"A prominent U.S. senator on an ethics charge and no other reporter in New Mexico gets it"
There is a major ethics scandal surrounding New Mexico's senior Senator, Pete Domenici. Last March, CREW filed an ethics complaint against Senator Domenici for violating Senate Rules by contacting the U.S. Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, and pressuring him about an ongoing corruption probe. According to The Hill, Domenici is currently being investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee. That's big news, we think. But, according to KSFR's Bill Dupuy, you wouldn't know about the story from the New Mexico media:
They missed the story the first time when the senator first asked the Federal Election Commission to dig into his campaign warchest for funds to pay his own legal expenses in connection with the ethics committee probe and for his the defense of members of his staff. It's not unusual for a member of congress to be granted the use of such funds for his/her legal expenses. But it's unheard of to pay for the defense of staff.
The information was out there, and KSFR did an extensive interview with Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington. That was in early January.
The in late January came word that the Federal Election Commission could not deliver a formal opinion because it lacks enough members for a quorum. KSFR reported that one, too, from readily available information.
A prominent U.S. senator on an ethics charge and no other reporter in New Mexico gets it.
The blogs were all over it
The local progressive blogs were all over the story. But I don't remember seeing anything about it in any daily newspaper in New Mexico, and I read a lot of them.
Pajama Pete may be doddering towards advanced senility
but he's still feared. As only the long-time, terminally corrupt, vicious, back-stabbing Pol in a small state can be.
It should come as no surprise that the state's media shy away. They're virtually all aligned with the old, gringo/GOP oligarchy.
The AM daily in Abq--the Journal--is now and always has been in his pocket. The PM daily--the Trib--is a chain paper (Scripps) that's on the market and can't afford to piss off New Mexico's high rollers, virtually all of whom (among the nouveau bourgeoisie, anyway) are creatures of the Nuke/Lab or land development/growth industries whose particular darling Pajama Pete reliably was.
All possible efforts here are being bent to have 'the Godfather's' retirement be as much of a canonizaion as possible. The bathos is palpable.
I agree with the Journal... but the Trib
Normally, the Trib would have been all over that story. They have had excellent reporting and reporters for years, whether covering Santa Fe or Washington, DC. But they just have too few reporters now.
As you said, the paper is up for sale, and many of the reporters have left for other papers. If you've picked up the Trib lately, it's maybe 20 pages total. Many stories are just AP wire stories.
A year ago, the Trib would have had an article on this story. A couple months ago, in the midst of uncertainty and not enough reporters to go around? I'm not sure we can completely blame the Trib. But the Santa Fe New Mexican... we can blame them and the ABQ Journal.
jason leopold at truthout has been all over this/why does CREW
Ignore his reporting? Particularly when Leopold has been speaking to David Iglesias and all of the people involved.
In fact, leopold wrote a story two weeks before The Hills story called Attorney Gate Probe Continues at Justice, but CREW ignores that and picks up MSM stuff.
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Domenici? Look no further than the laws he has passed
Domenici placed "carveouts" into various bankruptcy bills that protect his family's holdings in shopping centers in New Mexico. I learned about this my second year of law school - 20 years ago. Nobody cares if you create a little exclusion from bankruptcy protection for the tenants of Domenici's family business holdings.
This is certainly an "open secret" known to all commercial bankruptcy council in Albuquerque. But, you don't mess with Pete - or you get fired, or worse.
Just remember Pat Roberts of Kansas is on the Senate Ethics Committee. He won't let anything bad happen to his buddy.