Renzi up to his Pepsodent Smile in Gonzgate

Raise a talon if any of you birds of paradise are even mildly surprised that Republican Representative Rick Renzi's name is smack dab in the middle of Gonzales-gate — you know, the ethical firestorm over the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department? The embattled Gonzales may be gone by the time the ink on The Bird's column dries, but the sleaze trail left behind by Renzi's tenure in office always seems as freshly slick as the congressman's Pepsodent smile.

Just whom was Charlton investigating around the time internal Justice Department e-mails pinpointed the veteran prosecutor as someone "we should now consider pushing out"? None other than AZ First Congressional District scumboy Tricky Ricky Renzi.

The current brouhaha involves the axing of Arizona's U.S. attorney, Paul Charlton, a respected prosecutor who toiled for the U.S. Attorney's office here 10 years before George W. Bush appointed him to run it in 2001. Charlton and seven other federal prosecutors resigned en masse December 7 as part of a purge by the Bush administration. Initially, the Bushies claimed performance issues led to the firings. But as more Justice Department documents have been released, it has become clear as a spring Phoenix day that the bloodletting was political, and that the aim of it may have been, in part, to shield Republican interests from inquiries executed by those same eight U.S. attorneys.

Seems the Republican Charlton finds public corruption as loathsome as does this merciless magpie and had begun quietly looking into Renzi's efforts to aid a former business partner in a suspicious land-swap deal. Unaware of Charlton's inquiry, New Times reporter Sarah Fenske broke the news last October that Renzi had pushed legislation benefiting campaign contributor and palsy-walsy James Sandlin ("Deal Breaker," October 12, 2006) .

A big-shot Texas developer with large land holdings in the Zona, Sandlin helped finance Tricky Ricky's first congressional campaign to the tune of $200,000 in cash by buying half-interest in Renzi's land-development firm. Renzi quickly plowed that money into his campaign coffers, a move the Federal Elections Commission later dubbed "impermissible."

More Here