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New Details in the Investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)

Posted by Stephanie Taylor on April 25, 2007 at 10:46 AM

Last week, we reported that the FBI raided the business of Roberta Renzi, wife of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), who is under investigation for corruption charges. Now there are new details about the business deals that led to the federal grand jury probe.

Part of the investigation centers around a 480-acre parcel of Cochise County farmland once owned by a former Renzi business partner, James Sandlin. On two occasions, Renzi actively used his position as a member of Congress to get the property sold. From the Arizona Republic:

“The first attempt involved a copper-mining partnership called the Resolution Copper Co. Renzi told the company he would support a land trade sought by Resolution if it would agree to buy the 480-acre parcel as well. He described the deal as vital to the nearby San Carlos River watershed. The officers of Resolution balked.

Not only did they balk, the president of the company at that time went to extraordinary lengths to document what Renzi told him: He wrote a letter to himself detailing their negotiations so that he would have postmarked evidence. That letter now is a part of the FBI’s investigation.”

Renzi didn’t stop there. As a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, he played a role in arranging the eventual sale of the Cochise County land to a group of preservationists for nearly $4 million in April 2005. At the time, he described the sale of the land as a “matter of national security.” The sale netted a $3 million profit for the property’s owner, James Sandlin, who had bought the land just two years before.

But the most damning evidence of Renzi’s interest in the sale is the action of Sandlin, his business partner. On the day he received his first payment for the land, Sandlin paid a $200,000 debt to a wine company owned by Renzi.

Meanwhile, from the Wall Street Journal today, new questions about whether the corruption investigation of Rep. Renzi is linked to the untimely firing of U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton:

“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.

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."

Rep. Renzi is one of two Republican congressmen who recently faced raids by the FBI. The other is Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), who is under investigation for his ties to convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

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