Domenici Conference Starts Today

Pete Domenici

From the Las Cruces Sun News - LAS CRUCES - This year's Domenici Public Policy Conference, which starts today at New Mexico State University, features an all-star lineup of political figures. Attending the two-day event will be Karl Rove, a contentious figure in the former Bush administration who's now a Fox News contributor; Sam Donaldson, an ABC news anchor and native New Mexican; U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, the senior senator of her state; Joe Lockhart, political commentator; and New Mexico's two gubernatorial candidates. The conference was able to schedule the big names because of former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici's efforts to invite them, said Garrey Carruthers, dean of the NMSU business college and director of the university's Domenici Institute. "We give nearly all of our credit to Sen. Domenici who's willing to pick up the phone and invite people to come and participate," he said. "He's our biggest recruiter." The conference, in its third year, was founded to honor Domenici, R-N.M. He retired in 2009 because of an illness, after a 36-year tenure in Congress. As of Tuesday afternoon, some 620 people had registered, Carruthers said. Roughly 200 are students, who don't have to pay the $50 registration fee. "This could conceivably be our best attendance," he said. Domenici will be present both days. Read more here:

Domenici Conference Starts Today