Tomorrow, New Mexico Republicans will choose their nominee in the Senate race to replace retiring Pete Domenici:

Just two days before the primary in New Mexico, Rep. Steve Pearce is leading Rep. Heather A. Wilson in the battle for the Republican nomination to replace Republican Sen. Pete V. Domenici .

An Albuquerque Journal poll released Sunday showed Pearce with 45 percent support and Wilson with 39 percent. Sixteen percent of respondents were undecided and the margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Domenici on Friday finally emerged from the background and threw his support behind Wilson, his longtime protegee, but analysts wonder if it came too late to give her much bounce.

We want to point out that all three of these New Mexico politicos, Domenici, Pearce and Wilson, made CREW's list of most corrupt members of Congress in our report, Beyond DeLay.

On Saturday, a Washington Post editorial excoriated Senator Pete Domenici's lack of remorse for the unethical behavior of interfering with a U.S. Attorney. The subhead of the Post's editorial read, " The senator dodges accountability for his unethical behavior."  He did. 

CREW thinks the Senate Ethics Committee is also at fault.  As Melanie Sloan said Friday, "The committee’s effort to minimize its reprimand of Senator Domenici itself reflects poorly on the Senate."

Here's a couple of key passages from the Post's editorial: 

WHEN YOU'RE caught doing or saying something inappropriate, you can acknowledge your error and apologize. Or you can issue the modified limited hangout apology, saying that you are sorry if anyone was offended, if your actions caused pain, etc. Unfortunately, Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) chose the latter route in response to the determination by his peers -- the Senate ethics committee -- that some of his actions "created an appearance of impropriety that reflected unfavorably on the Senate."

.....

Although the panel said it appreciated the senator's "candor" in saying last year that he regretted making the call, Mr. Domenici's statement Thursday was devoid of any acknowledgment that he had overstepped. Indeed, it seemed to go out of its way to explain the limited nature of his previous apology. "I regret the distraction this controversy has caused my colleagues, my staff, my family and, most importantly, my constituents," the statement said. Mr. Domenici suffers from health problems and is retiring at the end of this Congress after a distinguished Senate career. It's too bad he will depart on this unbecoming note.

As we reported last night, the Senate Ethics Committee gave Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) a "qualified admonition" for his role in trying to influence a U.S. Attorney about a pending case.  Domenici improperly contacted New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias about a pending public corruption investigation. Despite Sen. Domenici’s telephone call to Mr. Iglesias and Mr. Iglesias’s statements that he felt pressured by Sen. Domenici’s actions, the ethics committee nevertheless found “no substantial evidence” that Sen. Domenici attempted to improperly influence the investigation.

We'll have more on this tomorrow, but wanted to get the story up tonight:

The Senate Ethics Committee has issued a "qualified admonition" of GOP Sen. Pete Domenici (N.M.) for a phone call he made to David Iglesias, former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, in a corruption case involving local Democrats shortly prior to the 2006 elections.

The ethics panel announced one year ago that it was taking up the case, but there was no indication until now that it had reached a decision. A "qualified admonition" has little practical impact, and it means that the panel, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), felt it did not have enough evidence to take stronger action, although it was unwilling to let Domenici completely off the hook.

Domenici has admitted that he tried on several occassions to get Iglesias fired but the New Mexico Repubolican denied any link between his phone call to Iglesias and the later decision by the Justice Department to oust Iglesias. Domenici later apologized for making the call. Iglesias was not placed on a list of federal prosecutors who were fired by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in late 2006 until after Domenici's complaint to the White House.

"The Committee finds no substantial evidence to determine that you attempted to improperly influence an ongoing investigation," the ethics committee said in a formal letter to Domenici. "The Committee does find that you should have known that a federal prosecutor receiving such a telephone call, coupled with an approaching election which may have turned on or been influence by the prosecutor's action in the corruption matter, created an appearance of impropriety that reflected unfavorably on the Senate."

As noted below, the New Mexico media may be overlooking the Senate Ethics Committee investigation of Pete Domenici, but the Washington Post made note of that investigation again today:

While Capitol Briefing has been down here covering the House Democrats' annual retreat, the Senate Ethics Committee up at the Capitol has been putting in quite a bit of work, at least according to a new report.

As part of last year's ethics and lobbying reforms, the Ethics panel now has to produce a yearly report documenting how much work it's doing. The first report, covering 2007, was released today, and it shows that the committee conducted 16 preliminary inquiries over the course of the year.

Nine of those inquiries were carried over from 2006, and -- intriguingly -- five of them have continued into 2008.

