Questions persist in Whittemore case  Among many things that
make no sense to me: Why was lobbyist Harvey Whittemore charged
criminally instead of civilly?  I’m not challenging the jury’s
verdict that Whittemore did what the government said he did. He
funneled more than $133,000 to family, friends and their spouses
with the understanding they would use it to fatten U.S. Sen.
Harry Reid’s war chest in 2007. There’s no mystery there. The
paper trail alone damned him.  Whittemore couldn’t claim
ignorance of the law. First, he’s a lawyer. Second, he knows
state and federal campaign laws quite well because he has been a
campaign donor for decades.  But why was Whittemore indicted,
when other Las Vegans were fined by the Federal Election
Commission?  Developer Jim Rhodes was fined $159,000 in 2006 in
a case handled by the FEC. He had given money to 14 of his
employees to contribute to congressional candidate Dario Herrera
($27,000) and Reid ($10,000).  In 1998, Ray Norvell, a liquor
distributor, was charged crimina