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

Chris Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Republican, said Domenici has hired Lee Blalack, who once represented former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in an ethics investigation of his stock transactions.

Most recently, Blalack represented former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the California Republican who resigned his seat after pleading guilty to taking bribes.

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

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee charging Domenici improperly interfered in a legal investigation when he called Iglesias shortly before the Nov. 7 elections to ask when charges might be filed in an ongoing investigation of possible kickbacks in an Albuquerque courthouse construction project.

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

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

Committee Chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, and the vice chairman, Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, in a joint statement Monday, said 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 was also 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 re-election 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."

Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, Democrat Vermont, announced the committee is preparing subpoenas for five Department of Justice officials involved in the dismissal of the U. S. attorneys.

One, Mike Elston, has been accused of threatening to divulge bad information about the U. S. attorneys if they continued to make public comments about their firings. Elston has denied he made any threats.

Leahy also said the committee may go ahead and issue pro forma subpoenas for the six former U. s. attorneys who testified Tuesday either before House or Senate committees or both, including Iglesias.

Rep. Heather Wilson, an Albuquerque Republican who also has been accused by violating ethics rules, has not hired legal counsel to represent her, her press spokesman, Joel Hannahs, said today.