Domenici
2 The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico
First Albuquerque home at 1801
Candelaria NW.
1932
n Pietro Vichi Domenici born May 7 in
his parents downtown Albuquerque
home. The Domenicis, who emigrated
from Italy, owned Montezuma Grocery
Co. on North First Street.
1950
n Graduates
from St. Marys
High School in
Albuquerque.
President Bush watches
training exercises at the
Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center in Artesia.
1989
n Secures funding to
convert the dormant
Midwest Christian
College campus in
Artesia to a branch
of the Federal Law
Enforcement Training
Center.
1990
n Re-elected to fourth term in the
U.S. Senate, defeating state Sen.
Tom Benavides, D-Albuquerque,
with 72.9 percent of the vote.
1995
n Helps congressional delegation
and local committee fend off
Pentagon recommendation to
Base Realignment and Closure
Commission to cut 6,850 jobs
from Kirtland Air Force Base.
1996
n Wins a fifth term in the U.S.
Senate with 64 percent of the
vote, defeating Democrat Art
Trujillo.
2006
n Joins states
congressional delegation
in announcing that
Cannon Air Force
Base, targeted for
closure by the Defense
Departments 2005 Base
Realignment and Closure
Commission, will instead
become home to a
Special Operations Wing,
saving an estimated
2,800 military and
civilian jobs and more
than 1,000 related jobs
in the Clovis area.
Though initially hesitant
to ban drilling in New
Mexicos pristine Valle
Vidal, votes in favor of
the bill, which passes
both houses and
becomes law.
2007
nLoses chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, which goes to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
n Apologizes for a pre-election call to then-U.S. Attorney David
Iglesias about the status of public corruption cases possibly
embarrassing to Democrats.
nCiting a need for a new strategy, the senator joins a growing
number of Republican senators to break ranks with President Bush
on the conduct of the war in Iraq.
nAs top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, Domenici heralds filing of first nuclear power plant
application in 29 years.
nCiting the onset of a degenerative brain disease, Domenici
announces he will not seek a seventh term.
Milestones
1954
n Earns education degree from the
University of New Mexico.
n Pitches for the minor league
Albuquerque Dukes, then a farm club
for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
n Teaches math at Garfield Junior
High School in Albuquerques North
Valley.
n Enrolls in law school at the
University of Denver.
1984
n Re-elected to third Senate
term with 71.9 percent of the
vote, defeating state Rep.
Judy Pratt of Albuquerque.
1985
n With Sen. Bob Doles
help, passes a bill freezing
Social Security cost-of-living
adjustments, a measure
aimed at balancing the federal
budget.
1988
n Makes presidential
candidate George H.W. Bushs
short list for vice president,
but Bush ultimately chooses
Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle.
1997
n Leads negotiations that result
in a federal Balanced Budget Act.
The deal is widely hailed as a
major legislative achievement and
becomes one of the hallmarks of
Domenicis career. The next year,
the federal budget runs a surplus
for the first time since 1969.
New Mexicos congressional delega-
tion fought to prevent the closure of
Cannon Air Force Base at Clovis.
Six-term Sen. Pete Domenici embraces his wife, Nancy, after
announcing his retirement in Albuquerque on Oct. 4, 2007.
Albuquerque, December 7, 2008
1958 1966
n Graduates from the n Elected to
University of Denver Law
School.
n Marries Nancy Burk after
Albuquerque City
Commission.
n Legally changes
meeting her at UNM. The his name to Pete V.
couple go on to have eight Domenici.
children.
n Domenici begins practicing
law in Albuquerque.
1967 1970
n Elected chairman
of the City
n Runs for governor and
loses to Democrat Bruce
King from Stanley, a former
Commission, which speaker of the state House
was equivalent to of Representatives.
being mayor.
1978
n Re-elected to second U.S. Senate term
with 53.4 percent of the vote, defeating
Democrat Toney Anaya, a former New
Mexico attorney general who would go on to
become governor in 1983.
n Wins passage of his first major piece
of legislation Inland Waterways
Authorization Bill, taxes commercial
shippers.
1981 1972
n Ascends to chairmanship of the n Elected to U.S. Senate, defeating
Senate Budget Committee during the
Democrat Jack Daniels, a Hobbs
Reagan Revolution and increasingly businessman. Domenici, who garners
becomes national figure while retaining
his identity as a pragmatic, political
moderate.
54 percent of the vote, is the first
Republican to win the seat in 38
years.
n Secures the first $15 million for
1973
what will become the $463 million
Microsystems and Engineering
Sciences Applications (MESA) Complex
at Sandia National Laboratories in
nGiven a seat on the Senate Budget
Albuquerque. Committee.
1998 1999 2001
n Travels to Russia n Aggravates an old elbow injury n As majority
and France to foster while playing touch football on party status
support for an overhaul Thanksgiving with his grandchildren. shifts to the
of U.S. policy on The injury would eventually lead to Democrats,
nuclear weapons and partial paralysis of his right hand Domenici forced
energy. Advocates forcing him to greet people with his
to step down as
more nuclear-powered left hand and chronic pain. chairman of the
electrical plants and Senate Budget
conversion of weapons-
n First shipment of transuranic
waste arrives at the Waste Isolation Committee but
grade plutonium from retains various
decommissioned U.S. Pilot Plant near Carlsbad the
nations first permanent storage influential roles as a senior GOP member.
and Russian nuclear
weapons into fuel for facility for nuclear waste. Domenici
nuclear power plants. is a longtime supporter of the
2002
project.
Agrees on plan for
n
public acquisition of the
89,000-acre Baca Ranch n Re-elected to sixth U.S. Senate term with 65 percent
in the Jemez Mountains, of the vote, defeating Democrat Gloria Tristani. He is
the first New Mexican to be elected to a six full terms in
which includes the Valles
Caldera. the Senate.
n Hospitalized for five days to treat nerve-damaged
elbow and hand pain. Begins occasionally using a
motorized scooter to get around the Capitol.
2005
n Comprehensive Energy Policy Act
of 2005 passes after three years of
effort from Domenici. Domenici calls
it his greatest accomplishment after
33 years in Congress.
n President Bush signs the energy
2003
bill on Aug. 8 at Sandia National
Laboratories.
n Closes a loophole in the Pueblo Act
nNamed chairman of the Senate Energy
of 1924 that created prosecution- and Natural Resources Committee.
free zones on some pueblo lands.
2004
n A longtime supporter of nuclear
technology, he publishes A Brighter
Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of
Nuclear Energy.
n Helps to secure another $91 million
for the Microsystems and Engineering
Sciences Applications (MESA) Complex
at Sandia National Laboratories in
Albuquerque. A new federal courthouse in Albuquer-
Signing the 2005 energy bill.
que is named for the senator.
n New U.S. District Courthouse in
Albuquerque is named after Domenici.
2008
nLegislation for mental health parity in insurance coverage
championed by Domenici for more than a decade wins
passage.
n Senate ethics committee issues Public Letter of Qualified
Admonition to Domenici for a 2006 call to then-U.S. Attorney
David Iglesias. Committee says Domenici should not have
made the call, but found no substantial evidence that he
tried to improperly influence a federal investigation.
n The Department of Homeland Securitys Federal Law
Enforcement Training Center at Artesia is renamed the
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Pete V. Domenici
Training Complex. The facility, created with Domenicis help
in 1989, trains thousands of federal law enforcement agents
annually.
The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico Albuquerque, December 7, 2008 3
I worked pretty hard
Popular N.M. senator remembered for dedication, long service to state
By John Robertson
Journal State Editor
T
his special section reviews the
highlights of the life and career of
Pete Domenici, New Mexicos longest-
serving United States senator.
The Journal reached into photo and news
archives compiled over more than four
decades of reporting on Domenici and asked
reporters to interview knowledgeable people
about his background and contributions.
Domenici announced in October 2007 his
pending retirement after he was diagnosed
with a degenerative brain disease. In a twist
of good news, he told a Journal reporter
recently that he was feeling much better
and that the disease had stalled. In fact, one
researcher told him he didnt believe he had
the disease at all. But Domenici said he did
not regret his decision to step down.
The senator himself was in the Journal
offices the other day for a farewell chat. His
jacket cuffs were a little frayed and he wore
a wristwatch with a yellow face and a red Zia
symbol.
The worn coat and New Mexico watch
seemed to reflect themes that run throughout
the stories and testimonials in this tribute:
hard work, long service and devotion to New
Mexico.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who has
served all 25 of his years in the Senate with
Domenici, spoke in August at the Domenici
Legacy Conference at New Mexico State
University and said, The four hallmarks of
the Domenici legacy can be summarized in
four words: budget, energy, nuclear and labs.
As chairman of the Senate Budget
Committee and later as chairman of Senate
Energy and Natural Resources, Domenici
rose to prominence in Congress and provided
national leadership on the federal budget and
energy policy. In 1997, while he was Senate
Budget Committee chairman, Congress
passed its first balanced budget in more than
three decades. Meanwhile, Bingaman noted,
Domenici always knew what New Mexico
communities needed and wanted.
Few can match his record of
accomplishment, and, I think its safe to say,
the respect and affection the citizens of a
state have for their senator and his family,
Bingaman said.
Im a legislator, Domenici once said of
himself. In a single word, it said a lot about
his career. Colleagues say he was good, both
at City Hall and then in Congress, at working
with others to get things done for his town
and his state.
As his career draws to a close, theres no
shortage of buildings and roads being named
for the retiring senator. But New Mexicans
obviously think the recognition is due.
The Journals late Washington
correspondent, Paul R. Wieck, in 1983
Our best wishes, as always, Senator Domenici!
Don Chalmers, Terri Cole and
The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce
