QUOTE/EXCERPT OF THE DAY

In 1977, I was appointed chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. It was a difficult time for the gaming industry and Las Vegas, which were being overrun by organized crime. To that point in my life, I had served in the Nevada Assembly and even as lieutenant governor, but nothing prepared me for my fight with the mob.
Over the next few years, there would be threats on my life, bribes, FBI stings and even a car bomb placed in my family's station wagon. It was a terrifying experience, but at the end of the day, we cleaned up Las Vegas and ushered in a new era of responsibility.

My term on the gaming commission came to an end in 1981, and when it did, I thought I had seen such corruption for the last time. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. It is not quite the mafia of Las Vegas in the 1970s, but what is happening today in Washington is every bit as corrupt and the consequences for our country have been severe. [...]

If we could kick the mob out of Las Vegas in the 1970s, we can change the culture of Washington and give America a government as good and honest as the people it serves.

U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D - NV)
From an op-ed piece appearing in Thursday's Houston Chronicle

Thanks to the Democratic National Committee blog site for the heads-up. I, too, thought it most interesting that this piece ran in the hometown newspaper of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R - TX), facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy.