Harry Reid Wants To Terminate Legal Prostitution In Nevada

It's no surprise, really, that Harry Reid wants to end prostitution. According to all biographical evidence (such as this profile in the New Yorker), Harry Reid has personal reasons to hate brothels; plus, he's a Mormon too, and there is no love lost there.

Nevertheless, the brothels of Nevada are endangered on many fronts, and always have been. Whenever communities in Nevada grow to a certain size, the 'good people' band together and force the 'bad people' out. Prostitution is already illegal in Washoe (Reno) and Clark (Las Vegas) Counties. As Nevada towns grow, the ban will likely extend to more and more counties.

Nevertheless, most of these counties are amazingly devoid of people. Most counties are utterly-dependent on brothels to fund basic services like police, fire, and schools. As long as they have no choice in the matter, prostitution is likely to stay legal.

But Harry Reid knows all this already, and has known it all his life. Which is interesting why he brings the subject up right now at all. He is stepping into the role of an elder statesman:

Reid told the assembled lawmakers that he met recently with a group of business leaders who run data centers for technology companies. They visited Storey County in search of a new location for their businesses but “one of the businessmen in that meeting told me he simply couldn’t believe that one of the biggest businesses in the county he was considering for his new home has legal prostitution.”

..."We should do everything we can to make sure the world holds Nevada in the same high regard you and I do," Reid continued. "If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come for us to outlaw prostitution."

...Reaction to Reid's remarks was mixed, with most elected officials saying any decision on whether to ban it is best left to the rural counties.

...Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, said "let the counties decide" whether they want prostitution. "Some counties have put it on the ballot," he said.

His district includes some of the rural Nevada counties that have brothels. His home county of Churchill has approved brothels, but none have located there so far.

Reid opened his speech Tuesday talking about his time in the Nevada Assembly with future U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan. He also defended the federal stimulus and TARP as successes that prevented further damage to Nevada’s economy.