GOP lawyer: Iglesias failed to probe voter fraud claim

A lawyer representing U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., asked former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias last year to investigate allegations that a Bernalillo County elections worker added fraudulent ballots that benefited the congresswoman’s re-election bid.

Iglesias did nothing with the allegations, Wilson’s attorney, Patrick J. Rogers, said. If that’s true, it could be interpreted, in light of other complaints about failed investigations and prosecutions, to suggest that Iglesias was ineffective as U.S. attorney, and could be used to bolster defense of his ouster.

It could also be interpreted as evidence that Iglesias ignored the allegations because they involved a fellow Republican and someone who he considered, at the time, a friend.

In a Nov. 11, 2006 e-mail, Rogers reported to Rumaldo Armijo, an attorney in the U.S. attorney’s office, that he received an anonymous call the day before from a man claming he was a Bernalillo County worker. Rogers wrote that the man told him he had “added some votes for Heather” and wanted to meet.

That was just days after the Nov. 7 election in which Wilson faced a tough challenge from Democrat Patricia Madrid. Wilson ended up winning by 861 votes out of more than 211,000, but at the time of Rogers’ e-mail, thousands of ballots were yet to be tallied, and the race was up in the air.

In the e-mail, Rogers, who represented both Wilson and the Republican Party of New Mexico on issues arising from the election, asked the U.S. attorney’s office for an immediate investigation.

“Due to the urgent and important nature of this information, I need written confirmation of the receipt of this e-mail,” he wrote.

In response, Armijo sent an e-mail on Nov. 13 telling Rogers to call him. Rogers sent an e-mail later that day thanking Armijo for calling him and stating that he “did not hear from any FBI agent, and would again urge the immediate investigation of the allegation.”

In an interview, Rogers said the U.S. attorney’s office failed to act, so he reported the allegations to lawyers for Bernalillo County.

“When I concluded that the U.S. attorney was not going to take any action to investigate serious allegations, I provided a copy of the e-mail to the (county) attorneys… and was informed that the district attorney conducted an investigation based upon a rumor in a blog,” Rogers said, while declining to talk about the results of that investigation.

Iglesias, Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and the head of the Bernalillo County attorney’s office could not be reached for comment. Spokesmen for Wilson and the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

Rogers confirmed that the e-mails I obtained are real. I asked whether he believed the situation shows that Iglesias was trying to protect Wilson or is another example of Iglesias’ ineffectiveness, and he had this to say:

“I think that honest elections are critical, and it was apparent from prior to 2004 to 2006 that it wasn’t a priority of David’s,” he said. “… When it became immediately clear to me that Iglesias was going to ignore this serious allegation, I felt it was my duty to report it. I don’t know why Mr. Iglesias exhibited no or insufficient interest in investigating evidence of voter fraud and white-collar allegations.”

Was Iglesias an ineffective U.S. attorney?

Iglesias alleged recently that he was fired because he refused pressure from Wilson and U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to speed indictments in a public corruption probe – pressure he said both applied during phone calls they placed a few weeks before the November 2006 election.

Since Iglesias made the allegations, a number of Republicans have publicly said he needed to be fired because he repeatedly botched and didn’t seriously investigate allegations of public corruption and voter fraud.

But the complaints aren’t new, as documents released this week by the Bush Administration show. In fact, Rogers met with Justice Department staffers in Washington in June 2006 to complain about Iglesias.

Republicans handed over to Iglesias what they believed to be credible evidence of more than 100 cases of voter fraud following the 2004 election, but he never issued indictments. That upset many, including Rogers.

In response to complaints about his handling of the 2004 voter fraud case, Iglesias told the Albuquerque Journal he “wanted to prosecute” but “most of the complaints were completely without basis. … We cannot prosecute rumor and innuendo.”

Iglesias has also been criticized for securing a conviction on only one of 24 felony counts against former state Treasurer Robert Vigil, a Democrat.

The investigation Iglesias alleges Wilson and Domenici sought to speed involves kickbacks related to the construction of government buildings in Bernalillo County. Though former Senate President Manny Aragon, a Democrat, is likely the most visible target of the probe, a bipartisan group of current and former officials have been implicated in the ongoing investigation.

