N.M. senator Domenici to retire over brain disorder By DAVID ESPO Associated Press TOOLS Email
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WASHINGTON — Sen. Pete Domenici is retiring after a generation as a dominant Republican voice on budget matters in Congress, deferring to health concerns after six terms in office.
A draft statement prepared for Domenici's formal announcement today disclosed that the 75-year-old New Mexico Republican has a progressive disease that can cause dysfunction in the parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and control of mood and behavior.
"The progress of this disease is apparently erratic and unpredictable. It may well be that seven years from now, it will be stable," Domenici intends to say, according to a draft of remarks prepared for delivery.
"On the other hand, it may also be that the disease will have incapacitated me. I am not willing to take a chance that the people who have so honored me with their trust for 40 years might not be served as well as they deserve in the United States Senate."
A copy of the draft remarks was made available to the Associated Press, and in them, Domenici says he is confident he will be able to serve the rest of his current term, until a new Senate is seated in January 2009.
In political terms, Domenici's decision to retire represents yet another blow to Senate Republicans, who lost their majority in 2006 and face a hostile political environment little more than a year before the 2008 elections.
The party must defend 22 of 34 seats on the ballot, four of its incumbents face difficult challenges, and Domenici would become the fifth Republican to retire.
By contrast, no Democrats have announced retirement plans, and the party holds a sizable lead over the Republican campaign committee in fundraising.
Democrats control the Senate with 49 seats plus the backing of two independents. Republicans hold the other 49 seats.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Domenici informed President Bush of his intentions earlier in the week.
Until recently, the 75-year-old lawmaker had appeared intent on seeking a new term, shaking off criticism and ethics committee interest in his telephone call to former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, a New Mexico-based federal prosecutor who was fired last winter.
Domenici has acknowledged phoning Iglesias at a time when some Republicans wanted the prosecutor to hasten an investigation of Democrats before the 2006 elections.
At home, Domenici has long been the dominant Republican in his state — so much so that Iglesias was once viewed as a protege.
Budget issues have dominated Domenici's long Senate career. He chaired the Senate Budget Committee when Ronald Reagan became president, helping pass the blueprint that led to enactment of deep cuts in income taxes in 1981.
More than a decade later, he was involved in a 1997 balanced budget agreement between the GOP-controlled Congress and President Clinton, a Democrat. He has supported nuclear power and opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
Domenici earned a reputation as an advocate for his state from his perch on the powerful Appropriations Committee, steering money to Energy Department nuclear facilities such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
His retirement is expected to spur a scramble among the state's top politicians who have long hoped to succeed him. Among them are Republican Reps. Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce and Democratic Rep. Tom Udall. Other possible Democratic contenders include Albuquerque Mayor Martin J. Chavez and state Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.
A fact sheet prepared for Domenici's announcement described his disease as Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration, or FTLD.
In his prepared remarks, Domenici said that as recently as April, "the disease had not progressed." A late September checkup showed a slight progression, causing him to scrap plans to seek a new term, he said in the remarks.
"No cure for my disease exists, yet," he said. "But, if we work hard enough, we may be able to find a way to cure people with diseases of the brain in the future. That would be truly a wonderful thing."