The Cochiti Pueblo Drum Group and Zuni Pueblo Olla Maidens stand behind Sen. Pete Domenici,
R-N.M., at the 2004 dedication of the Pete V. Domenici Indian Affairs Building in Albuquerque.
reported a story being told inside the New
Mexico congressional delegation. Domenici
had asked a delegation member who was up
for election what he could do to help.
Stop taking credit for everything that
happens in the state, the fellow New
Mexican said.
It was told as a joke, but the truth is that
Domenici was ubiquitous when it came to
getting money, projects and services sent
New Mexicos way. For years, he served
on the powerful Senate Appropriations
Committee. Meanwhile, his staff helped
countless individuals and families with
with everyday problems. Back home, critics
somewhat resentfully dubbed him St. Pete.
But the critics were few. Nearly 70 percent
of voters surveyed in the last Journal poll
on his job performance said they approved.
Throughout, he was a Republican in a
Democratic majority state.
There were few incidents to mar the luster
of his career perhaps only one that will be
remembered. That was his phone call to the
U.S. attorney for New Mexico at the height
of the 2006 election about an investigation
that could prove embarrassing to Democrats.
Domenici said he regretted making the call
and apologized. The Senate ethics committee
issued a Public Letter of Qualified
Admonition but found no substantial
evidence that Domenici had improperly
tried to influence an investigation.
While he relished his big-vote margins in
six elections to the Senate, the senator from
New Mexico was the opposite of the blow-
dried, blow-hard politician who has become
the image of Washington. He wasnt running
for president. He wasnt lining his own
pockets. He was a practical man who took his
job seriously and focused on helping his state.
In his own farewell speech on the Senate
floor in September, Domenici thanked
key members of his staff over the years,
including Steve Bell, Bill Hoagland and Alex
Flint. He thanked his wife, Nancy, mother
From the
Publisher
T
he people first put their trust
in Pete Domenici when they
elected him to the Albuquerque
City Commission. New
Mexicans liked what they saw, so they
sent the hardworking son of Italian
immigrants to represent New Mexico in
the United States Senate.
To say that he repaid that trust would
be a huge understatement. Few have
done as much for their state and their
country. He worked tirelessly during
his six terms in the Senate on behalf
of his beloved New Mexico, and built a
national legacy on issues ranging from
the budget to energy independence.
Journal file He has distinguished himself as an
honorable and ethical public servant,
and we are pleased to publish this
section in honor of his legacy. We wish
Pete and his family all the best.
of their eight children, for living with the
distractions and demands of his political Gracias, mi amigo
career.
It has not been an easy job, Domenici
said of his wife. She probably has had as
hard a job a much harder job than I and
shes never been anything but beautiful and
decent, honest and loving and caring.
T.H. Lang, Publisher
Then, in a modest summation of his own
efforts, the man from New Mexico said, I
worked pretty hard at being a senator.
EDITOR writers ONABQJournal.com
john robertson Michael coleman Go online
to see video
DESIGNERS john fleck
excerpts
LEAH DERRINGTON
toby smith of Michael
RACHEL CONGER
Colemans
olivier extensive
photo editor
JAIME DISPENZA uyttebrouck interview with Sen. Domenici
Thank You for a lifetime of service!
For your lifetime commitment to bettering the
lives of all New Mexicans, for your dedicated
leadership and support of the Republican Party,
and for your unwavering friendship, we thank you.
Your service to New Mexico has touched
generations, brought people together, and
provided a foundation for the future.
You will never be forgotten and
will always be our St. Pete!
Paid for by the Republican Party of New Mexico .
4 The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico
Early days in Albuquerque: From left, sisters Thelma, Mary, Karlene and Nella; and a future U.S. senator from New Mexico, Pietro Vichi Domenici.
Boccis boyhood
Family, faith and hard work laid a lifetime foundation
By Toby Smith
Journal Staff Writer
T
he little, sandy-
haired boy stood
at the gate in front
of his house on
Tijeras Street NW. As he
had every night for almost
a week, the boy called out a
name, repeating it over and
over. Tubby! he cried in
a plaintive voice. Tubby!
Please come home!
A mix-breed mongrel,
Tubby never came home.
Pete Domenici, the dogs
owner, was like a lot of kids.
His world for a time revolved
around a beloved pet.
Domenicis childhood, his
youth and his young adult
years were, in fact, like a
lot of kids then and now.
Hard work, little money,
immigrant parents who set
examples, more hard work
and, ultimately, the success
that frequently comes when
all those characteristics
collaborate.
A name never
to be outgrown
The Tijeras house was
one of three homes Pete
Domenici lived in during
his growing-up years. The
first house, on Candelaria
NW, where he was born
but resided only briefly, is
notable because its where
he received a nickname that
stuck for life.
A few days after Pietro
Vichi Domenici appeared,
on May 7, 1932, an aunt who
spoke no English stopped by
and held aloft the 10-pound
newborn first son. Sembra
un bocci, she announced. He
looks like a bocci ball.
Bocci, echoed the proud
dad, Cherubino Domenici,
bearer of a nickname
himself. He was Choppo,
another boyhood handle.
The family moved to the
house on Tijeras because
of its nearness to Choppos
grocery store, to St. Marys
School, to Immaculate
NEAR RIGHT: Growing up: Pete
Domenici and two of his sisters
in post-war Albuquerque.
FAR RIGHT: Just elected to the
Albuquerque City Commission,
Domenici and his wife, Nancy,
pose in 1966 with six of what
would eventually be their eight
children.
senatorial interest in matters
and races of people
Pete Domenici stands tall and
wears a white hat at an early
age.
Conception Church. Work,
school, church. The three
words defined much of Pete
Domenicis first 25 years.
He made good grades at St.
Marys, minded the sisters,
starred on the baseball
diamond and, classmates
said, developed leadership
skills that never left him.
When he wasnt attending
school, he was often next
door, at church, serving as
an altar boy and training
others. According to Petes
three older sisters, no priest
had to worry about how the other kid, wearing a big
candles might be placed ring, swung and cut Petes
when Bocci was aboard. face. Blood spurted, Pete was
On and off during that off to the ER, and Choppo
time, he assisted at his was livid. Later, the youths
fathers store, Montezuma became good friends: Bocci
Grocery Co. There he stocked and Bobby Unser.
shelves; swept up; watched After a few semesters at
Choppo do the books. That the College of St. Joseph on
last task, Boccis boyhood Albuquerques West Mesa,
pals are sure, honed his keen Domenici transferred to
UNM, which had, he was
financial. certain, a better baseball
program.
An appreciation In a biology class at UNM,
he spotted a cute tennis
for the law
player named Nancy Burk.
Working at the grocery, Thats someone I want to
peddling his mother Aldas know, he decided. With
flowers on the street, his degree from UNM in
playing sandlot ball brought 1954, young Pete took a job
Domenici at a young age teaching math at Garfield
in contact with all strata Junior High School. Choppo
was happy. Teaching is an
from Hispanics to Native honorable profession, he told
Americans to kids from the his son.
sprouting Heights. But Pete didnt think
The ease at which he mixed teaching paid enough.
became his political calling Eventually, he knew, he
card. People for Pete, his wanted to marry Nancy
campaign slogan went. Hes Burk. So he tended bar at
one of us, people felt, even if Romeos, a saloon owned
he is a Republican. by a family friend; tutored
Bocci wasnt a perfect boy. young kids; and worked for
In high school, Domenici his father.
got into a fistfight with a kid
Teaching math, he soon
from Albuquerque High. It
discovered, was not for him.
happened in front of the old
But what to do?
Highland Theater. Seems
A St. Marys buddy named
his adversary, a rangy blond
Kaiser Michael was applying
youth with a penchant for
to law school at Denver
fast cars, liked the same
University. You ought to
girl Pete did. Domenici
apply there, too, Bocci.
took exception; words were
One day Pete worked up
exchanged. Finally, the
the courage to confront his
COURTESY OF DOMENICI FAMILY
Albuquerque, December 7, 2008
father. Papa, I want to go to
law school.
Youre crazy, said
Choppo. Why do you want
more school? Youre doing
well.
When Pete got accepted at
Denver, his father said, If
you work up there, you wont
make it through school.
By now, Choppo had sold
his business. He had turned
his grocery into a wholesale
operation, which had
thrived. He had done well.
I will pay for everything,
Choppo said. If you fail,
youll pay me back every
cent.
With that, the senior
Domenici wrote up a
promissory note and made
his son sign it.
Pete didnt flunk out. At had one more complaint
his graduation party, Choppo
tore up the note.
That was the biggest
boost of confidence I could
ever have, Domenici
remembered.
Doing something
about his city
Returning to Albuquerque
after law school, Domenici
took a job with a family
friend, Gino Matteuci, a
smart, courtly lawyer.
Domenici worked hard,
taking any client who came
into the office, not fearing
the role of lead attorney in
the most complicated cases.
He gladly accepted pro bono
COURTESY OF DOMENICI FAMILY
work, serving as a public
defender for murderers,
rapists, scalawags. Simply
put, he had to work. The
family he and Nancy had
started kept adding kids, it
seemed, almost every year.
Lawyers and other
business people in
Albuquerque in the 1960s
often met for coffee at
Magidsons, at Second and
Central. A morning cup was
for chewing the fat about how
the Lobos did or, as it was for
Domenici, grousing about the
city in which he lived.
Why cant they get
that street repaired he
wondered. Why cant they
pay cops or firemen more?
Every morning, it seemed,
the crew-cut young lawyer
about what was wrong with
Albuquerque.
Finally, those at
Magidsons long front
table, where the most lively
conversations took place,
urged Pete to put up or shut
up.
What do you mean? he
said.
Run for public office; get
involved.
Soon, a bloc was formed,
the Peoples Committee for
Better Government. Pete,
Harry Kinney and John
Gurule were put forward to
be on the City Commission,
similar to todays City
Council. They would run for
See DOMENICI on PAGE 5
JOURNAL FILE
The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico Albuquerque, December 7, 2008 5

