{"id":3607,"date":"2008-08-21T16:40:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-21T22:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/a-time-to-praise-officials-honor-domenici\/"},"modified":"2008-08-21T16:40:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-21T22:40:00","slug":"a-time-to-praise-officials-honor-domenici","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/08\/a-time-to-praise-officials-honor-domenici\/","title":{"rendered":"A time to praise: Officials honor Domenici"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The man who has dominated New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> politics in recent years today made a humble acknowledgment.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI am going to make an admission that I never, never make,\u201d Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> said to the retiring U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>. \u201cHad I run against you, you probably would have beat me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:city> was speaking during a ceremony to honor Domenici at the Domenici Public Policy Conference<\/a> at New Mexico<\/st1:placename> State<\/st1:placetype> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> in Las Cruces. His remark came after he recalled an encounter he had with Domenici shortly after he was appointed energy secretary in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said he went to Domenici — then the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee — to inform him of his appointment. Domenici asked Richardson who controlled the Department of Energy.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI said, \u2018I do. I\u2019ll be secretary,\u2019\u201d Richardson<\/st1:city> told the group of several hundred gathered in the Pan<\/st1:placename> American<\/st1:placename> Center<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. \u201cHe said, \u2018No, no, no. I control the Department of Energy because I control the purse strings.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Then Domenici asked Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> about his future political plans. There had been some speculation that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> might run against Domenici for Senate. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said he wrote on a card, \u201cI will not run against you, ever\u201d and handed it to Domenici, to which Domenici replied, \u201cGood move.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> used the story to illustrate his point that Domenici \u201cliked power\u201d and \u201cknew how to use it.\u201d That\u2019s what has made him an effective senator, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cGood public policy was made by someone who knew power, knew how to use it, but also cared deeply about the state,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said.<\/p>\n

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

Domenici, during his own speech, gave a tart response, but did it with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI wish he would use \u2018proper power,\u2019\u201d Domenici said. \u201c\u2026 Power is what Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> talks about. I don\u2019t talk about power. He\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Lots of praise<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Chuckles and kind words characterized the event at which Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a>, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> and Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima<\/a>, all Democrats, also praised the Republican senator’s 36-year tenure — the longest of any U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> senator in the state\u2019s history. U.S. Rep. Tom Udall<\/a> — the Democrat seeking to replace Domenici in the Senate — was in attendance at the event but did not speak.<\/p>\n

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

No Republican elected officials spoke about Domenici at the event. Udall\u2019s opponent, Republican Steve Pearce<\/a>, did not attend. Neither did U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>, who is in Afghanistan<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region>.<\/p>\n

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

Bingaman said Domenici will be best known for his work in four areas — the federal budget, energy, nuclear issues and the national laboratories. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> added that Domenici\u2019s work on mental health parity will be remembered.<\/p>\n

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

Several of the speakers referred to Domenici\u2019s ability to relate to people and his desire to serve them. Denish commented on that in recalling that Domenici was first elected 36 years ago by beating her father.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf I had to pick anybody other than my dad to fight on behalf of New Mexicans, serve six terms in the Senate\u2026 I would pick you, Sen. Domenici,\u201d Denish said.<\/p>\n

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

Miyagishima recalled that it was Domenici, when he was a child, who inspired him to get into politics.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI hope that for every Democrat I inspired that there was at least a Republican,\u201d Domenici said in response.<\/p>\n

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

\u2018We have some extraordinary things to do\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Domenici had ominous words for those in attendance at the event.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis great country of ours has some really big problems that might be tougher than at any time during my 36 years,\u201d Domenici said. \u201cEnergy and the economy are tied in some kind of struggle that isn\u2019t good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Domenici said the United States<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> can\u2019t stay on its current path of spending $700 billion a year on foreign oil for another decade or \u201csomething will bust.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cClearly we have to do some extraordinary things in the next few years to lessen that demand. I wish I were there,\u201d Domenici said.<\/p>\n

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

\n

He added that he hopes to do \u201csomething big\u201d on the issue with Bingaman before he leaves office at the end of the year. Domenici is the ranking member on the energy committee, which Bingaman now chairs.<\/p>\n

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

The NMSU conference, which will be an annual event, is designed to advance the issues on which the senator has focused his career. It\u2019s part of The Pete V. Domenici Legacy<\/a>, a statewide effort led by NMSU to honor the senator\u2019s historic tenure. In addition to the conference, the effort includes planning and construction of a building on campus to honor the senator, the formation of the Domenici Institute at NMSU and publication of a book chronicling his service.<\/p>\n

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

The Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> reported today that Domenici has opted to archive papers and memorabilia from his career at NMSU instead of the University<\/st1:placetype> of New Mexico<\/st1:placename>, which is his alma<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> matter and hometown college. Domenici told the newspaper that NMSU was \u201cmore committed to what they would do with them\u2026 in terms of trying to make some annual events built around it. Without question, they were enthusiastic about providing facilities over time to house them and keep them in perpetuity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThat was a better proposal and a better way of doing it than UNM,\u201d the newspaper quoted Domenici as saying.<\/p>\n

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

The man who has dominated New Mexico politics in recent years today made a humble acknowledgment. \u201cI am going to make an admission that I never, never make,\u201d Gov. Bill Richardson said to the retiring U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici. \u201cHad I run against you, you probably would have beat me.\u201d Richardson was speaking during a […]<\/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-3607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607","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=3607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}