There is starting to be a steady flow of information and discussion on the curious dealings of Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz) and the recent FBI raid of his wife's office in relation to a corruption investigation of Rep. Renzi. So far, the story has centered on the putative link to the US Attorney Purgegate and the wrongful firing of Arizona's excellent US Attorney, Paul Charlton. Charlton was in charge when the current investigation first came to public knowledge shortly before the November 2006 elections. Predictably, Alberto Gonzales and the Bush Administration claim this had nothing to do with Charlton's termination. Of course they would say that; they are proven liars. Well, the upshot is that it appears the Administration was not able to get one of their precious "good Bushie" theocratic ringers in place to fill the USA-AZ post before the purge excrement starting hitting the fan from Josh Marshall and TPM's outstanding work exposing and pushing the story. As a result, the USA office in Arizona is still being driven largely by the team Paul Charlton had in place. They were pretty timid at first (can't blame them for that); but seem to be gaining strength as the DOJ Main is being handcuffed by the Purgegate/Gonzales scandal; thus the Renzi investigation has suddenly been reinvigorated and percolated back up into the national conscience.
That is the story you have heard. Here is the portion you haven't heard. The following is quoted from the excellent work of beyonddelay.org:
"In 2003, Rep. Renzi sponsored legislation (signed into law in November 2003) that earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars to his father’s business while, according to environmentalists, devastating the San Pedro River. The provision, which was added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, exempted the Army’s Fort Huachuca base in Sierra Vista, Arizona from maintaining water levels in the San Pedro River as called for in an agreement made in 2002 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Rep. Renzi claimed he introduced the measure to prevent the closing of the Fort and to promote its enlargement. Environmentalists, however, concerned about the impact Fort Huachuca’s expansion may have on water consumption and the fate of the San Pedro River, argued that as the fort expands, so too would the local population, draining water from the river. Notably, neither the fort nor the river is located in Rep. Renzi’s district."
"A key beneficiary of Rep. Renzi’s legislation was ManTech International Corp., a Fairfax, Virginia based defense contractor where Rep. Renzi’s father, Retired Major General Eugene Renzi, is an executive vice president. General Renzi served at Fort Huachuca during his career in the military. ManTech had $467 million in contracts at Fort Huachuca with options for an additional $1.1 billion between 2004 through 2008. In addition, the company, which has an office in Sierra Vista, Arizona, was the largest contributor to Renzi’s 2002 congressional campaign and the second largest in his 2004 campaign."
This information is extremely critical to the Renzi equation, in spite of the fact that it is not what the superficial mainstream media are focusing on. Ft. Huachuca is not just a nice town near the fragile San Pedro River, it is an important, if not critical, military intelligence facility. Renzi's father is much more than a simple pass through for money on the land deals you are hearing about. Renzi's father is Gene Renzi, who is one of the owners and chief executives of a not so nice, and not so little, company by the name of ManTech International. www.mantech.com If you are not aware of ManTech, take a look at them. If you ever wondered what in the world was the general template for rogue security outfits like Blackwater Inc; here is your answer and more; and what is in the public domain is a mere fraction of what they appear to really have going on.
There has been a long running controversy over the groundwater/environmental contamination issue, with much of the effort being led by a firebrand local environmentalist by the name of Dr. Robin Silver and his group, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity. Dr. Silver has been tilting at both Renzis for years, is tenacious, and is owed a debt of gratitude for pressing the case against Rick Renzi from the outset. It has long been rumored that there is much more than the groundwater/environmental bit going on the Renzi/ManTech front, and that giant digital fiber optic trunk lines carrying all types of critical information and data, including some highly secure, i.e. the kind that all the illegal and warrantless Total Information Awareness programs might would desire and require, are involved.
All of this is just a rumor, of course; there has never been any substantive confirmation, nor any hard evidence at all. Of course that is what you would expect if it is just a loony conspiracy theory; it is also what you would expect if the rumors were true. This much is known: Eugene Renzi is a very major, under the radar, VERY connected player in the absolute highest levels of intelligence gathering, data mining and analysis. With, and through, John Poindexter (Gene Renzi and Poindexter have a long, tight, decades long parallel path in Naval and Army Intel, with Gene Renzi reportedly being tasked or associated with Poindexter on spook type NSA programs during the Reagan/Bush41 years), Gene Renzi is said to be directly connected to Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld. There appears to be far more here than could have been imagined.
There's more:
"The Renzi Story You Haven't Heard" >>
