Ethics Newsline®

WASHINGTON
Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi, a three-term Republican mired in a pending federal ethics investigation, last week announced that he will not seek reelection.

Congressional Quarterly reports that while Renzi has denied any wrongdoing, an April FBI raid on a business owned by his wife cast doubt on his political future and prompted him to resign his committee assignments before House Republican leaders forced him to do so.

Renzi has been plagued by campaign-finance problems with the Federal Elections Commission and fallout from a questionable land deal, according to the Arizona Republic.

Renzi’s announced retirement is the fifth among House Republicans in the past month, reports CBS News.

Roll Call reports that while the retirement of Renzi and other GOP representatives would appear to hinder Republicans’ hopes of recapturing the majority, his departure actually could help the party in the long run by opening the way for a replacement free of the “ethical baggage that appears to have ultimately undone the Congressman’s future.”