Second Renzi Federal Investigation Under Way

Quickly, people! We need a moniker to keep this thing sexy for the press. I vote for SwapGate (has the added benefit of an association with wife swapping). Let’s hear your suggestions.

UPDATE 10/26: Let the backpedaling begin! As I feared, inconsistencies and distortions and innuendo in the breaking of the story has led the Renzi campaign and at least the Republic to begin to dial back on the seriousness of the reports. Renzi is, of course, claiming that the whole thing is a manipulation of police procedure for political gain by the Simon campaign.

UPDATE 10/25: WaPo has the whole story, sans speculations, in today’s edition. Note that the story credits two liberal blogs with breaking the story over the weekend. I assume they are referring to Lofty Donkey and R-Cubed. Congratulations fellow Arizona bloggers.

When it rains, it pours: Congressman From Arizona Is the Focus of an Inquiry – New York Times. The unfolding multiple scandals involving influence pedaling by Renzi are now starting to break all across both traditional media and the national internets.

Federal authorities in Arizona have opened an inquiry into whether Representative Rick Renzi introduced legislation that benefited a military contractor that employs his father, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

The officials said the inquiry was at an early stage and that no search warrants had been issued, suggesting that investigators had yet to determine whether there was a basis to open a formal investigation or empanel a grand jury.

Mr. Renzi, 48, a Republican who represents the First Congressional District, is a former insurance executive and real estate investor who was first elected in 2002. Almost from the start, he has been a target of citizen watchdog groups who have accused him of ethical laxity in office.

Law enforcement officials said that the most serious accusation involved Mr. Renzi’s sponsorship of legislation in 2003 that appeared to indirectly benefit the ManTech International Corporation, a communications company based in Virginia that employs Mr. Renzi’s father, Eugene, a retired Army general, as executive vice president.

Representative Renzi’s office did not return a reporter’s telephone calls on Tuesday to discuss the inquiry. In the past, Mr. Renzi has dismissed questions about whether his efforts aided ManTech, saying it did not need any assistance from him.

Of course, there are also scandals that Renzi is not under criminal investigation for, such as his putting a fundraiser on his payroll against both federal law and House ethics rules.

Put it all together and it spells scandalpolooza and more than enough grist for the national media to get seriously up in Mr. Renzi’s grille.