Bocci found new love on the mound

Domenici came But Pete could play all day.
During summers, he played
close to attaining American Legion games
that took him from Gallup
to Clovis. He played pueblo
baseball dreams teams and pickup squads
from the South Valley.
By Toby Smith People fans and opposing
Journal Staff Writer players soon got to know
Domenici had always
relied on his fastball. In the Domenici fires a fastball
pros, batters learned to look
for the heat. To compound
for the Albuquerque
Dukes in 1954.
matters, Domenici didnt
get along with the Dukes
manager, who made Pete a
relief pitcher. The man rode
Pete, the college boy. Rode

L
ong before there were
budget meetings on
Capitol Hill, there
were baseball games
on the UNM hill.
With his dog Tubby gone,
Pete Domenici soon gained
a new love: hardball. He
learned on sandlots, chiefly
the playgrounds at St. Marys
and Washington Junior High
School. From the beginning,
he wanted to pitch. A loose-
limbed, bespectacled hurler
with a Juan Marichal leg
kick, in time Domenici
developed into a fine
fireballer.
As a boy, he took his
baseball glove and a ball with
him when he went to help
out at Montezuma Grocery.
There, he pestered anyone
to have a catch. Domenici
may have been devoted to
baseball, but his father, who
called the game pelota, was
not. Cherubino Domenici
thought baseball a foolish
waste. When he saw his son
tossing a ball, he shook his
head and asked, How can
you play when you have work
to do?
the friendly Albuquerque kid
called Bocci. And many
later remembered him at
election time.
His coach during summers
was an ex-major leaguer
named Joe Palmisano. You
got what it takes, old Joe
said, affirming Boccis dream
of playing professional ball.
In 1950, his senior year
in high school, and suiting
up for the esteemed coach
Babe Parenti, Domenici
led St. Marys to a state
championship. At the College
of St. Joseph first, then at the
University of New Mexico, he
continued to draw notice as a
pitcher. As a UNM senior in
1954, he went 14-3 and made
all-conference.
A family friend, George
Savage, knew the owner of
the Albuquerque Dukes, then
a class D farm club of the
Brooklyn Dodgers. As a favor,
the Dukes that summer of 54
offered Domenici a contract.
Its recollected to be $300 a
month.
Suddenly, the dream of pro
baseball seemed closer than
ever.
him hard.
Things got particularly
sour one July night. The
Dukes had just played the
Roswell Rockets, and the
Rockets great hitter, Big
Joe Bauman, who held
the American professional
baseball record for home
runs (72) in a season for
nearly 50 years had
clubbed two triples off
Pete, knocking a hole in the
outfield fence with one blast.
On the way out of town, the
Dukes manager ordered
the team bus to stop. The
manager stood up and said
for all to hear, Domenici,
heres a five-dollar bill. Go
into that hardware store
tomorrow and buy a hammer
and some nails. Then go back
and fix that fence.
For Pete Domenici, the
words brought his dream
to a painful halt. However,
as soon as he got back to
Albuquerque, he started
pitching again, for a local
semi-pro outfit. Bocci was
back among people who
appreciated him. He was
back home. COURTESY OF DOMENICI FAMILY

Domenici got involved in his hometown

from PAGE 4
The newly
elected U.S. seats against another group,
senator the Albuquerque Citizens
returns to his Committee, which dated back
old stomp- to Clyde Tingley days.
ing grounds, Domenici threw himself
Albuquerque into that race by going
City Hall, in around town and visiting
people he had sold flowers to,
1974.
played baseball with, knew
JOURNAL FILE from school or church. He
went to the neighborhoods
like Barelas, where some
residents thought he was
Spanish because he spoke
the language. And to the
South Valley, where he had
tended bar and driven home
more than one inebriated
customer. These were Petes
people.
Everybody knew Pete,
Chuck Lanier remembered.
Everybody liked him.
Leaving an imprint
on his hometown
Elected to the City
Commission in 1966,
Domenici distinguished
himself right away. He
always wanted to check
things out, said Bill
Keleher, to see for himself.
He wanted to visit the old
Albuquerque Museum, then
out by the airport, to see
if the city was getting its
money worth from it.
The following year, 1967,
Domenici was named
chairman of the City
Commission. As the ex
officio mayor, he held
neighborhood gripe sessions.
When an elderly woman
told him that every time it
rained a sewer overflowed in
her yard, Domenici had the
public works director fixing
things the next morning.
His Peoples Committee
for Better Government
embraced urban renewal,
getting a Convention Center
built and replacing decrepit
structures with new ones.
The committee helped get
the Sports Stadium built,
home of the Dukes for three
decades. And the group
attracted industry. Domenici
& Co. got Singer to relocate
to Albuquerque, then GTE
Lenkurt, Levi Strauss and Bocci.
others to follow.
Though few outside
Bernalillo County knew him,
Domenici ran for governor in
1970. He took on Bruce King,
sweeping Bernalillo County
but getting licked elsewhere.
Afterward, he looked for all
the world like the boy who
missed his dog. This would
be the only election Pete
Domenici ever lost.
Two quick years later,
elected to the U.S. Senate,
he left Albuquerque for
Washington, D.C. But he
didnt leave it, for his legacy
remains all about. As do
the many people who know

Sen. Pete Domenici,

Sandia National Laboratories, Lockheed Martin Corporation,
and the Technology Ventures Corporation thank you for your
unwavering support for more than three decades to help us
provide exceptional service in the national interest.

We thank you for your service to New Mexico and the

nation. Our best to you, Nancy and your family.

