Brock Landers
02-28-2011, 10:53 AM
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CARSON CITY, Nev. — Brooke Taylor voted for Harry Reid in his battle for re-election to the Senate last fall. But now she is incensed. Mr. Reid recently visited here and took a firm, if unexpected, stand: he called for an end to legal brothels.
For five years Ms. Taylor has worked at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, the Nevada brothel featured on the HBO show “Cathouse,” a few miles outside Carson City, the state capital. She has fashioned herself as the public face for legal prostitution throughout the state, a role she has embraced in adult magazines, on cable television and even on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Now Mr. Reid’s comments are reopening the oldest debate about the oldest profession. And Ms. Taylor is rallying her army of fans and clients to fight back.
Prostitution never emerged as an issue during the Reid campaign. But then Mr. Reid, a Democrat and the Senate majority leader, returned to his home state last week for his address to the Legislature.
“When the nation thinks about Nevada, it should think about the world’s newest ideas and newest careers, not about its oldest profession,” Mr. Reid said. “If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come to outlaw prostitution.”
Consumed by the need to close a $1.5 billion budget gap, Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, and the leaders in the Democratic-controlled Legislature issued terse statements suggesting that they would leave the issues of brothels up to local leaders.
But that is hardly stopping the chatter.
It is unclear what motivated Mr. Reid at this moment. When a reporter asked him why now, he answered, “If not now, when?”
But some are arguing that now is precisely the time to embrace legal prostitution even more tightly. As the state has faced austere budgets, the brothels have indicated a willingness to pay more taxes, which would produce more revenue and simultaneously give the brothels more legitimacy if the state came to rely on the money.
...View Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/us/politics/28brothels.html)
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Brooke Taylor voted for Harry Reid in his battle for re-election to the Senate last fall. But now she is incensed. Mr. Reid recently visited here and took a firm, if unexpected, stand: he called for an end to legal brothels.
For five years Ms. Taylor has worked at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, the Nevada brothel featured on the HBO show “Cathouse,” a few miles outside Carson City, the state capital. She has fashioned herself as the public face for legal prostitution throughout the state, a role she has embraced in adult magazines, on cable television and even on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Now Mr. Reid’s comments are reopening the oldest debate about the oldest profession. And Ms. Taylor is rallying her army of fans and clients to fight back.
Prostitution never emerged as an issue during the Reid campaign. But then Mr. Reid, a Democrat and the Senate majority leader, returned to his home state last week for his address to the Legislature.
“When the nation thinks about Nevada, it should think about the world’s newest ideas and newest careers, not about its oldest profession,” Mr. Reid said. “If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come to outlaw prostitution.”
Consumed by the need to close a $1.5 billion budget gap, Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, and the leaders in the Democratic-controlled Legislature issued terse statements suggesting that they would leave the issues of brothels up to local leaders.
But that is hardly stopping the chatter.
It is unclear what motivated Mr. Reid at this moment. When a reporter asked him why now, he answered, “If not now, when?”
But some are arguing that now is precisely the time to embrace legal prostitution even more tightly. As the state has faced austere budgets, the brothels have indicated a willingness to pay more taxes, which would produce more revenue and simultaneously give the brothels more legitimacy if the state came to rely on the money.
...View Article (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/us/politics/28brothels.html)