing zealots trying to help the far right." The senator, who is trying to thwart a challenge to his re-election by Republican Rep. John Ensign, objected to the tone, the partisan nature and the accuracy of the radio commentaries.

The free-market advocacy organization was founded in 1991 by former Nevada National Republican Committeewoman Judy Cresanta.

"The truth has no bearing on what they say," Reid said.

"I think they are running political ads under the guise of commentary." Democratic State Party Chairman Paul Henry said Wednesday that for several weeks, lawyers have been investigating whether the party can challenge the institute's tax-exempt status.

Henry -- who said he has never heard or read the commentaries in question -- said based on what others have told him, the institute's position is "heavily biased toward Republican views." Cresanta, told of the possibility the Democratic Party may ask the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the institute's tax-exempt status, called it an attempt to silence the group.

"This is a well-orchestrated attack by Harry Reid's office, using the party," she said.

Problems between the institute and Reid have been bubbling since December when the group's monthly newsletter, mailed out to 7,500 people, featured a cover story saying Reid's water settlement legislation in Northern Nevada hurt farmers in Churchill County.

In one radio commentary, the institute's contributing editor and research analyst, David Muska, promoted the article and said, "As for Harry, he doesn't have much to say about what he's done to Churchill County -- he's busy with other things, such as pressuring federal land bureaucrats on behalf of wealthy Las Vegas developers seeking to obtain prime real estate in Clark County." Joe McMurray, president and general manager of KNUU, said Reid's "people called and voiced their displeasure" after a commentary ran Jan. 28 criticizing Reid for using his position on the Senate Ethics Committee to allow senators to use box seats for basketball and hockey games in Washington, D.C. without violating the $50 gift limit.

The Ethics Committee ruled that box seats have no face value and are worth the cost of the club seats -- $48, which is $2 under the limit.

Muska's commentary criticized Reid, the committees' vice chairman, as conspiring with Ethics Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., to help senators get around the $50 gift limit.

Muska said the "little people ... can see through his shaky justification of yet another perk for himself and the national ruling class." Reid argued the Ethics Committee decision was unanimous.

"I didn't do it, the entire committee did it," Reid said. "It's an effort to hurt me politically. The truth has no bearing."

There is still time to turn on the radio and judge for yourself. The institute buys time to air twice-daily commentaries during the commuter drive time in Las Vegas on KNUU.


After Thursday, however, they won't be broadcast.

McMurray informed the institute he will no longer run commentary attacking Reid or anyone else. "I don't run anything on this station that attacks any individual, politician or otherwise," said McMurray, who started the station in 1977.

On Tuesday the institute said because of McMurray's "sudden effort to impose censorship on our commentaries," it will no longer buy advertising time from his station.

Negotiations are under way to broadcast the commentaries on another Las Vegas station, Muska said.

In a letter written Tuesday to McMurray, Cresanta said she believes Reid has "targeted our organization for suppression." She contended Reid's campaign against her organization and its 1,100 members is "part of a statewide effort to quash anyone who attempts to offer critical review of how the senator exercises his considerable power."

Muska said that of the 235 commentaries he had written and delivered since last year, only five have been critical of Reid.

"I think he's so used to having puff coverage from the Nevada media, he's developed a thin skin," Muska said.

"He's gotten an imperial attitude about these things." Muska said he has been critical of Vice President Al Gore, the National Organization for Women, Gov. Bob Miller and Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, and even Ensign, but its only now he's been told by McMurray he's overstepped the boundaries.

McMurray said the other commentaries haven't really attacked individuals.

"Mike O'Callaghan called and said, `Why the hell are you letting these people do that?' " McMurray recalled.

O'Callaghan, a former governor and Las Vegas Sun executive, is a longtime mentor to Reid, dating back to the days when he was Reid's high school boxing coach.

McMurray insisted he didn't feel intimidated or threatened, saying Muska was "making a mountain out of a molehill." Andy Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project based in Washington, D.C., said while the think tank has a First Amendment right, the broadcasters are responsible for the editorial judgment. Although a candidate's paid political advertising cannot be censored, a commentary may, he said.

Better than other Americans, Nevadans know that the Harry Reid of 2007 is remarkably like the Harry Reid of 1997, just more petty, spiteful and vindictive, even against schoolchildren and the blind.

That's why his many sleazy maneuvers have come to be called "Harry's Flaps", some of which are documented here.

For Harry, censorship doesn't apply to his own foolish radio commentary, however, especially when it blames the GOP for his lack of leadership.


In the end, this controversy isn't about anything that may have been said by Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh or anyone else on the radio. It's about Harry Reid's lifelong crusade against critics who dare to question his selfish escapades, now joined by fellow- traveller Tom Harkin.

While he claims to value the American ideal of free speech, the truth is that he's much more at home with the likes of Putin, Ahmedinejad, Chavez and Mugabe. The Silver State has many reasons of which to be proud, but Harry Reid certainly doesn't provide one of them.


RUSH CHALLENGES REID to be a man:





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