NOT Capitalism (Money Laundering)

Now Reid is pushing for a Chinese company he played a key role in recruiting to Nevada, ENN Mojave Energy LLC. The company plans a billion-dollar solar energy manufacturing and generating plant near Laughlin, but an ambitious development schedule is being threatened by a lack of green power customers.

NV Energy has already met its quota, and the PUC has already turned the company down when it proposed contracts that would have exceeded quotas. And when the company does buy power - which it plans to do next in 2014 - it does so by analyzing competitive bids.

Reid says those weak excuses. He said in that April interview that if "NV Energy wanted to do more with renewable energy, they could."

There's another factor, however, one more personal to Reid: His son, Rory Reid, is one of the attorneys for the ENN Mojave Energy project. A Reid spokeswoman said the senator did not suggest Reid's firm - Lionel, Sawyer & Collins - to ENN, nor has the elder Reid spoken to this son about the deal. (Reid imposed a strict ban on family members lobbying his office in 2003 after the Los Angeles Times asked him about lobbying by three of his four sons.)

An Iowa Democratic House member has raked in more than $50,000 since 2002 for hosting a cell phone tower on his property, while sponsoring a number of bills designed to boost rural telecommunications.

Rep. Leonard Boswell (D., Iowa) rents out a small portion of his farmland to Chat Mobility, a telecommunications company that provides cellular coverage to rural communities in southwest Iowa. Since 2002, he has made about $5,000 per year renting out the space for a cell phone tower operated by Chat Mobility, formerly known as Lyrix Wireless, according to his financial disclosure filings.