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company,

for the United States Department of Energys National Nuclear Security Administration under contract
DE-AC04-94AL85000.MV.11.08
6 The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico
Duke City
to D.C.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., sat down in
Albuquerque and Washington, D.C., recently
with Journal Washington correspondent
Michael Coleman to talk about his life
and career
Tell me how you got
involved in politics for
the first time?
I
dont think I thought
about it very much. But
any organization I was
in, leadership positions
just seemed to come
naturally. I was president of
my sixth grade class. I was
president of every class we
ever had at St. Marys (High
School in Albuquerque). I
went to St. Josephs college
for two years before I
transferred to UNM, and I
was president of the student
body as a sophomore at St.
Joes (college). I remember
we had a student strike,
because the old sister who
ran the treasury had put
our student loan money
somewhere we didnt
want it. And I remember
standing on a table and we
were chanting, Money, or
No Studies! I was always
involved in leadership.
You were also quite a
baseball pitcher, accord-
ing to lore. Was baseball
always a part of your
early life?
I played ball since I was
14. And even while I was at
St. Joes (college), I pitched
baseball. They didnt have
much of a team, but we had
a lot of fun. The people I
played against couldnt hit
me because they hadnt had
all the good fortune I had
had. I had played Ameri-
can Legion ball since I was
15. I had fantastic coaches
one in particular, was
Leon Palmisano. His daddy
was Joe, and he was a
major leaguer. For us to
be around a major leaguer
around 15 or 16 we were
really lucky.
What was your best
pitch?
The fastball. It jumped
inside to the right. I had
lots of strikeouts.
You obviously had a lot
of friends. Any particu-
lar memories from the
early day jump out?
There was a little guy,
Ralph Matteucci, and David
Matthews, a star athlete at
Albuquerque High along
with Ralph. Ralph was an
honorable mention All-
American as a (football)
guard. He saved me when
Bobby Unser and I got into
a fight. It was about a girl,
we both wanted her to
dance with us, and no one
else you know how that
is. He (Unser) used a big
ring, so Ralph had to call
the fight. Matteucci was
the referee. See this mark
on my head? Its still there.
And neither one of us ever
dated her.
You grew up in Albu-
querque as the son of
Italian immigrants who
arrived in New Mexico at
the turn of the century.
Was your ethnicity ever
a factor for you socially
when you were growing
up?
Thats a great question,
but no it was not. My dad
and his brother arrived
there in 1906, and there
was an Italian community
already there that was siz-
able and significant. They
had all gone into business
and owned stores or shoe
Q& A
The senator to-be as a young man, relaxing at home in Albuquerque with his parents, Cheru-
bino and Alda Domenici.
shine parlors, or bars, or
groceries and meat mar-
kets. My father and his
brother came and brought
over here my uncle and put
him in business with them.
Thats how we bought the
Montezuma mercantile.
Your father had hoped
you would take over
the family grocery,
and you wanted to go
to law school. How
did you reconcile that
disagreement?
That was a very sad part
of the relationship between
him and me, because I
never really wanted the
business. But when it came
right down to him selling it
quitting after 40 years of
hard work I went to him
and said I would change
my mind, and I would learn
the business with him. He
answered me, and showed
me in hindsight, he had a
lot of wisdom. He said, No,
Bocci. (Domenicis nick-
name) Its done.
He said, Its been obvi-
Senator-elect Pete Domenici thanks supporters and celebrates his victory in the 1972 election with his wife, Nancy, at his side.
The former Albuquerque city commissioner would go on to win five more terms in the U.S. Senate from New Mexico.
ous to me that you would
have something else in
mind for your life. So, I
dont want you to think
about it anymore.
Then he waited about a
week and said, I want to
help you go to law school,
but not if its another one of
your larks. He said, Ill
make you a deal. Ill pay for
everything. It will be my
gift to you so you work at
school and not at a job. But
if I determine you screwed
it up, youre going to have
to pay it all back.
I figure it was the great-
est thing he ever did for
me. He could not have done
better by me. My dad died
before he ever saw me elect-
ed to any public office.
How did you meet your
wife, Nancy?
I met her at the Univer-
sity of New Mexico. I was
in biology class. She was
a freshman and I was a
junior. I saw her sitting
over in a bleacher seat and
I figured I had to go meet
COURTESY OF DOMENICI FAMILY
her. Once that happened,
we were never apart.
After law school at the
University of Denver, you
returned to Albuquerque
to practice law. When did
you return to the politi-
cal realm, and how did it
happen?
It was a threat or a dare
by five friends they liter-
ally had it planned. The
idea was getting me to com-
mit to run. It happened at
Magidsons (a former deli
in downtown Albuquerque)
over coffee. I complained a
lot about city government,
and they said, If you dont
run, we dont want to hear
any more complaining.
They said, We think its
time for you to run for
public office, and the right
place to start is City Hall.
My wife, dear thing, didnt
know what we were getting
into, but she said yes. We
had six children already
and two more arrived while
we were at City Hall.
I said, OK, and eventually
Albuquerque, December 7, 2008
a team was put together
that was called the Peoples
Committee. We ran this
campaign and I got the
most votes, so that made me
chairman under the rules.
City Hall was just one excit-
ing thing after another for
three years and about eight
months. I spent lots and
lots of time early on to the
neglect of my family and
certainly my law practice.
How did you get by
financially?
I didnt work (at law) very
much, and somebody sup-
ported me or we would have
gone broke. Tom Bonham,
another lawyer who was
helping me with my work,
supported us because I got
so involved with city gov-
ernment. He used to joke
that he was the only bach-
elor in town who was sup-
porting a wife, a husband
and eight kids!
We used to do City Coun-
cil things informally at
Moris Lounge. The actual
City Council meetings were
at City Hall, obviously, so
we didnt have a violation.
The Journal would have
gotten us on that one.
What was it that you
wanted to accomplish as
a city leader? Why did
you run?
We wanted to diversify
our job base, because we
were just far worse than
now, dependent on Sandia
National Laboratories and
the federal government.
And we had made promises
to the part of the city
mostly in the valley that
had none of the infrastruc-
ture that other parts had.
No swimming pools, a lot
of unpaved roads, and even
outhouses within a stones
throw of City Hall. We
didnt know how we were
going to do it, but we want-
ed to clean all that up.
You ran for governor
for the first time in 1970,
but you lost to Demo-
crat Bruce King. What
JOURNAL FILE
did that loss the only
electoral defeat of your
career teach you about
running for office?
In New Mexico, a
Republican cant win a
campaign by just being a
good candidate or having
a lot of personal friends or
having a nice family. He
can only win if he runs a
real tough, professional
campaign. Bruce King
was well-known. I was
not. Clearly, I had to build
from the base up. He had a
very powerful Democratic
Party, and he was a likeable
man. And my organization
was totally inadequate. It
was a sad night when we
finally counted the votes.
I was a city boy and that
clearly gave me a lot of get-
up-and-go from Bernalillo
County but, in the rural
communities and smaller
town, I just didnt get my
person across. I learned
from that.
Why did you become a
Republican?
When it came time to reg-
ister to vote, my dad was a
Republican and Eisenhow-
er was running. I talked to
my father about it and was
somewhat motivated by
the fact that the party had
a wonderful candidate for
president. And thats really
about it. My philosophies
on different things were
formulated as I worked at
the job, but I never was sor-
ry that I was a Republican
in Washington.
In 1972, a couple of
years after you lost to
King, you ran for the U.S.
Senate and won. What
compelled you to run?
I didnt run because I
knew anything about the
job, or because I had a sena-
tor that was my idol, but
I knew what it was like to
run and I knew that I could
win an election in New
Mexico.
Did you arrive in Wash-
ington with particular
legislative goals or a
mandate from voters to
accomplish something
specific?
I didnt really run for the
Senate as a reformer. I had
no big national agenda.
I had no awe of the sena-
tors who were here. But
I did know I needed to
learn all I could about the
laboratories. It was pretty
clear that Los Alamos and
Sandia and the Air Force
were important (to New
Mexico). I didnt get on that
committee (that oversaw
the labs), and I didnt get
on any good committees at
all. I got on environment
and public works. Youve
been here long enough
to know thats an awful
appointment. I also got on
the Interior Committee,
two years later. It eventu-
ally became the Energy and
Natural Resources Com-
mittee. It took a long time to
get on the Appropriations
Committee.
What was it like for
you coming to a big,
powerful city like Wash-
ington after essentially
being an Albuquerque
guy your whole life?
It was tough. It was strict-
The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico Albuquerque, December 7, 2008 7

Q& A

JOURNAL FILE

Domenici and his wife, Nancy, right, and several of their eight children wave to a crowd of supporters at a campaign rally in 1978, the year of his first re-election to the U.S. Senate.

