Thee is no limit to the audacity of these folks.... They do not
remember 1994...
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http://www.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and- regional/montana/article_3d7f02de-e164-11de-b6c2-001cc4c002e0.html
Name withdrawn earlier this year
Baucus nominated girlfriend for U.S. attorney post
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was romantically involved
with a former staffer when he recommended her earlier this year to
become the next U.S. attorney for Montana, a spokesman said.
The Montana Democrat and his former state director Melodee Hanes began
their relationship in the summer of 2008 after Baucus separated from his
wife, Ty Matsdorf said in a statement Friday night, confirming a report
in Roll Call.
Baucus nominated Hanes for the U.S. attorney post in March. But she
later withdrew, saying she had been presented with other opportunities
she couldn't pass up.
The Senate leader who's been a major proponent of Democratic health care legislation had submitted six names to a third-party reviewer, who
whittled those to Hanes and two others, Mike Cotter and Mike Wheat.
Matsdorf said the senator sent the three names to the White House with
no ranking to select a nominee. President Barack Obama named Cotter for
the top federal prosecutor's job last month. Cotter, who is awaiting confirmation, will supervise prosecutors of all federal crimes committed
in Montana and the state's seven Indian reservations.
Roll Call, citing an anonymous source, said Baucus and Hanes began their relationship in the summer of 2008, nearly a year before the senator and
his wife, Wanda, got a divorce in April 2009. The newspaper said Baucus
and his wife had separated in March 2008 and lived apart when he began
dating Hanes.
Hanes pulled her name from consideration for the U.S. attorney job to
move to Washington, the newspaper said. She works in the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention as a counselor to the administrator.
Roll Call said Hanes, who also is divorced, now lives with Baucus in the Eastern Market neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Matsdorf said Baucus' relationship with his girlfriend had nothing to do
with his decision to nominate her.
"Senator Baucus recommended each of the three candidates based solely on qualifications, and merit, knowing whichever one the White House
selected would serve Montana well," Matsdorf said.
The spokesman said Baucus and Hanes decided during the nomination
process that she should withdraw her name because the couple wanted to
live together in Washington.
Matsdorf declined to say why the senator was just now disclosing the circumstances surrounding the nomination.
Baucus and his ex-wife Wanda announced last April that they planned to
divorce after 25 years of marriage, his second. In a joint statement,
they said they had "parted ways amicably and with mutual respect."
Baucus previously was married to Ann Geracimos before marrying Wanda
Baucus.
Main Justice, the Web site that broke the story, had this comment from
Hanes' ex-husband, Thomas Bennett of Billings: "She was recommended for
the position because of a very close and personal relationship with Max Baucus, and she withdrew because of a very close and personal
relationship with Max Baucus."
Roll Call said Hanes worked as the regional finance director for Baucus'
2002 re-election campaign. From 2003 to 2005, she served as field
director and counsel to his office. Hanes was Baucus' state director and counsel from 2005 until this spring.
The newspaper said Hanes previously was a deputy county attorney in Yellowstone County and mainly prosecuted felony sexual assault and child
abuse cases.
"Mel is supremely qualified and she got to her current position based
solely on her merit," Matsdorf said.
Word of Hanes' nomination follows other recent disclosures of romantic liaisons by political leaders, including South Caro-lina Gov. Mark
Sanford, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and two-time Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards.
Sanford faces a possible impeachment following his affair with a woman
in Argentina. Ensign, who has acknowledged in June to having an affair
with a former member of his campaign staff, has made it clear he intends
to serve out his second term. Edwards' political career was damaged when
he acknowledged last year he had an affair with a videographer in 2006.
The ad-mission came just months after Edwards dropped his second
presidential bid.
Baucus was elected to the Montana House in 1973 and to the U.S. House in
1974 and 1976. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978 at age 36, and
his current term runs until 2014.
The senator has played increasingly visible roles in Congress, sometimes willing to buck his Democratic Party on certain is-sues. He seems to
take the position that the state that sent him to the Senate for five
terms is fundamentally conservative and its voters want someone willing
to vote outside the party line.
Most recently Baucus has been at the center of an effort to move
sweeping health care legislation through the Senate with a bill aimed at meeting Obama's goal of overhauling the nation's health care system to
cover 48 million uninsured Americans.
On Friday, Baucus went against his party and backed a Republican effort
to eliminate a long-term care insurance program to help seniors and the disabled. Republicans argued that the new plan would be a drain on the
federal budget.
The Democrat has also been in the middle of other congressional battles:
He played a key role in 2003 legislation adding a prescription-drug
benefit to the Medicare program and enactment of President George W.
Bush's tax cuts in 2001.
CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999
Democrats -- The party responsible for the housing meltdown ....
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