UPDATE: Apparently Renzi has lawyered up (though I doubt if this is really a recent retainer as Renzi has been under investigation for months), hiring former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods. Now the media trial before the trial begins. Strap in, this should be very entertaining…
Link: Officials scrutinize Ariz. land deal – Yahoo! News.
So there it is. There is indeed an investigation which is at the early stages. No indictment. No leaking staffer. No collusion by the prosecutor.
Regardless that it may seem quotidian compared to the salacious rumors, it’s gleeful news. Renzi is officially in the midst of a criminal investigation stemming from the misuse of his office. That in itself is the nail in the ol’ coffin. Looks like Carpetbagger Dick is goin’ back to VA.
With Renzi running behind Simon, we may well be looking at another pickup for the Dems in Arizona. Ellen needs our support and money to put this thing away. Go donate to her campaign now. Seriously.
I hope some group does some polling of CD 1 likely voters who have not yet voted to see whether they have heard about these stories and whether they will affect their votes.
Of course I don’t lump you in with the ‘tin hat brigade’ Ted. I have a lot of respect for your blog and often rely on you for information. I apologize if you, or any else, got that impression.
I stand by my ‘utter bullshit’ statement, however. The story was not that Renzi was being investigated and possibly indictment, which I always allowed might well be true, the story being told on the blogs was that the US Attorney was covering Renzi’s ass following an actual indictment, and that I considered bullshit. And it was.
Of course, the reporter denied everything. But she also let it slip that the rumors were making her investigation of the real story more difficult. The innuendos of impropriety by the US Attorney were making sources skittish. So I took it upon myself to try to bring the speculation here in Blogistan down a notch. She suggested I write nothing at all, which was clue enough that she was angling on a story, and though I chose not to do that, I felt I owed her at least an effort at calming the waters. I just hope that I did have some effect on slowing speculation.
I was also motivated to deny the rumors in the strongest possible fashion in order not to let the real story be played as a big let-down from the rumors. “Oh, sure Renzi’s being investigated… that’s just a routine thing… but the authorities are just doing their jobs, they’re not covering for Renzi until the election or anything like those crazy bloggers said..”
The real story was being eclipsed by the spectacular rumors. Whereas I got the story mostly right (no coverup, no hijinks, but possibly an investigation or eventual indictment), others got the story mostly wrong (everything but the central issue of Renzi being under investigation). 99% of the electrons spilled on this story over the past few days WERE utter bullshit. You want the nugget of the real story, just look at today’s Washington Post which reports the story:
“U.S. prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation into whether Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) twice pressured landowners to buy a 480-acre parcel owned by his former business partner, a major backer of Renzi’s political campaign, according to federal law enforcement sources.
The deal ultimately netted the business partner a $3 million profit, according to Arizona land records.
A land sale earned a $3 million profit for an ex-partner of Rep. Rick Renzi.
Renzi is the latest lawmaker whose land deals have come under scrutiny. Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have drawn criticism from political opponents for deals with home-state business partners that netted earned them hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.
The Arizona transaction has drawn the interest of the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI’s Phoenix field office. Three law enforcement officials said both are investigating Renzi’s involvement in two land deals — one of which was not completed — designed to put the 480 acres under federal protection from development in exchange for land more fit for commercial development.
One of the officials said the inquiry is at a preliminary stage. No subpoenas have been issued, and public developments are not likely before the Nov. 7 midterm elections, said the official, who along with the other two spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation has not been publicly announced.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton in Phoenix declined to confirm or deny the existence of an inquiry. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the FBI in Washington also declined to comment.
The inquiry was revealed by two liberal Arizona blogs last weekend.
Grant Woods, a former Arizona attorney general who is Renzi’s lawyer on the matter, said neither he nor Renzi has been contacted by law enforcement officials. He ascribed any inquiry to political gamesmanship by the two-term lawmaker’s Democratic opponent, lawyer Ellen Simon.
“When I was attorney general, we dealt with this all the time in the last 30 days before an election, when candidates came to us with an accusation. We had to look at it, but it was designed to use politically,” Woods said.
