Shame on Harry Reid

We're not sure what motivated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to attack Utah and Arizona as turning "a blind eye" for decades to the "travesty" of illegal activity in polygamous compounds. What we do know is that he is wrong.

In a taped appearance on KUER radio's "RadioWest" program earlier this week, Reid sounded a lot like a student trying to bluff his way through an exam for which he hadn't studied. He may have hoped a confident voice and strong statements would be enough to convince his listeners, but anyone who has lived here awhile and followed the news would give him an F.

Utah and Arizona, he said, are full of politicians who are afraid to tackle what goes on in polygamous sects. He called himself a "cheerleader for what has gone on in Texas," and said he wants to prod the federal government to convene a task force to investigate those groups.

He was careful, of course, to avoid singling out his own state, Nevada, which also has had its problems with polygamous groups.

Beyond that, however, the fact is the FLDS Church moved its compounds to Eldorado, Texas, because Utah's leaders, especially Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, were putting heat on the group in Utah. An Associated Press account on March 13, 2005, reported that FLDS members were moving to Texas, "to avoid prosecution in Utah on allegations of forced child marriages, sexual abuse, welfare fraud and tax evasion."

FLDS leader Warren Jeffs is serving a 10-years-to-life sentence at the Utah State Prison for rape as an accomplice. He tried to avoid prosecution but was arrested in Nevada, a state, incidentally, where he had performed child-bride marriages. While he was moving his followers around the country, Utah's sheriffs set up a network with other sheriffs in Arizona, South Dakota and Texas to share notes and stay atop the situation.

In recent years, Utah also successfully prosecuted polygamist Tom Green. Shurtleff also went after Hildale police officers because they were believed to be practicing polygamy. Former Hildale police officer Rodney Holm was convicted of bigamy and unlawful sex with a minor.

To say polygamist leaders in Utah are somehow given a pass because they have, as Reid said, "developed political powers," is outrageous.

Reid and Shurtleff have agreed to put these comments aside and work together to investigate polygamous societies, but we're still baffled.

That the Senate majority leader doesn't know better about something happening in his own region is puzzling. That he would loudly spread misstatements on the radio is embarrassing.

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