Pete Domenici |
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Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici (born May 7, 1932) is an American Republican politician, who served six terms as a United States Senator from New Mexico, from 1973 to 2009, the longest tenure in the state's history.
During Domenici's tenure in the Senate, he advocated waterway usage fees, nuclear power, and related causes. However, in recent years, his environmental record has been heavily criticized, he has been involved in a scandal involving the dismissal of U.S. attorneys, and he has had dwindling approvals in his sixth term. Domenici announced on October 4, 2007 his decision not to seek re-election to the Senate in 2008 for health reasons, in particular frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
Domenici was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, to Italian-American parents Alda Vichi, an illegal immigrant, and Cherubino Domenici, who were born in Sorbarro, Italy. Growing up, he worked in his father's grocery business after school. He graduated in 1950 from St. Mary's High School in Albuquerque. After earning a degree in education at the University of New Mexico in 1954, he pitched for one season for the Albuquerque Dukes, a farm club for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He taught mathematics at Garfield Junior High in Albuquerque. He earned his law degree at the University of Denver in 1958 and returned to practice law in Albuquerque.