{"id":1835,"date":"2007-06-11T08:13:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-11T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/domenici-pressured-to-skip-ag-no-confidence-vote\/"},"modified":"2007-06-11T08:13:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-11T14:13:00","slug":"domenici-pressured-to-skip-ag-no-confidence-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/domenici-pressured-to-skip-ag-no-confidence-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Domenici pressured to skip AG no-confidence vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Democrats in the U.S. Senate have scheduled later today a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales<\/a>, forcing their GOP colleagues into a tough position \u2013 perhaps none more difficult than that of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a> of New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With a number of GOP congressmen already calling for Gonzales\u2019 resignation, do Republicans vote for the resolution, or do they side with the president? Should Domenici even cast a vote?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Brian Col\u00f3n, chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico<\/a>, called late Friday for Domenici to recuse himself from the vote. In a news release, the party cited \u201cDomenici\u2019s central role in the U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorney scandal that has sparked calls for the resignation of\u201d Gonzales.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias<\/a> of New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> alleges that he was fired last year after Domenici and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a> called him in a month before the November 2006 election to pressure him to speed indictments in a public corruption probe in time to say voters.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Domenici had been expressing concern about Iglesias to the Bush Administration long before that, and Gonzales and others have cited Domenici\u2019s complaints as part of the reason for Iglesias\u2019 firing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Domenici and Wilson admit to calling Iglesias in October to inquire about the investigation but say they didn\u2019t pressure him. Domenici is the subject of a Senate ethics probe, and has hired a high-profile attorney.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cPete Domenici is mired so deep in the scandal swirling around Alberto Gonzales that he cannot possibly cast an unbiased vote,\u201d Col\u00f3n said. \u201c\u2026 Domenici must do the right thing and remove himself from a blatant conflict of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Staffers in Domenici\u2019s press office could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The proposed resolution is only symbolic, and isn\u2019t likely to pass the hurdle of the 60 votes needed to end debate and take a final vote, the Associated Press<\/a> is reporting. Most Republicans will vote against it and say it\u2019s a ploy to embarrass President Bush<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Bush defended longtime friend and colleague Gonzales again this weekend.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

At the same time, several congressional Republicans have called for Gonzales to resign. Republican senators\u2019 votes against today\u2019s resolution won\u2019t necessarily mean they support Gonzales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democrats in the U.S. Senate have scheduled later today a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, forcing their GOP colleagues into a tough position \u2013 perhaps none more difficult than that of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico. With a number of GOP congressmen already calling for Gonzales\u2019 resignation, do Republicans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}