Pete Domenici

Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici ( ; May 7, 1932 – September 13, 2017) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from New Mexico from 1973 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he served six terms in the Senate, making him the longest-tenured U.S. Senator in the state's history. To date, Domenici is the last Republican to be elected to the Senate from New Mexico. He was succeeded by Democratic U.S. Representative Tom Udall.

During Domenici's tenure in the Senate, he advocated waterway usage fees, nuclear power and related causes. He received criticism for his environmental record and extramarital affair. Domenici chaired several key committees including the Senate Budget Committee and Senate Energy Committee.

Early years

Domenici was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Alda (née Vichi) and Cherubino Domenici, both of whom were born in Modena, Italy.

Growing up, Domenici worked in his father's grocery business after school. In 1950, he graduated from St. Mary's High School in Albuquerque. He spent two years at the College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande (now the University of Albuquerque) before earning a degree in education at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque in 1954, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

After graduating, Domenici pitched one season for the Albuquerque Dukes, then a Class C Minor league baseball team. He also taught mathematics at Garfield Junior High in Albuquerque. Domenici earned his law degree at the University of Denver law school in 1958 and returned to practice law in Albuquerque.

Political career

In 1966, Domenici successfully ran for a position on the Albuquerque City Commission and in 1968 was elected Commission Chairman (a post equivalent to that of mayor).

Domenici was the Republican nominee for governor in the 1970 New Mexico gubernatorial race, which he lost to Democrat and former state House Speaker Bruce King. King won the election with 148,835 votes (51 percent) to Domenici's 134,640 (46 percent). Domenici polled 204,253 votes (54 percent) to 173,815 (46 percent) for Democratic state Representative Jack Daniels, a Hobbs realtor. He advocated for the mentally ill, having pushed the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996.

Domenici voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto). Domenici also voted in favor of the nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1998, Domenici voted to convict President Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice during his impeachment trial.

This was despite Domenici’s own adulterous affair at age 55 with 24-year-old Michelle Laxalt, daughter of his Senate colleague, Paul Laxalt. The affair, resulting in the birth of a son, would remain secret for decades.

Water fees

One of the first issues that Domenici concerned himself with was waterway usage fees, in spite of his state lacking any waterway capable of commercial traffic - although it did have a prominent railway industry. In 1977, Domenici set himself to the task of enacting a waterway usage fee. the waterway fee was finally passed along with a new lock and dam project (the rebuilding of Lock and Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois). Reporters attributed the passage of this fee in no small part to Domenici's legislative skill. The legislation was signed into law in 1978. He was reelected in 1978 with 53.4% of the vote over Democratic nominee Toney Anaya, a former New Mexico Attorney General who later became Governor. In addition to assigning Domenici a score of zero for his environmental voting record, the group issued him "environmental harm demerits" for what they saw as two particularly irresponsible acts: first, for spearheading efforts to include in federal budget legislation provisions for "speculative revenues from oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; second, "for sponsoring and securing passage of S. 3711, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which would perpetuate America's dangerous oil dependence, set a precedent for drilling in sensitive marine waters, and direct a disproportionate share of federal royalty revenues from a public resource to four states." The LCV went on to criticize Domenici for voting in 1995 "to allow mining companies to 'patent' (purchase) public lands in order to extract minerals from them, without environmental standards, for the ridiculously low 'price' of $5 an acre or less." When Iglesias said an indictment would not be handed down until at least December, Domenici said "I'm very sorry to hear that" — and the line went dead. Domenici's telephone manners were the subject of a later article in The Albuquerque Journal, which quoted numerous other sources whom Domenici had treated rudely by hanging up after making a point or receiving an unsatisfactory answer. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., issued subpoenas to require Iglesias and three other ousted U.S. attorneys to testify before Congress.

Domenici later admitted calling Iglesias, though Domenici claimed he never used the word "November" when he called Iglesias about an ongoing Albuquerque courthouse corruption case. Domenici denied trying to influence Iglesias, and hired lawyer K. Lee Blalack II to represent him.

According to the Justice Department, Domenici called the Department and demanded Iglesias be replaced on four occasions.

According to The Washington Post, on the day of the firing (December 7, 2006) William Kelley, a deputy to then White House Counsel Harriet Miers, said in an email that Domenici's chief of staff was "happy as a clam" about the Iglesias firing.

thumb|Domenici's last official Senate portrait

On April 24, 2008, Domenici was admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for "inappropriately" contacting in 2006 one of the nine U.S. attorneys later fired by President Bush. Domenici said of the closed investigation, "The Justice Department has now confirmed what I have always said and believed: I never attempted to interfere with any government investigation. I am glad that this matter has concluded." His seat was won by Democrat Tom Udall. The task force was announced at a joint press conference on January 26, 2010, in Washington. The task force began its work in February 2010 and, led by Domenici, released a report on November 17, 2010 on ways to address and reduce the national debt and deficit.

The Domenici Institute, which aims to continue "Domenici's legacy of service to the state of New Mexico", bears his name.

Personal life

After graduating from law school in 1958, Domenici married Nancy Burk. Together, the Domenicis had two sons and six daughters (Lisa, Peter, Nella, Clare, David, Nanette, and twins Paula and Helen). One of his daughters has schizophrenia; this reportedly influenced his decision to become a strong supporter of legislation providing for parity in insurance coverage for mental illness. Helen ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in 2018 as a Republican nominee in District 19, but did not win the general election. Nella, a hedge fund manager, was the Republican Party nominee in the 2024 United States Senate election in New Mexico.

During the 1970s, Domenici fathered a child, Adam Laxalt, with Michelle Laxalt (1954–2023), a young Republican staffer and lobbyist and the daughter of Domenici's then-Senate colleague, Nevada Republican Paul Laxalt; this fact was kept secret until 2013. In 2013, Domenici, then 80, acknowledged the affair and his son, saying he was "very sorry" for his behavior. Adam Laxalt ran for Nevada Attorney General in the 2014 election and defeated Democrat Ross Miller. Laxalt was the Republican nominee for Governor of Nevada in the 2018 election, losing to Steve Sisolak, and the Republican nominee for Senator in the 2022 midterms, losing to Catherine Cortez Masto.

Death

Domenici died on September 13, 2017, at the age of 85, at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from complications that resulted from abdominal surgery.

Bibliography

"A Brighter Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of Nuclear Energy" (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2004. )
"Advanced Nuclear Technologies — Hearing Before the Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate" (Collingdale, Pennsylvania: D I A N E Publishing Company, 1999. ), which he edited.

References

External links

Pete V. Domenici news. – The New York Times. – collected news and commentary