Renzi needs Teflon coat

By Jon Hutchinson, Camp Verde Bugle (AZ)

October 28, 2006

The League of Women Voters will hold another traditional candidate forum for the Congressional District 1 race Saturday in Flagstaff. Once again, it is questionable whether the incumbent will be on hand to tout his record.

It might be a good time for Rick Renzi to dispel the rampant rumors and allegations that he attempted to use his Congressional power to benefit friends and family.

The League says Renzi "has not yet accepted, rejected, nor offered to send a representative to speak for him. The location is Federated Community Church, 411 W. Aspen, downtown Flagstaff northwest of City Hall at 9:30 a.m."

Democrat Ellen Simon and Libertarian David Schlosser have already confirmed their participation, according to the League. They were also the lone participants in an earlier Cottonwood League forum.

The New Times in early October reported that Renzi was involved in a questionable proposed land deal in Cochise County to benefit a former business partner through a federal land swap. It quoted Renzi as saying he pulled the plug on his support after a lobbyist pointed out the potential for a conflict of interest.

The Congressman had earlier been accused of supporting legislation to benefit his father's business, ManTech.

Word of a new federal investigation into Renzi first surfaced in a Web log (blog) dubbed the Lofty Donkey and was also carried by the TPMMuckraker, another blog. But, the momentum built quickly and word of the allegations were carried by the New York Times and Washington Post Tuesday and through the Associated Press nationwide.

The congressman has denied the press claims and, further, blames the Ellen Simon campaign for seeding the complaint.

"I think that my opponent has deliberately misused the protocols of the Justice Department 11 days out from the campaign to smear me, and smear my father, and my family," Renzi told the Arizona Republic.

Simon's spokesman said that is "patently false." Simon is reported to have said she read about the investigation in the press as well.

Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods, now is private practice, was hired by Renzi Tuesday and has become his mouthpiece on the issues. Woods claims that it is typical form in a heated election year for last-minute complaints to be issued about candidates to taint them in the final hours before an election. Woods maintains there are no subpoenas or paper trail to indicate an investigation is under way.

An anonymous investigative source of the Washington Post claimed the investigation has been under way for a while but is still in its early stages.

A Justice Department official also has advised some press sources that "chunks" of their reporting is inaccurate.

Renzi has faced FEC audits, taken contributions from former Congressman Ney, who pleaded guilty to in the Jack Abramoff scandal and from Tom Delay.

He has also been named among 'The 20 most corrupt members of Congress' by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a report that Simon cites frequently.

The GOP has now fired back at Simon in a House Ethics complaint that the Democrat has not reported off-shore assets, allegations linked to the former wife of Simon's husband Blaine Tanner, and who earlier alleged that Tanner was a deadbeat dad to their three adult children.

In the latest CD1 poll, Rick Renzi remains at the head of the pack in the latest poll by NAU's Social Research Laboratory. He has retained a 13-point lead over Simon, the same margin recorded one month ago. The sample of nearly 500 likely voters was taken in the days before the new press barrage of allegations against Renzi. Director Fred Solop does not consider the district "safe" despite Renzi's strong lead and expects the race to "tighten" before Election Day.

Libertarian Schlosser notes that, "perhaps he will reconsider his contemptuous refusal to debate now that the Department of Justice is asking the same kind of questions as his constituents."