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Senate Majority Leader scheduled to appear with accused brothel manager

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, is scheduled to appear today as the keynote speaker at a fundraiser with a former brothel executive and alleged fugitive, according to an invitation posted on the website of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com) has found.

Kristian Forland resigned late last week as a Nevada coordinator for the Presidential campaign of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson after media reports surfaced that Forland was wanted on a felony arrest warrant in California. The warrant was issued after Forland failed to appear in Los Angeles County Court, charged with four counts of writing bad checks.

“Forland also was arrested twice, once last year and again last month, in his home of Elko, Nev., on a similar bad check charge out of Las Vegas,” the Associated Press reported August 16, 2007.

Read on . . .

According to that same article, “Forland also was investigated by Elko police after women working at Mona's Ranch, a legal brothel, complained he was shorting them on their pay. An investigator described Forland as ‘at best a manager of the property,’ according to a June 2006 police report obtained by the AP.”

The invitation posted by the DNC lists Reid as keynote speaker for the Elko County Democratic Party on Monday, August 20. A VIP reception begins at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Cost for the reception ranges from $250 per person for the dinner, with a table of eight and admission to the VIP reception going for $2400.

“For more information or to purchase tickets,” the invitation reads, “please contact Kristian Forland: kforland@elkocountydemocrats.org.” Forland, who “was listed as the resident agent and officer for Mona's Ranch LLC from September 2004 to October 2006, according to the Nevada secretary of state's office,” is on a leave of absence as vice chairman of the Elko County Democratic Party.

The Elko County Democratic Party website does not report the event has been cancelled despite the controversy swirling around Forland, and Reid is still listed as the dinner’s keynote speaker.

Forland is not the first FOH – Friend of Harry – to find himself on the wrong side of the law.

Two of Reid’s handpicked candidates were charged in a sweeping federal indictment that they “took tens of thousands of dollars to do the bidding of strip club magnate Michael Galardi,” in a high profile public corruption case in Reid’s home state.

Erin Kenny, who was recruited by Reid to run for Lieutenant Governor in 2002, was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and fraud for taking bribes from the strip club owner while a member of the Clark County Commission.

Another Clark County Commissioner, Dario Herrera, was recruited by Reid two years earlier to oppose U.S. Representative Jon Porter, R-NV. Facing a possible sentence of more than 300 years in prison on numerous counts of fraud and extortion, Herrera was convicted on 17 of 19 charges by a federal jury and sentenced to 51 months in prison.

Despite Herrera’s legal troubles, “an aide to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid escorted former Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera out a secured private courthouse exit Friday, shortly after Herrera was convicted of several counts of political corruption,” the Las Vegas Review reported.

Reid is reportedly now working to recruit boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya to run against Porter in 2008. Like many of Reid’s other associates, the former light middleweight champion has faced his share of legal troubles.

De la Hoya was sued by his former fiancé for palimony, a case in which the woman accused him of violating a restraining order. She and De la Hoya had a daughter prior to their split.

He was also accused of raping a 15 year old girl in a Cabo San Lucas hotel room in 1996. De La Hoya denied the rape charge, but settled with the woman out-of-court.

For this story and more, visit the Majority Accountability Project at www.majorityap.com