Senator Harry Reid announced yesterday that he thinks Nevada should outlaw prostitution. It didn't go over well.
Although Reid has yet to introduce any bills regarding the matter, he was able back up his opinion with quotes from potential business owners who are wary about setting up shop in a state in which the oldest profession is legal. The Senator also invoked concerned families and the state's reputation as a reasons to do away with the popular trade:
“I’ve talked to families who feel the same way — parents who don’t want their children to look out of a school bus and see a brothel, or to live in a state with the wrong kind of red lights… we should do everything we can to make sure the world holds Nevada in the same high regard you and I do."
Regardless of the fairness of these points, across the board, no one thought Sen. Reid's comments were necessary ones. His colleague Senator Sheila Leslie, a Democrat, feels the state should be focusing on budgeting, not brothels. Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, thinks the issue of legal prostitution should be left up to each individual county to decide. Unsurprisingly, the most direct comments on the subject were from Moonlite Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof:
“Harry Reid will have to pry the cathouse keys from my cold, dead hands.”
Well. When you put it like that. Free lap dances for all!