ly because of my wonderful
wife, Nancy, and her hard
work and dedication as a
mother to our eight kids,
that we were able to make
it. Everything was exorbi-
tantly priced, and, at the
time, the salaries of sena-
tors were terribly bad. They
didnt raise the salaries of
senators in Congress until
a few years later. I was
making maybe $38,000 and
had to move 10 people here
(Washington, D.C.) and buy
a house. It was so tough
that, at points, you just had
to wonder if you did the
right thing for your family,
but it turned out all right.
I was very stressed, and I
started to see the value of
having a really good staff
Vice President George H.W. Bush swears in Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., for a third term in the
U.S. Senate in 1985.
very quickly. But it got to be
more fun, the more we got
accustomed to this place
and the more we began to
feel comfortable.
There were many
achievements during
your 36-year career,
but one thing that cant
be overlooked is your
participation on the fed-
eral budget process. You
served as chairman or
ranking member of the
Senate Budget Commit-
tee for more than two
decades. Why was that so
important to you?
The budget committee
during my time became an
instrument of real power,
with great staff help led by
(Domenicis chief-of-staff)
Steve Bell. We learned to
do certain things, using
reconciliation and the
budget resolution, to do
things especially raising
or lowering taxes that
nobody had done with the
budget committee. And I
became more and more
well-known. It was a great
and wonderful time of real
involvement. That was a
great time to be involved
nationally, but what I loved
most was using the appro-
priations process (on the
Appropriations Committee)
to help New Mexico. I made
a lot of friends in both the
executive branch and Con-
gress and I could get pretty
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
much what I needed. As
long as I stayed interested,
I could do many things that
New Mexicans wanted and
needed.
At one point, during
the 1988 presidential
campaign, then-Presi-
dent George H.W. Bush
was considering you as
his vice presidential run-
ning mate. What was
that like?
What I do know now, for
memories, is that I was a
serious candidate. I know
what its like to be seriously
vetted. There are a lot of
people involved in the pro-
cess that I didnt know. And
when it came right down to
the end of it and lots of
hard work while the feel-
ing outside was positive, we
had a feeling it wasnt going
to happen. It got more than
its share of notoriety, and it
was exciting. But I was des-
tined, it seems to me, to be
a legislator. Thats what Im
good at, and Im still good
at it as I leave.
You spent most of
your last term in a fair
amount of pain, whether
it was nerve damage in
your hand, arthritis in
your back or other ail-
ments. You ultimately
decided to retire after
being diagnosed with a
degenerative brain dis-
ease. How much did your
health hamper you the
last years in office?
Because of that diagnosis
and lots of other things, I
decided not to run. I will
make it clear that it was
not just that diagnosis, it
was lots of other things that
were bothering me (physi-
cally) and my age seemed to
be creeping up on me much
faster than some others.
But the disease that I
have, called frontal lobe
disease, has been deter-
mined not to be moving,
and thats a great relief to
me and to my wife. They
actually think it could
get better because Im not
taking so many medica-
tions. Ive still got plenty of
things that bug me pain
in my feet, pain in my hips,
pain in my hands and I
cant seem to find a doc-
tor who can quite fix it. I
think Ive just got too many
things wrong with me. (A
researcher recently told the
senator he did not believe
he had frontal lobe disease,
but Domenici says he does
not regret his decision to
retire.)
Looking back on your
long career, do you have
any particular regrets
or a sense that you
could have done things
differently?
There are so many
things if I just sat down
and thought about it, that I
wished I would have done,
but let me just say it like
this. All things considered,
I think what surprises me
is how I was able to do so
many different things that
dont put me in one niche.
Do you have any politi-
cal heroes?
In the United States Sen-
ate there were three. One
was a Democrat named
Sam Nunn (of Georgia).
Some of the things he was
doing I liked very much
in the areas of defense and
(nuclear) non-proliferation.
On the Republican side,
Howard Baker (of Tennes-
see). Much of the work on
the budget was done when
he was the Republican
leader and I was the chair-
man. That put a real bond
between us. Also, Bob Dole
was a hero of mine. He was
a master legislator I spent
almost as much time in his
office as I did in mine.
What would you recall
as your most memorable
moment of moments in
the Senate?
The one thats most
memorable is the breaking
ground on and completion
of the MESA facility at
Sandia. At $491 million, it
was the largest construc-
tion project for DOE at that
point in history. It now
houses all of the work done
on nanotechnology and
micro-engineering. That
was a red-letter day in all
respects.
Is there something
you view as your single
greatest legislative
accomplishment?
I think people will give
me some credit for the
renaissance of nuclear pow-
er in the world, combined
with the Energy Policy Act
of 2005. And the legislative
jump-start of the genome
project, which I was talked
into doing by a great array
of scientists in New Mex-
ico, because the National
Institutes of Health were
languishing. We did that
without the assistance of
the executive branch. So,
I would say to be fair
to everyone that I dont
have one but I have two.
What has it meant to
you to be able to serve
the state of New Mexico
for so long?
When you know you have
the people supporting you,
you have a certain power
that is hard to describe, but
it really permits you to do
difficult things. I felt that,
and by getting such broad
support, especially to have
so many people from both
parties supporting you
gives you an inordinate
sense of strength. I never
thought I was going to get
to know the people of this
state like I have. That is a
terrific thing.

Pete Domenici was a good, hard-working, mainstream conservative who believed in lower taxes and lower spending, and when I was in office, he
voted that way. We tried to get spending under control and he took a lot of heat for it because he was the chairman of the budget committee.
When we came to Congress, a Republican was someone who wanted lower taxes and lower spending. It wasnt very complicated. Also, Pete
was always trying to broaden the party by including Hispanics and others, not narrow it like it is now. I dont know what Petes going to do
now, but he did a good job in the Senate and it wasnt aways easy for him in Washington having a big family like he did. He could have gone
off and made a lot of money doing something else, but he loved his work.
Bob Dole, former Senate majority leader
8 The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico

Albuquerque, December 7, 2008

Fiscal common sense
brought balance to budget
Journal Staff Report
During his more than
four decades in elected
office, Senator Pete Domeni-
Congress. ship, Hoagland said. ci demonstrated time and
of the Gippers spending cuts intended
to help balance the federal budget. He
was a tough but fair adversary.
He hasnt changed much. Last year, I

S
en. Pete Domenici
first rose to national
prominence in
the early 1980s as
chairman of the Senate
Budget Committee and, in
1997, Congress approved the
first balanced budget in more
than three decades.
It was a historic achieve-
ment under Domenicis
leadership, soon undone by a
freer-spending Congress.
Former Senate Budget Com-
mittee staff director G. Wil-
liam Hoagland, in an address
to the Domenici Legacy
Conference at New Mexico
State University in August,
compared Domenicis budget
efforts to the Myth of Sisy-
phus the story of a mortal
condemned by the gods to roll
a huge boulder up the side of a
mountain, only to have it roll
back down again.
Hoagland, in a recent con-
versation, defined the guid-
ing light of Domenicis efforts
over those years of trying to
balancing the federal budget
as his fundamental common
sense.
He was raised in a con-
servative environment,
Hoagland said. You didnt
spend more than you took in.
I think the concept of accu-
mulating debt and burdening
future generations haunted
him.
In his speech to the legacy
conference, Hoagland said,
Through the struggles, Sen-
ator Domenici remained solid
in his beliefs. Like a family,
a business, a university, or a
state, he recognized that the
federal government can not
long sustain an imbalance in
what it takes in and what it
spends.
Finding that balance has
Domenici described ham-
mering out the agreement again that he was a public witnessed that same independence and
over a period of several
weeks in his small hide- servant who took a long-range approach resolve when he voiced strong support
away, or secondary office in
to addressing complicated issues such for the Iraq Study Group report despite
U.S. Capitol. Aides hustled
in and out, day and night, as energy, nuclear proliferation, and our opposition from some in his party. Pete
carrying ledger sheets and
agency budget requests. federal budget. He did so with a laser- stands up for what he thinks is right. He
There should be a sign on
like focus on results rather than allow calls them as he sees them.
the door saying, the balanced
budget was negotiated in this himself to become distracted by ideo- Today, it seems, too many inside the
room, Domenici said. Newt
Gingrich was the point man logical battles that too often undermine Washington beltway want to debate how
on the House side. It was the
biggest instrument of (fiscal)
efforts to reach a national consensus. many angels can dance on the head of
change that wed ever had. Of Pete possesses a keen political mind this pin or that. Pete prefers to bridge
course, members set a lot of it
aside two years later when it that compartmentalizes emotions from the divide and get things done.
started pinching (their budget
requests).
analysis. In this way, he resembles most Ameri-
Domenici said President- As chief of staff to President Ronald cans who want to fix problems rather
elect Barack Obama might
want to dust off the mecha- Reagan during his first term, I saw how than just argue about them.
nisms that he and then-Pres- independent and resolute he could be.
ident Clinton used, at least James A. Baker III,
temporarily, to balance the As the influential chairman of the Senate former White House chief of staff, treasury

