{"id":1840,"date":"2007-06-11T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-11T22:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/domenici-votes-against-no-confidence-resolution\/"},"modified":"2007-06-11T16:29:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-11T22:29:00","slug":"domenici-votes-against-no-confidence-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/domenici-votes-against-no-confidence-resolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Domenici votes against no-confidence resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a> rejected calls for his recusal and voted today against a resolution of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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

The resolution failed when a motion to end debate and proceed to a vote received 53 votes, with 38 against it. It needed 60 to pass.<\/p>\n

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

Citing Domenici\u2019s involvement in the ongoing U.S.<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> attorney controversy, the Democratic Party of New Mexico<\/a> called Friday for him to recuse himself from today\u2019s vote. That controversy, which includes the firing of former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias<\/a> of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, was the primary reason Democrats sought passage of the resolution that would have increased pressure for Gonzales\u2019 ouster.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Iglesias 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 said Domenici\u2019s complaints were 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

It\u2019s possible that Domenici violated congressional ethics in calling Iglesias, and it\u2019s true that Iglesias violated Department of Justice rules by not initially reporting the call. That, combined with the repeatedly changing stories about why Iglesias and others were fired that has come from the Bush Administration, has created a potential appearance of impropriety.<\/p>\n

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

Though this wasn\u2019t a clear-cut situation when Domenici needed to recuse himself, his decision to vote against the resolution has the potential to further the appearance of impropriety and is certain to earn him additional criticism.<\/p>\n

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

\n

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a>, D-N.M., voted in favor of ending debate and proceeding to a final vote on the resolution.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Domenici\u2019s office released this statement:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSenator Domenici voted against moving the no-confidence resolution forward,\u201d it stated. \u201cThere is no precedent for this effort and there is no place for such parliamentary measures, like no-confidence votes, in our system of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cSenator Domenici is anxious to work on the pressing issues begging the Senate\u2019s time and consideration, such as the creation of new energy policies to reduce American dependence on foreign oil,\u201d it stated. \u201cHe will help manage Senate debate on a new bipartisan energy bill this week that would help reach that goal. With all of the critical domestic policy issues facing the nation, Senator Domenici believes the Senate\u2019s time would be better spent on developing good legislation than participating in meaningless partisan political endeavors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici rejected calls for his recusal and voted today against a resolution of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The resolution failed when a motion to end debate and proceed to a vote received 53 votes, with 38 against it. It needed 60 to pass. Citing Domenici\u2019s involvement in the ongoing […]<\/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-1840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840","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=1840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}