Dueling claims of political credit for Pahrump veterans clinic

By Scott Lucas

Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015 | 1:36 p.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic minority leader, says he deserves credit for kick-starting a long-delayed veterans clinic in Pahrump.

Not so fast, says Republican Rep. Cresent Hardy.

The lawmakers sent out dueling press releases this morning, each casting narratives that portrayed themselves as delivering for constituents.

Here’s what both agree on: Long-delayed construction of the $12 million facility forced some local veterans to travel to Las Vegas for care. The project has been in the works for at least three years.

Here’s where the narratives fork along partisan lines.

According to Reid’s office, the senator and his staff have “spoken with VA officials frequently about the project’s status, including a meeting in June 2014 in Senator Reid’s office with VA officials.”

But a Hardy press release says “Hardy’s predecessor, as well as Senator Harry Reid, had each promised progress on the clinic in years past, but ultimately could not cut through the red tape, and the project continued to languish.”

Credit goes to the “unabated engagement and pressure from Congressman Hardy and his staff for the last seven months.”

VA Secretary Robert McDonald, played it safe.

In Las Vegas on Tuesday to tour a SolarCity facility in North Las Vegas and speak at a convention of Purple Heart recipients, McDonald made no public statements about the clinic, which he approved last year.

Update: Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Reid's office released a set of documents including communication between Reid — as well as Rep. Steven Horsford, whom Hardy defeated in the 2014 election — and senior officials at the Veterans Administration that indicated Reid's concerns over delays dating back to 2012.

A spokesperson for his office said, "Lots of people have worked on a getting Pahrump a new VA clinic, well before Nevada’s fourth congressional district existed. In recent years, there have been a series of back-and-forths between Senator Reid, his office, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2013 at the request of Pahrump veterans, Senator Reid wrote a letter to then-VA Secretary Shinseki asking him to outline the process and timeline for a new clinic site. He then later requested and had a meeting with VA officials in DC regarding the clinic’s delay. In August of 2014, Secretary McDonald signed off on relevant paperwork and today they signed the long-awaited contract. There is no question this has been far too long of a process – that’s why we continued to pressure the VA - but it should be noted that this isn’t something that was magically solved in the last few months."