Though the panel's work is generally secret, we know that the committee has been probing Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), for his role in the U.S. Attorneys firing controversy, and Larry Craig (R-Idaho) for the now infamous Minneapolis airport bathroom incident.

Remember, the Senate ethics panel, unlike the House, accepts complaints from outside groups, so a good number of those inquiries could be the result of such complaints.

The House needs to change its rules to allow complaints from outside groups. 

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.

Last year, we learned that Senator Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson applied pressure on U.S. Attorney David Iglesias over a pending case. CREW filed ethics complaints against Senator Domenici and Rep. Wilson. A report in today's edition of The Hill about the larger investigations into the firings of the U.S. Attorneys indicates that those investigations may well be underway:

Public records show that the Senate Ethics Committee spent nearly $5,000 to send three staff members to Albuquerque in March and July last year.

According to one source, investigators met last September with Iglesias’s wife, Cindy, who was in the room when Domenici placed the telephone call asking about the status of the investigation. Both Domenici and Wilson have admitted placing phone calls, but deny trying to influence Iglesias or put any political pressure on his investigation.

Last month, the Senate panel’s investigators returned to Albuquerque to interview Iglesias’s former staff members, the source said. With Domenici retiring this Congress, it is unclear whether the panel will take steps against him. These could include public hearings, an admonishment or, in the extreme, expulsion from the Senate. Wilson is seeking to replace Domenici in the Senate.

The investigation remains “open,” according to Natalie Ravitz, spokeswoman for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the ethics committee.

The status of the House ethics committee review is unclear, but the panel has been active. Iglesias met with the panel last year to discuss his firing and his allegation that Wilson put pressure on him to file charges before the election.

Following the Senate ethics committee visit to Albuquerque last month, Justice Department investigators interviewed Iglesias’s former staff, according to a well-placed source.

Today, CREW sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) asking that the agency not permit Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) to use his campaign funds to pay for some of his staff’s legal fees incurred as a result of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation.  The letter can be found here.

The Ethics Committee’s inquiry was initiated after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed an ethics complaint. CREW’s complaint, filed on March 5, 2007, asked that the Ethics Committee investigate whether Domenici violated Senate Rules by contacting the U.S. Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, to pressure him about an ongoing corruption probe. 

Earlier this week, we learned that Domenici filed the FEC advisory opinion request on November 15, 2007. The FEC has never previously ruled that campaign funds can be used to pay for the legal expenses of congressional staff.

Melanie Sloan explained CREW's position:

We hope the FEC will not allow campaign funds to be used for new, additional purposes. Those who contribute to campaigns never envision that their donations will be spent for the lawyers of congressional staff. There is no nexus between staff legal fees and congressional campaigns. We hope the FEC doesn’t create one.

Yesterday at the Crypt, the Politico's blog about Capitol Hill, John Bresnahan reported on the development that Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) has asked the FEC to approve the use of his campaign's funds to pay the legal fees emanating from the ethics complaint CREW filed against him. 

Although initially Domenici's office did not respond, a statement was issued asserting that Domenici fully expects approval of the campaign expense:

"Senator Domenici's campaign committee, like the committees of many other Members of Congress, has sought guidance from the FEC as to whether he may use campaign funds to satisfy the fees and expenses of the attorneys who are representing him in connection with the preliminary inquiry that the Senate Ethics Committee commenced in March.

“The Senator has also asked for guidance regarding whether he can use those campaign funds to pay the legal fees of staff who have been unfortunately drawn into this inquiry. The FEC and the Senate Ethics Committee have previously authorized Members of Congress to pay legal fees in this manner, and we expect the Senator's campaign committee to receive approval to do so in this instance. As he has stated in the past, out of respect for his colleagues on the Senate Ethics Committee, Senator Domenici will not comment on the Committee’s inquiry until it is officially closed.”

This is rich.

Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) advisory opinion request on November 15, 2007 asking for permission to use campaign funds to pay both his and his staff’s legal fees resulting from a Senate Ethics Committee investigation initiated as a result of a Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) complaint. CREW’s complaint, filed on March 5, 2007, asked that the Ethics Committee investigate whether Domenici violated Senate Rules by contacting the U.S. Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, and pressuring him about an ongoing corruption probe.

Upon learning of this developemnt, CREW's Melanie Sloan had this to say:

Yet another member of Congress is asking that funds contributed by his supporters for the purposes of paying for electoral expenses be used to defray legal expenses stemming from unethical or illegal activities. The FEC should change its rules to put an end to this practice that makes campaign donors unwitting contributors to legal defense funds.