Mary Kim Titla, who broke ground in the TV news industry, plans to make inroads in the U.S. Congress.Titla said she plans to run as a Democrat in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, one of the largest congressional districts in the nation. It takes in Flagstaff, Prescott, Apache Junction, Casa Grande and Safford, among other cities and towns scattered across northern, central and eastern Arizona.The seat currently is held by Republican Rick Renzi, who is under federal investigation for possible public corruption.Titla grew up on the San Carlos Apache Reservation and was one of the first American Indian women to have a prominent role on TV news crew in a major market at KPNX. If Titla, 46, wins office, she would be the first American Indian woman to represent Arizona in Congress."After much soul searching and prayer and after being encouraged by voters, I am humbled and honored to inform you I have decided to run for Congress for Arizona’s 1stCongressional District as a Democratic candidate. I will be making an official announcement soon," she said in a statement on her Web site, www.marykimtitla.com."Believing I am the change needed in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, I am ready to be a real voice for the people and although I am a conservative Democrat, I intend to reach out and better serve all citizens of District 1 no matter what party they belong to," she wrote.Titla said she soon will launch a "Hear The People" tour to take the pulse of the district.She said she stands for quality education, strengthening families, bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq and cleaning up curruption in Washington.Titla left TV news to start NativeYouthMagazine.com two years ago.

The New York Times, in a Sunday editorial headlined, "A Scandal That Keeps Growing," called for President Bush to fire attorney general Alberto Gonzales. It’s hard to imagine Bush jotting down that bit of business on his day calendar anytime soon.The Times argues that Gonzales pink-slipped eight U.S. attorneys, including Paul Charlton of Arizona, then tried to cover up the mess.The thinking goes that Gonzales booted Charlton because Charlton opened a public-corruption investigation into U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, who is one of Bush’s political croonies.While it’s true that Gonzales canned Charlton, and it’s true that Charlton was snooping into Renzi’s business, no one has produced a letter, an e-mail or a taped phone call to connect the two actions — yet.Still, Gonzales has done little to explain why else he fired Charlton.Here’s the beginning of the Times’ editorial:Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared recently, while batting down bipartisan calls for him to resign, that he had many things to do and "can’t just be focused on the U.S. attorneys situation."It’s not surprising that Mr. Gonzales wants to change the subject. At best, the firing of eight United States attorneys, most of them highly respected, is an example of such profound incompetence that it should cost Mr. Gonzales his job.At worst, it was a political purge followed by a cover-up. In either case, the scandal is only getting bigger and more disturbing.New reports of possible malfeasance keep coming fast and furious. They all seem to make it more likely than ever that the firings were part of an attempt to turn the Justice Department into a partisan political operation.There is, to start, the very strong appearance that United States attorneys were fired because they were investigating powerful Republicans or refused to bring baseless charges against Democrats.There is reason to believe that Carol Lam of San Diego, who put Randy Cunningham, the former Republican congressman, in jail, and Paul Charlton of Arizona, who was investigating Representative Rick Renzi, among others, were fired simply for their nonpartisan pursuit of justice.The editorial can be viewed in full here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/opinion/06sun1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin