RenziGate Roundup 3/13

I wonder why a guy who has 35 counts against him has no travel restrictions in the terms of his release and doesn’t need to report to pretrial services, while aguy who has only a less-serious subset of those same charges pending against him cannot travel outside of Texas or Arizona without permission from the court (leaving aside how one travels between Arizona and Texas without leaving either) and has to report to pretrial services? Could such preferential treatment have to do with the fact that the accused felon without any travel restrictions and no pretrial services obligation is Representitive Renzi, (Download renziconditions.pdf) while his co-defendant and alleged co-conspirator is just Mr. Sandlin (Download sandlinconditions.pdf)?

Is this just sheer preferential treatment? Or is there really some additional risk of flight that warrants not letting Mr. Sandlin travel freely, which is not present in Rep. Renzi’s case? Is Rep. Renzi’s background so well-known that the court doesn’t need additional information about him from pretrial services? Is there some legitimate need for Renzi to travel anywhere in the world without any oversight or prior notification? Or is this just inter-branch deference by the judge, not wanting to put himself in a supervisory position over the travel itinerary of a Member of Congress? Absent further explanation, it’s clear to me that Renzi has received preferential treatment in the terms of his parole.

The Carpetbagger Report wonders why McCain has failed to distance himself more firmly and unambiguously from Renzi. McCain wouldn’t even comment on whether Renzi would remain a part of his campaign leadership, saying the issue “doesn’t matter.”

McCain “told reporters that indicted Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) ‘is no
longer taking part in his presidential campaign,’ but refused to say
whether the congressman had ‘officially stepped down as a campaign
co-chair.’” Why on Earth would he refuse to answer that question?

The ‘bagger concludes: "It’s hard to know which narratives will catch on in a presidential
campaign, but given Renzi’s close ties to McCain, and his positions
within McCain’s campaign, I wonder whether Renzi’s name will take on
the resonance Rezko’s and Hsu’s have."

A devious-minded commenter wonders whether Renzi’s embezzlement wasn’t, in fact, a backhanded way for some of the Pro-Life orgs he stole from to actually give his campaigns massive illegal loans. Renzi’s daddy paid back the funds and made sure their policies didn’t lapse. So no harm actually done, right? Clever. But the customers Renzi stole from were a much broader and innocuous group of non-profits, not just ideological groups, so the theory seems unlikely to me.