{"id":426344,"date":"2017-09-15T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T18:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=426344"},"modified":"2017-09-17T21:42:19","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T03:42:19","slug":"remembering-pete-domenici","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/09\/remembering-pete-domenici\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Pete Domenici"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>My grandfather\u00a0loved to tell me the story about a young Pete Domenici coming\u00a0into my family\u2019s\u00a0drugstore.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

Walter Haussamen Sr., my Gramps, owned the shop on Central Avenue in Albuquerque. Domenici would often stop in \u2013 sometimes with friends from the neighborhood, sometimes by himself\u00a0to get a butterscotch sundae from the fountain. Gramps smiled each time he got a chance to tell that story.<\/p>\n

Gramps was proud that I\u2019d become a journalist and had a voice in discussions about the future of our state. In his later years, as his health declined, he was excited that I got to talk with\u00a0people he loved, respected and missed \u2013 like Domenici.<\/p>\n

When I saw Domenici in 2009, just before\u00a0he completed his 36-year career in the U.S. Senate, I shared Gramps\u2019\u00a0story. Domenici told me he remembered the drugstore. He shared fond memories of old Albuquerque. He smiled, put his hand on my shoulder, and asked me to say hello to my grandfather\u00a0\u2013 a message I was able to pass along\u00a0before Gramps died a few weeks\u00a0later.<\/p>\n

That was the Pete Domenici I knew. Like my Gramps, he\u00a0loved New Mexico. He was\u00a0a formidable fighter<\/a>, but also a believer\u00a0in respect\u00a0and civility. And he loved telling stories about Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

Domenici died Wednesday<\/a> at 85. He leaves behind\u00a0an immense legacy\u00a0in New Mexico and the nation.<\/p>\n

My Gramps often lamented in his later years, as civility declined in Washington, the loss of politicians\u00a0like Domenici.<\/p>\n

Gramps wasn\u2019t alone. Former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, visited Las Cruces in 2008 for the first annual Domenici Public Policy Conference. Dodd gave\u00a0the keynote address<\/a>, pleading for civility and respect in American politics. He said Washington needed more Pete Domenicis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love this man and I care about him very deeply,\u201d Dodd said. \u201cThis is a unique and wonderful person who has given to his country.\u201d<\/p>\n

After retiring from the Senate, Domenici sought a bipartisan way to address the nation\u2019s debt and deficit<\/a>, which\u00a0he said\u00a0threatened America\u2019s future<\/a>.\u00a0And Domenici\u00a0embraced New Mexico State University\u2019s vision to host\u00a0an annual conference<\/a> that has\u00a0become known\u00a0<\/a>for high-profile speakers and thoughtful discussions about serious issues. It\u2019s the best public policy event I\u2019ve attended\u00a0in New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Domenici wasn\u2019t perfect, obviously. In 2008, the Senate Ethics Committee found no evidence that he\u00a0attempted to improperly influence a federal investigation but\u00a0admonished him<\/a>\u00a0for creating an appearance of impropriety by calling then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias about the case. Iglesias had alleged Domenici pressured him to speed indictments to influence an election.<\/p>\n

And the public learned in 2013 that Domenici, who was married, had fathered a child in the 1970s with a woman who was not his wife, the daughter of another U.S. senator. Today that son, Adam Laxalt, is Nevada\u2019s attorney general.<\/p>\n

But Domenici\u2019s\u00a0legacy is one of doing important work on budgetary, energy and mental health issues \u2013 and all the federal money he brought to New Mexico. He\u2019s one of the most influential and respected\u00a0politicians in this state\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also remember\u00a0Pietro Vichi Domenici \u2013 the son of Italian immigrants, a man who fiercely loved Albuquerque, New Mexico and the United States \u2013 as the kid\u00a0who bought butterscotch sundaes from my Gramps, a boy who worked hard in his father\u2019s grocery business, a man whose story\u00a0is wonderfully\u00a0New Mexican and American and human.<\/p>\n

In these troubling times, I hope Washington can rediscover the civility and respect Domenici exemplified.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My grandfather loved to tell me the story about a young Pete Domenici coming into my family\u2019s drugstore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[139,133,136,116],"class_list":["post-426344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-albuquerque","tag-nmsu","tag-pete-domenici","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426344","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=426344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}