Wampum

Lefty blogs abound are crowing over the news that Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi is the latest corrupt Republican to be exposed, and, even better, the case may be related to the US Attorney purge, as Arizona's USA, Paul Charlton, was one of those fired last December. The facts surrounding the Renzi situation are somewhat complicated, but here's the gist: Renzi's former business partner owned 400+ acres of land along the environmentally-endangered San Pedro River which Renzi suggested be part of a federal-private land swap, a swap which would allow relatively unrestricted private industry copper mining by Resolution Copper Co., a joint venture between Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, in the Apache Leap area of Arizona. Once Renzi made the suggestion, his partner was able to sell the land at a premium, to investors, which included former DoI secretary Bruce Babbitt, interested in its use in a different land swap.

Still following all this? A more in-depth discussion from last year can be found here.

Renzi was the original sponsor of the legislation on the Resolution Copper land swap, but by mid-2006, he'd developed a case of cold-feet, as the San Carlos Apache Tribe expressed concerns that the transfer of the federal land into private hands would curtail their access to ancestral sacred sites and acorn gathering areas. While industry and most state and local politicians urged the tribe to accept the purported concessions by Resolution, tribal leaders refused to move on the subject until after tribal elections in November. Industry became more anxious that the deal was falling through, and the US Chamber of Commerce penned this attack on Renzi in August, 2006, stating in part:

Renzi needs to take the lead again and get the issue moving. Apache concerns should be addressed to get the bill rolling in the House, and Renzi's meeting today with Rickus offers the opportunity to do that.

Renzi is the logical representative to carry the bill in the House. But if he can't bring himself to act in Arizona's best interest, he should step aside and let another House member - perhaps Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., - take the leadership role.

The choice is his.

Two months later, and just a few days before the November election, a Resolution lobbyist leaked to the media that the US Attorney's office in Arizona was investigating Renzi and the land-swap deal. Renzi was in a tough re-election fight, and even rumors of a pending indictment could clearly cost him his seat. Ironicaly, after the information on the investigation became public, momentum on the case seemed to lose steam. And then came the US Attorney firings, which included Arizona USA Paul Charlton. From the AZ Republic, I came across these interesting paragraphs:

Two weeks after Arizona U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton was ordered to give up his post, he sent an e-mail to a top Justice Department official asking how to handle questions that his ouster was connected to his investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.

Charlton, one of eight federal prosecutors forced to resign last year, never received a written response....

When the first list of U.S. attorneys targeted for ouster was drafted, Charlton's name was not on it. But his name was on a subsequent list, drafted in September. Although the Renzi inquiry was not yet public, it is likely the Justice Department was aware of the investigation, said a former U.S. attorney who is familiar with the protocol when a sitting lawmaker is involved.

The Wall Street Journal updated the story recently, and even today, added more info, including news that the Arizona USA office had initiated the case back in June, 2005, but were delayed by inaction from the DoJ's Public Integrity section - a group on which I've written previously, as all USA corruption probes must be approved by Public Integrity in DC. Unfortunately, that office has gone through a few chaotic years, with five new directors since 2002.

I'm still getting caught up to speed on the whole issue, but I'm not particularly sure what to make out of the theory that the Bush Administration had Charlton canned for pursuing an investigation of Renzi, especially during a time that Renzi was, with his threatened withdrawal of support for his own land-swap bill, in fact acting against the interests of the resource extraction industry, and hence, this Administration.

I do find it intriguing that while both John McCain and John Kyl formally suggested a Hopi woman for Charlton's replacement, the Bush Administration has rejected the suggestion, and placed the first Assistant US Attorney as acting US Attorney. At least until the Gonzales flap blows over and they can get back to stacking the US Attorney deck with partisans and ideologues.