Domenici and Wilson say they did call to inquire about the status of the investigation in response to concerns brought to them about its slow pace, but they say they didn’t pressure Iglesias.

In light of those prior complaints, some will likely view Rogers’ allegation that Iglesias failed to investigate his concerns as further evidence that Iglesias did not adequately investigate a number of corruption allegations involving Republicans and Democrats because he was incompetent or ineffective.

Was he protecting Wilson?

On the flip side, Iglesias’ office would have received Rogers’ request days after the election but before the results were certain. It was only a few weeks after the phone calls from Wilson and Domenici, but almost a month before he was fired and several months before he turned on the two members of Congress and accused them publicly of impropriety.

Iglesias has admitted, in sworn testimony before Congress, that he didn’t report the phone calls, though he believed they were inappropriate, because Domenici was a mentor and Wilson was a friend. Iglesias’ action – or lack thereof – on Rogers’ request is certain to be scrutinized in light of his admission that he failed to report the phone calls. If he truly believed the members of Congress inappropriately pressured him, he was required to report the calls. He has acknowledged that, and admitted that he didn’t because of his personal relationships with Wilson and Domenici.

Full text of the e-mails

Here are the e-mails:

From: Patrick J. Rogers [mailto: (REDACTED)]
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2006 1:13 PM
To: Armijo, Rumaldo (USANM)
Subject: Cong. Dist 1 Vote Count/Tally manipulation?

Dear Mr. Armijo:

I understand you are the Asst. USA in charge of election issues. If that is not correct, would you please get this to the proper attorney, FBI or investigators, immediately. As you may know the CD 1 race is a close race and not all of the ballots have been counted at this time. You may also know that I am the attorney for the Republican Party of NM and Congresswoman Heather Wilson in several cases filed in the last week, concerning the election.

On Friday November 10, just after 10 am, I received an anonymous call at my law office. The fellow did not identify himself. He told me he wanted to “meet with me”. He said that he was a “worker” at the county and during the counting process this week, had “added some votes for Heather”. He did not want to provide any information by phone, and asked that we meet. I told him I was headed to the Bernalillo Cty warehouse and could talk to him there. He said that he had not gone into “work” today, because he was so worried about what he had done.” I asked for his name and details and he said he would “go into work” and meet me at the county warehouse. I did not recognize the caller’s voice, and he provided no other details. He had a slight Hispanic accent, and he was nervous.

After he hung up, I called our IT dept and was told we cannot trace calls/numbers. No one approached me at the Bernalillo County warehouse either yesterday afternoon or this morning. I am available to assist in any fashion. I am available by phone (REDACTED), or to meet in person immediately. I am uncertain of what other steps would be advisable, to make sure that all laws have been observed in the voting process. If I should notify other law enforcement officials or anyone else, let me know, immediately.

I will attempt to reach you today, through the FBI line. To the extent I should take any additional steps, please advise. Due to the urgent and important nature of this information, I need written confirmation of the receipt of this e-mail.

Best regards,

Patrick J. Rogers

Tel: (REDACTED)

***

From: Armijo, Rumaldo (USANM) [mailto: (REDACTED)]
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 11:32 AM
To: Patrick J. Rogers
Subject: RE: Cong. Dist 1 Vote Count/Tally manipulation?

Pat, please call me. Rumaldo (REDACTED) or (REDACTED).

***

From: Patrick J. Rogers
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 4:43 PM
To: ‘Armijo , Rumaldo (USANM)’
Subject: RE: Cong. Dist 1 Vote Count/Tally manipulation?

Thank you for the call and the e-mail. I did not hear from any FBI agent, and would again urge the immediate investigation of the allegation. I am available at (REDACTED) and would request you forward the e-mail to the FBI agents and any additional appropriate offices or individuals.

Best regards,

Patrick J. Rogers

Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A.

P.O. Box 2168

Albuquerque, NM 87103-2168

Tel: (REDACTED)

Fax: (REDACTED)

Update, 6:25 p.m.

Newly released e-mails show that Bush political adviser Karl Rove was more involved in the plan to fire U.S. attorneys than previously disclosed by the White House. Click here to read about it.

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Rogers reported the allegation to the district attorney. He reported it to the Bernalillo County attorney’s office.