According to sources, the investigation is focusing on whether, in exchange for political contributions and business support, James Sandlin received special treatment from Renzi for a parcel of land that earned him a $3 million profit .
Sandlin bought into Renzi’s real estate firm in 2001, then paid about $200,000 for half the business and, after he was elected to Congress, $1 million to $5 million for the rest.
Investigators want to know whether Renzi twice attempted to arrange deals for Sandlin, including once by proposing legislation, two sources with knowledge of the investigations said.
According to land developer Guy Inzalaco, Renzi was approached last year by an investment group that included Inzalaco and former Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat. The group sought legislation that would put environmentally sensitive watershed land under federal protection in exchange for opening other federal land to development.
Renzi said he would back the legislation if the Sandlin tract was included, Inzalaco said.
Woods said Renzi was trying to include a tract of land that environmentalists had been trying to preserve for years and did not know until later that his business partner owned it.
That fall, Renzi announced he would introduce the San Pedro River Land Exchange Act, a bill that would include the Sandlin property. Within days, Sandlin sold the tract to the Inzalaco-Babbitt group, turning a $3 million profit in three years. The land-swap legislation was never enacted.
Inzalaco said yesterday that he knew nothing of Sandlin’s connections to Renzi.”
Now, I assume that the two ‘liberal blogs’ were Lofty Donkey and R-Cubed. Props for getting mention in the WaPo. Now, can we all move on to filleting Renzi over the investigation of his land deals and digging out the dirt and nastiness in his relationship with Sandlin?
Come on, Michael, on this blog you called the allegations “utter bullshit” and made a post on my blog implying that the whole thing was some sort of fantasy.
There were some details that I got wrong, but I got this after being contacted not by Lofty Donkey (who I haven’t spoken to in months) but from people who actually had knowledge of the investigation. There were details that they gave me that I didn’t include on the blog (even though some were on other blogs), but I could give to a reporter if one happened to call me.
One of the “debunkings” you gave was that you contacted an AP reporter who you say knew nothing about it. Michael, what reporter is going to give you details of a story they are writing so you can splay it all over Blogistan before they get a chance to publish it? Since one of the earliest publications of this story was the AP, they did have something, didn’t they?
You implied that those of us who wrote this story were just making stuff up. I don’t doubt that some of the blogs that put this up trade in innuendo, but with your post on my blog, I feel like you were lumping me in with these folks, even though I did some actual leg work.
Please, don’t group me in with the tin hat brigade on this one.
OK. I deserve that one. Heh heh. Enjoy yourself.
In fairness, I said that there was probably a grain of truth in the hoopla, and that was true. The truth is good enough, we really didn’t need all the window dressing. I’m still hearing people saying that the whole coverup angle, with the political influence, FBI wiretaps, staffer leaks and all, is gospel truth. Could be. But I still doubt it. Apparently, the WaPo will be leading with this story tommorrow.
Actually, perhaps I’ll invent some details of my own. A commenter on another thread suggested that the right wing gets rewarded with cable appearances and book deals for lying about the left – we should maybe return the favor.
I choose to believe that Renzi, upon indictment will lead a slow chase to the Grand Canyon which will be broadcast live to the nation on November 6th, whereupon he will threaten to throw himself in the canyon if anyone tries to stop him. The stand off will end when President Bush shows up and gives him a hug.
It will be determined Renzi took out a hit on the US Attorney to try to prevent his indictment, and that the bribe attempt was taped by a Congressional page whom Renzi was sexually harrassing, not the FBI. Renzi will be convicted, serve time, have a born again experience and become a popular XM radio host.
I see this whole inverstigation news as a way to discredit YOUR rant about the Renzi rumors being garbage! There was NO WAY Renzi was going to stand for a liberal such as you defending his staunchly conservative ass!
Done here too!
Just call 928-2846-3331 to give to Ellen Simon’s campaign [if you don’t like to do it over the internet].
Done!
Don’t forget Giffords, Pederson, and Mitchell too.