{"id":2325,"date":"2007-10-04T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-04T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/bingaman-expects-domenici-to-finish-term-effectively\/"},"modified":"2007-10-04T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2007-10-04T21:45:00","slug":"bingaman-expects-domenici-to-finish-term-effectively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/10\/bingaman-expects-domenici-to-finish-term-effectively\/","title":{"rendered":"Bingaman expects Domenici to finish term effectively"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a> praised his colleague Pete Domenici<\/a>, and in a later interview he said he has seen nothing that might indicate New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>\u2019s senior senator isn\u2019t able to continuing serving until his planned retirement at the end of 2008. <\/p>\n

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

Domenici is announcing his retirement today because he has frontotemporal lobar degeneration<\/a>, which can lead to frontotemporal dementia<\/a> and affect parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and mood and behavior control.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSenator Domenici called me yesterday afternoon to tell me of his decision,\u201d Bingaman said today during the speech<\/a>. \u201cMy reaction was one of surprise, which gave way to admiration and appreciation for this man\u2019s decision to conclude his distinguished career of public service on his own terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Bingaman said when he arrived in the Senate in 1983 that Domenici was \u201chere to welcome me,\u201d and said the senator has \u201cearned a reputation as a fierce and effective champion for New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cToday, and during his entire Senate career, Pete has achieved what all of us try to achieve \u2013 that is to be effective in getting results in Washington while also staying close to the people who have sent us here to represent them,\u201d Bingaman said. \u201cHe has assured me that he expects the remaining fifteen months of his service to be productive. Knowing Pete, I am sure that it will.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In an interview after the speech, Bingaman reiterated the last point. He said it has been obvious that Domenici has suffered from health problems, but he hasn\u2019t seen anything to make him believe the senior senator can\u2019t continue to serve. Bingaman noted that he flew with Domenici from Washington<\/st1:state> to Clovis<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and back earlier this week.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cHe has more difficulty getting around now than he did a year or two ago, but I saw no evidence that he could not continue to be effective,\u201d Bingaman said.<\/p>\n

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

Bingaman did say that Domenici\u2019s health \u201chas not been good in recent months, and he would be the first to acknowledge that,\u201d but said he understood that to be the result of \u201cthe aches and pains that come with getting older and the medicine he was on for those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He said he has seen nothing to indicate some of the mental problems that can accompany Domenici\u2019s condition, particularly in its later stages.<\/p>\n

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

Sen. Edward Kennedy<\/a>, D-Mass., also praised Domenici today in a speech<\/a>, calling him a \u201cgreat friend\u201d who would be sorely missed. And Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> declared today \u201cSenator Pete V. Domenici Day.\u201d Read the proclamation by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Here is video of Bingaman\u2019s speech:<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman praised his colleague Pete Domenici, and in a later interview he said he has seen nothing that might indicate New Mexico\u2019s senior senator isn\u2019t able to continuing serving until his planned retirement at the end of 2008. Domenici is announcing his retirement today […]<\/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-2325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325","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=2325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}