We could us a few more Pete Domenicis right now.

The nation could use a few more Pete Domenicis in the U.S. Senate right now. New Mexico’s longest-serving senator, Domenici died Wednesday in Albuquerque after complications from surgery. He was 85. Over his six terms in office, he became respected for his focus on balancing the national budget, knowledge of energy issues and his attention to both the nation’s and New Mexico’s needs.

Toward that end, Domenici worked across the aisle — most particularly with his longtime colleague Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman — in a manner that is seldom seen today in Washington, D.C. Yes, the nation needs more Pete Domenicis today.

Elected in 1972, Domenici retired in 2008 after announcing that he was suffering from a degenerative brain disorder. He did not want to risk that his service to constituents would deteriorate as his condition worsened.

The son of Italian immigrants, Domenici was not one to slam the door shut so others could not receive the same opportunities afforded to his family. Instead, he chose to extend opportunity. In one of his last speeches as a senator, the Republican told colleagues from the Senate floor about his mother’s experience as an Italian immigrant, one in the United States illegally. According to Domenici, speaking during an unsuccessful attempt to pass immigration reform in 2006, his father had believed his mother had become a citizen when the couple married. During World War II, when federal agents were looking for Italian sympathizers, they came looking for her.

“Federal officials came to our house to arrest my mother while my father was at work,” Domenici said from the Senate floor. “It was a frightening situation for my entire family that occurred through no fault of my mother, who had lived in America for more than 30 years as an exemplary citizen.”

The small Pietro — his birth name — watched as agents took his mother away in a black car. She was released, but not before that little boy was marked for life. His personal experience illuminated his policy proposals.

Similarly, Domenici worked diligently to ensure that mental health ailments were treated like any other illness. He had a daughter who suffered from atypical schizophrenia. Her experience led him to ensure that other people — perhaps without the resources of a U.S. senator — could find the medical help they needed. He told The New York Times in 2002 that, ”You get into the world of these dreaded diseases — you hear stories — they’re terrible from the standpoint of what’s happening to these people and what’s happening to their families. Society was just ignoring them, denying them resources.”

In 2008, the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health and Addition Equity Act passed, requiring group insurance plans to cover mental illnesses in the same manner as they cover physical ones. He worked for more than a decade on this pioneering legislation — it is fitting that it was one of his final votes before retiring.

That same fortitude and determination came in handy when seeking to help New Mexico. Whether seeking funding for Los Alamos National Laboratory, helping preserve parts of the Sandia Mountains as a wilderness area or warning his fellow citizens that the federal gravy train was going to stop someday — and it did — Domenici put his state first while still balancing national priorities. Lab Director Charles McMillan said, “Senator Domenici was also a passionate believer in the benefits of Big Science to our society, referring to our national laboratories as ‘crown jewels.’ He was instrumental in making use of our supercomputing for projects beyond national security, such as mapping the human genome.”

Like all of us, Domenici proved to be all too human, with the frailties and failings of mankind. Married to Nancy Burk, the couple had eight children — two sons and six daughters — an exemplary Roman Catholic family of the era. Yet that same stalwart family man fathered a child out of wedlock; similarly, the man with a stellar ethical reputation was admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for creating an “appearance of impropriety” by telephoning a New Mexico federal prosecutor to ask about a pending indictment just before midterm elections in 2006.

Despite the harsh publicity, Domenici never quit. In retirement, he worked with the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., continuing to push for fiscal responsibility and prudence. Again, he partnered with Democrats, just as he had during his long career in the Senate. For Domenici, getting things done was what mattered, not the political party involved. Each year, the Domenici Institute at New Mexico State University holds its Domenici Public Policy Conference, bringing together bright minds from around the country to focus on important issues. Domenici died on the first day of this year’s gathering.

When Domenici left the Senate in 2008, the race for his seat was won by Democrat Tom Udall, who still serves New Mexico. Udall, in paying tribute to his predecessor, put it well: “What I admire most about Pete is that during his over 30 years representing the state of New Mexico in the Senate, he always kept New Mexicans first. It’s partly thanks to him that the New Mexico congressional delegation continues a tradition of working together regardless of party — we need more of that in Congress today.”

Yes, we need more Pete Domenicis today.