Set to Ignore

There are so many places to start, but this will do nicely, from Beyond Delay:

"In 2003, Rep. Renzi sponsored legislation that dealt hundreds of millions of dollars to his father’s business while, according to environmentalists, devastating the San Pedro River. A key beneficiary of Rep. Renzi’s legislation was ManTech International Corp., a Fairfax, Virginia based defense contractor where Rep. Renzi’s father, Retired Major General Eugene Renzi, is an executive vice president. The company, which has an office in Sierra Vista, Arizona, was the largest contributor to Renzi’s 2002 congressional campaign and the second largest in his 2004 campaign.

If Rep. Renzi accepted campaign contributions from ManTech in exchange for pushing through legislation benefitting the company, he would be in violation of federal bribery laws."

When Ellen Simon brought up such ethical issues in her 2006 campaign against Renzi, he responded with literal finger-pointing and threats to "take the gloves off."

There were indictments from a grand jury ready to go but these were held off until after the election. And now we hear that Paul Charlton, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona who oversaw the investigations into these issues; well, he was asked to resign. Along with many others like him who were investigating corruption among Republican congresspeople.

It was also reported that the FBI had interviewed and presumably wiretapped Renzi.

But all this is of little; or rather no recent interest to the biggest newspaper in Arizona.

I read and re-read this looking for any mention that Paul Charlton was fired most likely to end his embarrassing inquiries into Renzi's alleged misdeeds. No, not that.

Per Senator Kyl:

""My understanding is that Paul Charlton's departure resulted from disagreements with the Department of Justice about some office policies," Kyl added."

Well, that answers everything, not.

Nothing to see here folks. Move along now. Look over there! A dead bunny.

They go on and on about the death penalty, as if that really mattered. It's a red herring. To its credit, the article does mention the rather heinous little loophole in Homeland Security legislation that allows the administration to bypass Senate confirmation for U.S. attorneys by simply firing the ones at odds with the President and his cronies and appointing replacements for undetermined interim periods. Like forever.

I e-mailed the reporter, Dennis Wagner, wondering why he ignored the elephant in the room.