Revealed: Domenici Retiring Due to Progressive Brain Disease

Sad news. According to an , Sen. Pete Domenici is retiring because he suffers from a progressive disease that can cause dysfunction in the parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and control of mood and behavior. The disease is said to be Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD). A draft of his retirement statement supplied to the AP reveals that Domenici learned the disease is worsening when he had it checked in late September. Excerpts:

The progress of this disease is apparently erratic and unpredictable. It may well be that seven years from now, it will be stable," Domenici intends to say, according to a draft of remarks prepared for delivery.

"On the other hand, it may also be that the disease will have incapacitated me. I am not willing to take a chance that the people who have so honored me with their trust for 40 years might not be served as well as they deserve in the United States Senate."

... In his prepared remarks, Domenici said that as recently as April, "the disease had not progressed."

... "No cure for my disease exists, yet," he said. "But, if we work hard enough, we may be able to find a way to cure people with diseases of the brain in the future. That would be truly a wonderful thing."

In the draft remarks, Domenici also says he is confident he'll be able to serve the rest of his current term.

I've often been tough on Sen. Domenici for his political positions and actions. Right now, though, I want to express my compassion for his health problems and my hope that modern medicine can bring them under control. Whatever political views we have, I think we can honor Pete Domenici for his distinguished career in the public spotlight and extend our thanks for his decades of service to Albuquerque, the State of New Mexico and the nation.

Some milestones from the Pete Domenici's life, from his Senate website:

Personal History

• Born May 7, 1932 in Albuquerque, New Mexico
• One of five children, and only son, of Italian immigrants
• Worked in father's wholesale grocery business
• Graduated 1950 from St. Mary's High School, Albuquerque
• Earned education degree, University of New Mexico, 1954
• Pitched for Albuquerque Dukes—a farm club for the old Brooklyn Dodgers, 1954
• Left baseball to become math teacher at Garfield Junior High in Albuquerque, 1955
• Earned law degree, University of Denver, 1958
• Returned to Albuquerque, entered private practice, 1958
• Married the former Nancy Burk, 1958
• The Domenicis have eight children: two sons and six daughters

Political Experience

• Domenici elected to Albuquerque City Commission, 1966
• Elected Commission Chairman (equivalent then to Mayor), 1967
• First Republican in 38 years in New Mexico to be elected to U.S. Senate, 1972
• With re-election in 2002, Domenici became the first New Mexican elected to serve six full six-year terms in the Senate.
• Domenici has served longer in the U.S. Senate than any other New Mexican in history

"...Mr. Domenici enjoys a universal reputation as one of the Senate's hardest working, most intelligent and most intense members."—New York Times, May 1995

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