But the 1997 effort estab- required dedication, hard federal budget.
lished what Sen. Jeff Binga- work, diligence, pragmatism, I believe the model we set Budget Committee, Pete opposed some secretary and secretary of state

man, D-N.M., and others call perseverance and maybe might be the one they can
the modern budget process in above all else, bipartisan- use, Domenici said.

www.joemonahan.com The City Commission,

Staff and the Citizens
of Aztec express their
heartfelt thanks and grati-
tude for all the Senators
hard work and efforts in acquiring funding
for various projects that have contributed
greatly to the well being of Aztec.

www.joemonahan.com

Thanks For Being

A Great Advocate
For The People
of New Mexico WOULD LIKE TO SAY

The Bregman Law Firm, PC

THANK YOU
FOR SENATOR
PETE DOMENICIS 36 YEARS Senator Domenici, we thank you for your vision, statesmanship and
keen understanding of the potential of a highly selective university
SENATOR DOMENICI...YOUR CONTRIBUTION OF SERVICE to engage in projects of national and international significance.
TO OUR STATE WILL BE FELT FOR MANY Dr. Daniel Lpez
GENERATIONS TO COME. VISIT US AT: WWW.NMMU.COM President, New Mexico Tech

O N E a nd To Our Senator:
To ourgratitude, an ONLY, We admire you
Pride, d love We are grateful for all your accomplishments

ea r t s of the only four people in th We pray for continued blessings and happiness
eh BR e wo
l t h
fl that can ca ll yo u O T H ER. rld
We wish you much success in all your
future endeavors

Domenici Center for Health Sciences Education

New Mexico - Nevada - Texas www.dpsdesign.org

LEGAL CHAMPION OF THE POOR Thel m

You are one of Saint Marys shinning stars

A n n God speed and God bless!

a , M a r y, nd Ro s e
Dear Senator Pete: S is t e r Ne l l a , a Your Saint Marys School
As those of us who have worked with you for over 30 years and
who knew the situation, you have been the champion of legal
services for the poor and a stalwart supporter in the Congress of
the Legal Services Corporation which funds legal aid programs in
all of the states including state-wide New Mexico Legal Aid and
DNA-Peoples Legal Services. We thank and honor you for your
concern for the poor and for your wonderful accomplishments.

John D. Robb, Albuquerque

Sarah M. Singleton, Santa Fe Tom Growney Equipment

Quality
Integrity
Reliability
Since 1966

Senator Pete Domenici

Quality
Integrity
Reliability
Left to right are N.M. Bar President, Craig Orraj, Pete, and American Bar
Association President, Tom Wells presenting a special ABA legal aid award Since 1972
in Washington D.C., on April 16, 2008.
Thank You
The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico Albuquerque, December 7, 2008 9

Renewed Energy
Domenici Made Reviving Nuclear Power His Personal Crusade
By John Fleck this country. Critics say that to flesh out the general out- decade ago. A Department of
Journal Staff Writer may never happen because line of a nuclear power policy Energy effort, instigated by

S
en. Pete Domenici
returned to his Wash-
ington, D.C., office
late one evening in
October 1997 after a meeting
with congressional budget
leaders.
For more than two decades
in Congress, balancing the
federal budget had been
Domenicis personal crusade.
That night, he saw numbers
that made him think the bud-
get monster had finally been
tamed.
I think the budget is going
to be balanced next year,
Domenici told his aides. Ive
been working on that for 25
years. What am I going to do
next?
The answer he and his staff
came up with that night was
nuclear power. Domenici
would spearhead a renais-
sance of nuclear power.
Just one month later,
Domenici strode into the hall
at the annual meeting of the
American Nuclear Society
in Albuquerque to a stand-
ing ovation. Nuclear power,
he argued, could provide a
safe, clean, reliable, domestic
source of energy to meet the
nations growing needs.
My intention, he said,
is to lead a new dialogue.
I intend to provide national
leadership to overcome
barriers.
The results can be seen
today inside the gleaming
Rockville, Md., headquarters
of the U.S. Nuclear Regula-
tory Commission. There,
workers have begun review-
ing applications for 26 new
U.S. nuclear power plants
the first such applications
since 1979.
Advocates say the applica-
tions mark the beginning of
a nuclear power expansion in
of the cost of nuclear power
and problems with reactor
safety and radioactive waste.
But both sides agree that, if it
there is an American renais-
sance for nuclear power, Pete
Domenici will have played
a central role in making it
possible.
And Domenici has no doubt
which side of that argument
he falls on.
A call to arms
Domenici in October 1997
still had a year of work left
on the problem of balanc-
ing the federal budget, but
he was already setting
his sights on the next big
problem.
Staff members who were
involved describe a frenzy
of work as they tried to flesh
out a set of policy proposals
in time for a hastily arranged
speech at Harvard Universi-
tys Belfer Center for Science
and International Affairs.
Domenici laid out a vision
of nuclear power playing a
vital role in addressing the
problems of climate change
and the nations energy
future.
When I came to the Senate
the Harvard speech.
a quarter of a century ago,
Domenici said in the speech,
we debated our dependence
on foreign sources of energy.
We discussed energy inde-
pendence, but we largely
decided not to talk about
nuclear policy options in
public.
It was a provocative state-
ment, and largely correct. To
the extent that nuclear power
was on the government poli-
cy agenda at the time, much
of the discussion surrounded
the stalled Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste disposal site
in Nevada. It had been nearly
los alamos national laboratory/AP
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has been a major supporter of Los
Alamos National Laboratory, shown here, as well as a leading
advocate of the peaceful uses of nuclear power.
two decades since anyone
had tried to build a nuclear
power plant in this country.
A combination of fears of the
waste problem and high costs
scared away investors.
Today, Domenici said in
the 1997 Harvard speech, it
is extraordinarily difficult to
conduct a debate on nuclear
issues, he said. Usually, the
only thing produced is nasty
political fallout.
It quickly became known to
members of the U.S. nuclear
power community simply as
nuclear renaissance took
That was, quite frankly,
a call to arms, recalled
Jim Lake, who served as
president of the American
Nuclear Society in the years
following Domenicis speech.
Surrounded by experts
To understand Pete
Domenicis approach to the
making of U.S. nuclear power
policy, it is instructive to
spend some time with Pete
Lyons, a 65-year-old Caltech
physicist-turned nuclear
weaponeer-turned national
nuclear power policy leader.
control negotiator, remem-
Domenici typically pres-
ents himself with the aw-
shucks demeanor of the
former school teacher and
small-city lawyer he once
was. It is sleight of hand, dis-
guising a penetrating intel-
lect, former staffers say. But,
in addition, he has always
had a talent for surrounding
himself with an extraordi-
narily smart staff.
I acknowledge, he said in
an interview, that they were
smarter than me.
As Domenicis push for a
shape, Lyons was at the
senators elbow. A former
senior leader of Los Ala-
mos National Laboratorys
nuclear weapons program,
Lyons was plucked from the
weapons program and thrust
into a national policy role
when Domenici lured him
to Washington to work as a
Congressional Fellow.
Lyons, who now serves on
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, was there that
October night and was part
of a frenzy of work that went
on in the weeks that followed
agenda leading up to the
Harvard speech.
Domenici immediately
asked Lyons to arrange brief-
ings with nuclear power
experts. It repeated a theme
that can be seen through the
senators career, say those
who have worked closely
with him a voracious
curiosity that drove him to
assemble groups of experts
to help him understand the
issues he was grappling with.
C. Paul Robinson, the
former director of Sandia
National Laboratories who
once served as a U.S. arms
bers well the experience of
getting quizzed by Domenici
on a technical subject.
Every time you went in, it
was like an oral examination
for your Ph.D., Robinson
said.
The style reached far
beyond nuclear energy. On
an average day, said Alex
Flint, another former aide
and member of Domenicis
in-house nuclear brain trust,
Domenici probably had four
or five meetings with experts
on different things.
I think its very much a
skill that he has, Lyons said
in an interview. Its one that
hes cultivated.
Progress still needed
To look back on the Har-
vard speech through the lens
of a decades history is to see
in part a vision that has not
yet been fulfilled.
Domenicis call for a new
approach to nuclear waste
reprocessing it, extract-
ing usable nuclear material
that can be turned back into
nuclear fuel, reducing waste
in the process appears as
far from reality as it was a
Domenici in the intervening
years, has stalled.
But other measures driven
by the New Mexico senator
have become law, and under-
pin the progress being made
toward the construction of
nuclear power plants.
New licensing procedures
written into law by Domenici
eliminated one of the key
roadblocks used in the past
by reactor opponents to block
new plants.
Legislation in recent years
has also offered subsidies
and loan guarantees for the
first companies willing to
risk sticking their necks out
to build the first new nuclear
power plants, and industry
officials say those entice-
ments have been central
to their ability to move for-
ward. Domenici also pushed
through extension of the fed-
eral law that helps provide
nuclear power plants with
insurance against accidents.
Critics, like Arjun Makhi-
jani of the Institute for
Energy and Environmental
Research, a think tank that
opposes nuclear power, com-
plain that nuclear power
should be made to stand on
its own two economic feet,
not subsidized by the fed-
eral government. Without
the subsidies engineered by
Domenici, Makhijani argued
in a recent interview, nuclear
power will go nowhere
because it is expensive com-
pared with alternatives.
Nuclear power is very
likely to be economically
obsolete before the first (new)
power plant comes on line,
Makhijani said.
Domenici, not surprisingly,
disagrees. Nuclear, he said
in a recent interview, is on
its way.

