Raided Renzi leaves more House committees

[maddezmom]

Source: Gannett News Service

Raided Renzi leaves more House committees
MIKE MADDEN
Gannett News Service
U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., stepped down temporarily from all his committee assignments Tuesday, five days after the FBI raided his family business. He also dropped out of a program that raises money for vulnerable incumbents.

Renzi's move raised questions about whether he would seek re-election while he is the subject of a federal probe into a land deal that could have benefited a former business partner and campaign contributor. He took a leave of absence from the House Intelligence Committee Thursday night after the raid, and Democrats in Arizona had been pushing for him to leave the Committee on Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over land swaps such as the one investigators are looking at.

But the three-term Republican House member denied any wrongdoing, even as he bowed to political pressure and left that committee as well as the Committee on Financial Services.

"For several weeks, I have been the subject of leaked stories, conjecture, and false attacks about a land exchange," Renzi said in a written statement. "None of them bear any resemblance to the truth."


Read more: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/local/49407.php

[gratuitous]

1. Gee, Mr. Renzi

You sure seem to be devoted to that "innocent until proven guilty" standard now. So, when are you going to vote with the Democrats to close Guantanamo and stop the extraordinary rendition practices of the corrupt Bush administration? Or are constitutional rights so precious that only congressmen should get to invoke them?

[rodeodance]

2. He did the right thing to step aside.

[jamesinca]

3. yes we should give him that

he did step aside. That is the only thing he should be given.

[Robbien]

4. None of the stories bear any resemblance to the truth because the truth is

much much worse you SOB.

All the stories are just about the stupid land exchange, not about all the rest of the Abramoff corruption he is involved in. Huge horrible stories get no play and the stupid land swap gets the headlines.