McCain, Renzi & Resolution Copper
This land exchange was first proposed by the disgraced, corrupt Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) and now John McCain is furthering his corrupt former collegue's cause.
Rep. Rick Renzi (R) AZ was involved in the proposed Resolution Copper land exchange in 2005.
( HR2618 - Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2005)
The company's lobbying campaign is trying to reverse delays caused by the alleged machinations of Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.
Renzi, whose district includes Superior, was indicted in February on charges he attempted to manipulate a land exchange to benefit a former business partner who owed him $700,000.
The indictment also accuses Renzi, who has denied wrongdoing and whose trial is set for March in Tucson, of offering to help Resolution Copper if it purchased property owned by the former partner, who is also under indictment.
But the company backed off and federal investigators moved in. Their probe cast a pall over the proposal to trade federal land at the copper mine site for other parcels assembled by the company. Congressional interest in the authorizing legislation cooled. [21]
Federal authorities announced corruption charges Friday accusing Rep. Rick Renzi of engineering a swap of federally owned mining land to benefit himself
ONE OF THE EIGHT FIRED U.S. ATTORNEYS WAS INVESTIGATING RENZI AND RESOLUTION COPPER
The Renzi investigation began during the tenure of then-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, a Bush administration appointee who was forced from office as part of a Justice Department purge of U.S. attorneys around the country.
There has been speculation that the Renzi case figured in Charlton's ouster... [12]
On December 7, 2006, eight US attorneys were notified that they would be fired.
Paul K. Charlton, Arizona, was investigating Republican Representative Rick Renzi for corruption.
(The same Rick Renzi who was involved with Resolution Copper deals) [15]
As midterm elections approached last November, federal investigators in Arizona faced unexpected obstacles in getting needed Justice Department approvals to advance a corruption investigation of Republican Rep. Rick Renzi, people close to the case said.
[Alberto Gonzales]
The delays, which postponed key approvals in the case until after the election, raise new questions about whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or other officials may have weighed political issues in some investigations. The Arizona U.S. attorney then overseeing the case, Paul Charlton, was told he was being fired in December, one of eight federal prosecutors dismissed in the past year.
Mr. Renzi, first elected to Congress in 2002, was fighting to hold on to his seat. In September, President Bush hosted a fund-raiser in Scottsdale on his behalf. About the same time Mr. Charlton was added to a list of prosecutors "we should now consider pushing out," wrote Mr. Gonzales's then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, in a Sept. 13, 2006, email
Mr. Charlton, a Republican with 16 years as a federal prosecutor, was named by President Bush in 2001 to lead the Phoenix office. Now in private practice in Phoenix, he has refused to discuss any details of the Renzi investigation -- even when asked about it at a March 6 hearing of the House judiciary committee. [11]
In his first-quarter filing with the Federal Election Commission, Renzi reported a debt of $103,000 to Patton Boggs for legal services. However, he lists Laurie Miller at Nixon Peabody as his attorney in a statement. [41]
Renzi is one of 24 co-chairmen for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in Arizona.
Since the Renzi investigation, McCain has worked on and co- sponsored the same land exchange legislation three times.