The CiTy of

would
A CONTINUING like to thank
HISTORY OF Sen. Domenici for his tireless
ACCOMPLISHMENT work and countless contributions
to our community.
In honor of Dr. Randy Lovelace, View the Past, Explore the Future www.ci.alamogordo.nm.us
who put New Mexico on the map
in the world of biomedical research,
we want to recognize
another great New Mexican. We salute
Senator Pete Domenici
Thank you, Senator Pete Domenici, for his national leadership
for your tireless work to promote on energy issues
science and research in our state. and decades of service
to New Mexico.
Photo courtesy of the New Mexico Dept of Tourism - Jim Stein

Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute

www.LRRI.org

Curing Respiratory Disease

10 The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico Albuquerque, December 7, 2008

Champion of N.M.s labs

Played key role in exported from Russia to the
west means that 10 percent of
the electricity in the United
said Alex Flint, a Domenici
aide at the time.
Science was to be the alter-
nonproliferation, changing States is now generated by
burning uranium once found
native, a team of program
managers in the labs and
weapons testing in nuclear warheads built to
destroy us.
the Department of Energy
concluded, and they turned
from behind the gates for a In New Mexico, Domenicis to Domenici to help shape the
By John Fleck
news conference. greatest lasting nuclear program and win congressio-
Journal Staff Writer

P
ete Domenici loves to
tell the story of Sun-
day drives as a boy in
the familys Packard
up into the Jemez Mountains
northwest of Albuquerque.
On more than one occasion
in the years after World War
II, they drove to the gates of a
mysterious closed city on the
hill, where the guards would
wave them away.
Big things are happening
up there in Los Alamos, he
remembers his father, Cheru-
bino, telling him. Americas
doing big things there.
In July 2007, Domenici was
one of a handful of people
allowed through those Los
Alamos National Laboratory
gates to see the big things for
himself. He looked on as a
lab worker officially certified
one of the first plutonium
nuclear weapon cores of the
post-Cold War era.
It was certified in our
presence, said a beaming
Domenici after emerging
Built at Los Alamos, the
plutonium weapon core was
the culmination of more
than a decade of work in a
program that marks a funda-
mental rethinking of how the
United States designs, builds
and maintains its nuclear
arsenal. It is an effort that
would probably not exist if
not for the efforts of Pete
Domenici.
During the Cold War, the
three U.S. national laborato-
ries responsible for nuclear
weapons Los Alamos
and Sandia in New Mexico,
and Lawrence Livermore in
California largely enjoyed
bipartisan support.
But that began to change
as the Soviet Union began
unraveling in the late 1980s,
and funding began slipping,
recalled C. Paul Robinson, a
former senior manager of the
Los Alamos nuclear weapons
program and president of
Sandia National Laborato-
ries whose career parallels
Domenicis throughout the
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Energy Secretary Samuel Bod-
man, center, tour Sandia National Laboratories in 2006.
nuclear era.
Domenici had always been
a staunch supporter of nucle-
ar deterrence and defense,
recalled Sig Hecker, a former
director of Los Alamos. But
the senators hand never
really grabbed for a spot on
the tiller of nuclear weapons
policy until the 1990s, when
the old bipartisan consensus
that supported the labs and
nuclear deterrence, rooted
in the opposition to commu-
nism, evaporated.
If you look at the nuclear
weapons and nonprolifera-
tion landscape today, though,
Domenicis role is visible
everywhere.
In nuclear nonprolifera-
tion, Domenici teamed with
journal file
Senate colleagues Sam Nunn
and Richard Lugar to craft
legislation helping remove
nuclear materials from the
former Soviet Union, taking
them out of the hands of a
former enemy and out of the
reach of potential terrorists.
Nunn, the former Georgia
senator who now runs the
nonprofit Nuclear Threat
Initiative think tank, called
Domenici an indispensable
player in the post-Cold War
effort to protect the Ameri-
can people.
Hecker, who worked hand-
in-hand with Domenici on
nonproliferation efforts,
likes to point out that the
weapons-grade uranium
weapons program legacy
might be obscure to the gen-
eral public but has become
central to the nuclear
weapons establishment:
Science-Based Stockpile
Stewardship.
Rather than testing
nuclear weapons by blowing
them up, it uses scientific
tools lab testing and com-
puter simulations to try to
ensure that the weapons will
work if called on.
With the Soviet Union gone
and Americas appetite for an
aggressive nuclear weapons
program gone with it, senior
Energy Department officials
were looking in the early
1990s for a way to maintain
nuclear weapons without the
regular design and explosive
testing of new weapons. For
the nuclear weapons labs,
both in terms of budget and
in terms of a way to maintain
the U.S. nuclear stockpile,
the changing environment
posed serious problems.
We really considered this
to be a crisis at the time,
nal approval.
It was that scientific
approach that led in the sum-
mer of 2007 back to Domeni-
cis visit to Los Alamos, for a
ceremony marking the com-
pletion of the first plutonium
nuclear weapon cores built
without ever being able to
conduct a test blast to ensure
the design and manufactur-
ing processes worked.
And Domenici, observers
said at the time, deserved
credit for helping make it
happen.
He was the primary con-
gressional figure in fashion-
ing the stockpile stewardship
program, Hecker recalled.
They could never have
pulled it off without Domeni-
ci in Congress, Hecker said.
Senator and Mrs. Domenici,
I am grateful that I was able
to work in your DC ofce as
a legal intern, and with your
ofces for the past 20 years.
Mil gracias!
Christina Chavez Kelley

The City of
Senator Pete Domenici
Thanks for RATON We send our prayerful best wishes
and gratitude for a job well done!
36 years of Proclaims
always putting December 2008
New Mexico first! SENATOR
PETE DOMENICI
New Mexico Math Engineering Science MONTH
Your friends at New Mexico First
Achievement Inc. extends gratitude for
Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan
Senator Domenicis years of service and the clergy, religious, and laity of
support for our organization. THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SANTA FE

Lending. Supporting. Inspiring.

