Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is standing by the Democratic nominee for Senate in his home state, Nevada Rep. Shelley Berkley, as the House Ethics Committee moves forward with an investigation against her.
The committee is probing whether Berkley acted improperly in her advocacy advocacy on behalf of a kidney transplant program at University Medical Center in Las Vegas that benefited her husband’s medical practice, and in efforts to prevent proposed cuts in the Medicare reimbursement rates for dialysis.
“I frankly think it’s good that this is all coming out in the open. This complaint was filed by the Republicans, so fine, let’s go and follow it through,” Reid said Thursday on an Obama campaign conference call to Nevada’s role in the presidential election.
Reid noted that his own office, and all others in the Nevada delegation, participated in the same efforts as Berkley to keep the hospital’s kidney program open.
“So I think this is going to be fine for Shelley. She’s a terrific candidate who fights for Nevadans, and certainly she should fight for these people who are in danger of dying.”
Some reporters asked whether Berkley had sufficiently disclosed a potential interest in the issue.
“I think you will find she didn’t violate any rules whatsoever,” said Reid. “You can look into this more — I’m sure they will — but I don’t think there’s a problem with that.”
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