Pete Domenici And Me

By Kenneth Winfrey, in politics·viewpoints
Friday, October 5 2007, 6:13PM

Kenneth Winfrey Reports

When I learned that Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) is retiring after 36 years, I must admit that I experienced a moment of euphoria. He cites health issues as his reason for not seeking re-election. He is reported to have a degenerative brain disease and will not seek a seventh term next year. Domenici, 75, said he has frontotemporal lobar degeneration, or FTLD, and tests showed the disease progressing.

I don't mean to sound insensitive to this man's medical condition, but learning that any part of this generation of the Republican Party is retiring, resigning in shame (i.e., as Larry Craig should) or in any other way exiting the halls of power in our nation’s capital is good news to me. After a failed war (for which Domenici voted), a string of notorious U.S. Attorney firings (with which Domenici was heavily involved), and a series of right-leaning votes that undercut the progress of minorities and the LGBT community, I’m glad to see him go.

He claims that he will continue to work through the remainder of his term--another 15 months--with a degenerative brain illness. I'm sorry, but that seems unwise to me. Symptoms of the disease include mood and personality changes, and lack of inhibition.

Claiming he's had the disease for two years, I wonder if that was what was happening when Domenici reportedly called and pressured the then United States Attorney of New Mexico David Iglesias to speed up indictments in a federal corruption investigation that involved at least one former Democratic state senator--prior to the 2006 midterm election. When Iglesias said an indictment wouldn't be handed down until at least that December, Domenici said "I'm very sorry to hear that" — and the line went dead. Iglesias was fired a little over one month later by the Bush Administration.

Reluctantly, Domenici later admitted calling Iglesias, though he claimed he never made a reference to timing when he called Iglesias about the ongoing Albuquerque courthouse corruption case. He had to know that a communication by a senator with a federal prosecutor regarding an ongoing criminal investigation is a violation of ethics rules, or was it his illness?

According to the Washington Post, on the day of the firing (Dec 7, 2006) William Kelley, a deputy to then White House Counsel Harriet Miers, said in an email that Domenici's chief of staff was "happy as a clam" about the Iglesias firing. A week later, a Justice Department email to the White House counsel stated "Domenici is going to send over names tomorrow (not even waiting for Iglesias's body to cool)."

Clearly, Senator Domenici had enjoyed nearly 4 decades of wide-spread support here in the Land of Enchantment, and New Mexicans never throw out an incumbent. But all things must come to an end. Once he became entangledin this scandal at the beginning of the year, he saw his approval rating fall from 64 percent to 52 percent in period between February and May.

Domenici’s Harrowing Voting Record

As a member of the gay/SGL community, I was concerned about Domenici’s record on human rights long before he even had this disease that can affect judgment. He is rated 100% by the Christian Coalition. I could stop there, but I won’t. He voted YES on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage, voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation (the Matthew Shepard Act) and voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation.

He also supported prohibiting same-sex marriage and in support of 1996 The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibited marriage between members of the same sex in federal law, and provide that no state is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. This is also the law that defines "marriage" as "between one man and one woman."

As an ethnic minority, Domenici’s record on affirmative action has also been troublesome. He voted YES on legislation that would have ended special funding for minority and women-owned business. His vote would have abolished a program that helps businesses owned by women or minorities compete for federally funded contracts. Fortunately with only 48 to 52 votes to do so, that motion was rejected. He also voted in favor of the infamous Mandatory Three Strikes sentencing laws and increasing penalties for drug offenses that are credited with over-crowded prisons and putting so many young minorities behind bars for long sentences.

Domenici has also followed his party’s post 9-11 fear-driven 180-degree turn on curtailing civil liberties. He voted YES on extending the PATRIOT Act's wiretap provision, YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act, NO on preserving habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees, and NO on requiring CIA reports on detainees & interrogation methods—and consistently votes to expand the armed forces.

He also voted YES on an amendment to prohibit flag burning and proposed the amendment to the Constitution of the United States authorizing the Congress to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.

His record on health care, social security, and education is heartbreaking as well. He voted NO on including prescription drugs under Medicare, voted NO on negotiating bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drugs, and voted YES on limiting medical liability lawsuits to $250,000. He voted to privatize social security and his votes that support school vouchers while cutting funding for education are clearly an assault on public schools.

He also consistently votes pro-life, producing methods that make HIV prevention and sexual education more difficult. He voted NO on $100 million to reduce teen pregnancy through education and contraceptives, voted YES on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortion, and voted NO on expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines.

Again, I guess some of his behavior can be explained by his brain disorder. Having dealt with serious health issues of my own, I feel for him and his family, but I am not letting him off that easy. And I find it odd that he is choosing to remain in a position of such awesome responsibility knowing that he has a disease that can affect his ability to make sound decisions, whether I agree with them or not.

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