ACCION thanks
THANK YOU
Senator Domenici Senator Domenici
for supporting so many for your support
small business dreams of the City of
in New Mexico. Artesia, New Mexico.
Call ACCION today for Best wishes in
business loans and support.
your retirement.
505-243-8844
Or apply online at www.accionnm.org

Client, Saul Manriquez, owner

New Mexico Arizona Colorado Carniceria la Especial

With gratitude and admiration

NMSU thanks
Senator Pete Domenici
for his years of public service

Thank You
Senator Domenici
for being instrumental in making
Las Cruces a dynamic city!
Mayor & City Council

New Mexico State University

Home of The Pete V. Domenici Legacy Project

Domenici.nmsu.edu 575-646-2821
City of Las Cruces

PEOPLE HELPING PEOPLE

The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico Albuquerque, December 7, 2008 11

A final battle
Victory on mental illness act came at last minute for Domenici
By Olivier
Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer

P
ete Domenici capped
his 36-year Senate
career in October with
a political victory for
which he had all but given up
hope.
The measure, dubbed the
Mental-Health Parity Act,
recognizes mental illness
as a disease on a par with
cancer and heart disease. Its
been hailed as landmark leg-
islation for mental health.
For the longtime New
Mexico senator, passage of
the act fulfilled more than
a decade of hard work lit-
tered with false starts and
disappointments.
I almost didnt get it,
Domenici said in an inter-
view in late 2008.
In 1996, Domenici cam-
paigned hard for an earlier
version of the mental health
parity legislation, winning
passage in the Senate but
watching it die in the House.
When the new parity act
takes effect in 2010, it will
require health insurers to
pay for mental health and
substance-abuse services at
the same level as those for
physical illnesses.
It bars health insurers
from limiting treatment for COURTESY PHOTO
mental-health and substance
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., with Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., announce a 2007 breakthrough on mental health legislation.

abuse in ways that differ
from medical and surgical
coverage. Domenici says
the law will help correct a
long-held bias against mental
illness.
There is no longer this
excuse that we cant diagnose
the illness and we cant ame-
liorate its negative effects
with medication, Domenici
said. The proper treatment
can help.
For too long, he said, insur-
ance companies have treated
mental illness differently
than other diseases. But sci-
ence has removed much of
the mystery from mental ill-
ness. Enough is now known
about major mental illnesses
such as schizophrenia, bipo-
lar disorders and depression
to treat them as medical con-
ditions, he said.
The parity measure was
approved as part of the $700
billion financial rescue plan
signed Oct. 3 by President
Bush. Domenici estimates
that the law will affect
480,000 New Mexicans.
It is named for Domenici
and the late Sen. Paul Well-
stone, Domenicis original
partner in the push for the
mental health legislation.
After Wellstones death
in a 2002 plane accident,
Sens. Edward M. Kennedy,
D-Mass., and Mike Enzi,
R-Wyo., helped Domenici
push the measure through
the Senate.
Mental health profession-
als say the law should help
dispel the stigma associ-
ated with mental illness and
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., hugs his daughter, Clare, during a celebration in his honor at the
Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque in April.
abnormality, said Eddy D.
Broadway, CEO of Value
Options New Mexico.
The law could also result
in an expansion of mental
health and substance abuse
services, said Dr. Michael
Sievert, medical director for
behavioral health for Presby-
terian Healthplan.
Once they are paid for,
youre going to see more
ity law, but it specifically
excludes drug and alcohol
treatment.
Many New Mexicans have
substance abuse and alcohol
problems, Sievert said. I
think (the law) is going to
allow many individuals in
New Mexico who are in need
of these services to actually
access them and to use those
services to improve their
journal file
passage.
It finally passed, and I
think its high time that it
did, said Foley, who helped
lobby for mental health
legislation since the 1980s.
People need treatment, they
need intervention.
The law passed because
Domenici spent years work-
ing for it, Foley said.
Hes been the driving
ing symptoms of schizophre-
nia at age 17.
Domenici became an advo-
cate for the National Alliance
of Mental Illness, or NAMI,
after he and his wife began Four hallmarks
regularly attending NAMI
meetings and came to know
of the
many families affected by
mental illness.
Domenici
I spent the early part of
my advocacy for the mentally
legacy can
ill trying to get the (congres- be sum-
sional) appropriators to put
more into the National Insti- marized in four words:
tutes of Mental Health than
they wanted to, he said. budget, energy, nuclear
In 1998, Domenici secured
$50 million in federal fund- and labs. ... Few can
ing to create a research
consortium call the Mind match his record of
Research Network to help
scientists solve some of the accomplishment, and,
great mysteries of the brain,
as Domenici once said. I think its safe to say,
The consortium, includ-
ing the University of New
the respect and affec-
Mexico, Harvard University
and the University of Minne-
tion the citizens of a
sota, uses cutting-edge imag-
ing technology to study the
state have for their
brain, particularly in regard senator and his family.
to mental illness and brain
injuries. A life in the public eye
At UNM, the MRN is
housed in a complex called decently conducted
Pete and Nancy Domenici
Hall. and gracefully conclud-
Much work needs to be
done to improve the lives of ed makes us proud.
the mentally ill, Domenici
said. He hopes Congress will
Sen. Jeff Bingaman,
approve funding for com-
munity-based mental health D-N.M.
care, including housing and From speech delivered to the
treatment facilities. Domenici Legacy Conference,
There are more people in New Mexico State University,

encourage more people to
seek treatment.
I think, as this becomes
more of a mainstream ben-
efit, people will utilize the
service and not view (mental
illness) as some kind of an
providers that are willing to
bring up and pay for those
services, Sievert said.
The new federal law also
has special significance for
New Mexico. The state has
its own mental health par-
lives.
John Foley, former execu-
tive director of the Associa-
tion of Retarded Citizens of
New Mexico, cheered pas-
sage of the parity law and
credited Domenici with its
force, Foley said. He was jail tonight (with mental ill- August 2008
the one that pushed it and ness) than there are in facili-
kept pushing it. ties for the mentally ill, he
Domenici has a deep and said. The nation needs to
personal understanding of commit itself to improving
mental health issues. One of the status of the mentally
his daughters began develop- ill.

Domenici was advocate

for N.M. acequias
By John Fleck
Journal Staff Writer
water engineering took hold
in New Mexico in the 20th

The stability and growth and
diversification of work
at the national laborato-
ries: Certainly those are
monumental. But there are
than just waterworks. Northern New
Mexico has a deep mystical attachment
to those even today.
... Domenici had this ease, ability of
connecting with Hispanics ... He just

I
n summing up Pete
Domenicis contributions
to New Mexico, it would
be easy to forget the
acequias, the old water
ditches that spiderweb
outward from the rivers of
Northern New Mexico into
the villages that cover every
farmable bit of bottomland.
Fred Vigil, chairman of
the New Mexico Acequia
Commission, wants you to
remember.
Acequias are New Mexi-
cos oldest irrigation works,
as much community cultur-
al institutions as they are
economic tools. Based on
technologies and political
systems brought here by the
first Spanish immigrants
And he provided funding
four centuries ago, they
predate the sort of politi-
cal, legal and engineering
water solutions grafted on
later as large-scale western
century.
The giant concrete dams
of the 20th century now
found up and down the Rio
Grande and its tributaries
were largely built with fed-
eral government help. But
Domenici said in an inter-
view that, when he took
office, he was dismayed to
learn the smaller tradition-
al acequia style of irrigation
was not eligible for the same
sort of federal help.
Domenici pushed through
laws that changed that.
thin. Domenici almost innately under-
through his long-standing
position on the Senates
Energy and Water Appro-
priations Subcommittee.
He did a lot of work for
the acequias, Vigil said.
things that affected people
down in the valley, so to speak. (Like)
the South Valley sewer project. People
forget what the Valley was like without a
sewer system. That was a monumental
undertaking, shepherded by Domenici.
Another thing that he will forever be in
the hearts of northern New Mexico His-
panics for was the acequias. He stuck
with those projects through thick and
stood the cultural significance of these
waterworks because theyre more
developed this attachment with people
including me.
With Domenici, greatness isnt about
the monuments. Its just about the
simple things in life that he turned into
monuments.
Lou Gallegos,
former chief of staff for Domenici
and Gov. Gary Johnson, former
assistant secretary of U.S. Department of
Agriculture, former assistant
secretary of U.S. Department of
Interior, former secretary of state Human
Services Department
12 The Sunday Journal DOMENICI: A Man For New Mexico Albuquerque, December 7, 2008

Pete Domenici
Thank you for your many years of service in helping
New Mexico Municipalities prosper.

Visionary
Due to the vision of Senator Pete Domenici, the
National Enrichment Facility, outside Eunice, NM, is
a reality.

Committed
His commitment to the nuclear renaissance will help
make this country energy independent.

Dedicated
Senator Domenici has dedicated over four decades
of service to the citizens of our country and state.

Thank you Senator Domenici

For the reasons listed above and many more, LES
proudly celebrated the dedication of the Pete V.

for your vision, leadership, and Domenici Separation Building on October 24, 2008.

tireless support of innovation and Thank you Senator Domenici, and best wishes to
you and your family.
technology in New Mexico. www.nefnm.com
LES building and operating the National Enrichment Facility
2008 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. providing energy independence for America