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WASHINGTON — Sen. Pete Domenici, bracing for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation of his phone call to then-U.S. Atty. David Iglesias, has hired a defense attorney.

Chris Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Republican, said Domenici has hired Lee Blalack, who previously represented former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in an ethics investigation of his stock transactions, as well as representing convicted former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

"It was deemed prudent to hire legal counsel," said Gallegos.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee charging that Domenici improperly interfered in a legal investigation when he called Iglesias to ask when charges might be filed in a local investigation of kickbacks in a courthouse construction project.

Gallegos said Domenici has not heard from the Ethics Committee yet.

But the committee has a very low threshold to initiate a preliminary inquiry once it receives a complaint.

The committee chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and the vice-chairman, Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said Monday in a joint statement that the committee never comments when it receives a complaint.

But they noted the committee rules require that it "promptly commence a preliminary inquiry whenever it has received a sworn complaint, or other allegation of, or information about, alleged misconduct or violations."

The preliminary inquiry is supposed to determine whether there is credible evidence that a violation has occurred.

Blalack is a partner in one of Washington's biggest law firms, O'Melveny and Myers, and specializes in representing targets of grand jury, congressional and regulatory investigations.

Before joining the firm Blalack served as staff director of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's permanent subcommittee on investigations. He also was chief counsel to the Governmental Affairs Committee during the investigation by former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson into foreign influence in the 1996 elections.

"Hiring Duke Cunningham's attorney is just another sign that Pete Domenici is in serious trouble," said Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, which has only started paying attention to Domenici's race next year in recent weeks.

Carl Tobias, a professor of law with the University of Richmond, said, "Blalack's hiring shows that Sen. Domenici is taking the ethics committee investigation very seriously."