[MARTIAL MONK]

I recall the first time I (almost) met him in 2002. We were at some party function when he broke away from a group of people and caught me out of the corner of his eye. He started to walk toward me, smiling and raising his hand to shake mine. I half-smiled and extended my hand. Halfway to me, he stopped and got a real funny panicked look in his eyes. His jaw dropped, he looked me up and down and turned and walked away as fast as he could.

I thought, geez, my zipper must be down or something. I checked, it wasn't. I do have a reputation as a clean government guy and I think he had been warned. I don't want a crook hiding behind an "R". I think he was dirty then.

[mass55th]

Weird story. I’m sure you’re probably glad it worked out the way it did. Was he a local politician prior to his Congressional run?

[yorkie]

Land-Swap Plan Causes Trouble For Congressman - 4/21/07 - WSJ

FTA: "Public records show that Mr. Sandlin and Mr. Renzi became business partners in 2001, when Mr. Sandlin bought shares of Fountain Realty & Development, one of Mr. Renzi's companies. In 2002 and 2003, Mr. Sandlin paid his partner between $1 million and $5 million for Mr. Renzi's stake in that business, according to House financial-disclosure records.

In 2004, a Federal Election Commission audit found that Mr. Renzi had received a total of $369,000 in illegal corporate funds from Fountain in the 2002 election cycle. It found that Fountain had shifted $131,000 of this through Mr. Renzi's personal accounts to the Renzi for Congress campaign account -- and that at least $70,000 of it was put back into Mr. Renzi's personal account."

Renzi never had one smidgen of intent to represent the people. He only bought a house in AZ to establish residency so he could run for Congress. I don't think he ever even lived in AZ.

I hope he gets what he deserves. (I won't say what I think that should be - I would be banned.)