Iglesias lashes out in New York Times op-ed

In a biting column published today in the New York Times, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias lashed out at his critics and said he wants a written statement from the Justice Department that performance was not the reason for his ouster.

Iglesias wrote that the release this week of more than 3,000 pages of Justice Department e-mails makes it clear “that politics played a role” in the ousters of him and seven others late last year.

“Of course, as one of the eight, I’ve felt this way for some time,” Iglesias wrote. “But now that the record is out there in black and white for the rest of the country to see, the argument that we were fired for ‘performance related’ reasons (in the words of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty) is starting to look more than a little wobbly.”

Iglesias wrote that U.S. attorneys should be insulated from politics, and recalled former Attorney General John Ashcroft telling him in 2001 “that political should play no role during my tenure.”

“I took that message to heart,” he wrote. “Little did I know that I could be fired for not being political.”

Iglesias defended his tenure, pointing out that he had “excellent” evaluations, “the biggest political corruption prosecutions in New Mexico history,” a record number of prosecutions and a 95 percent conviction rate.

In recent weeks, New Mexico Republicans have said they began pushing for Iglesias’ removal after he failed to issue any indictments following a widespread investigation of voter-fraud allegations that resulted from the 2004 election. He notes that those critics didn’t review the FBI investigation and don’t have experience as prosecutors, and said what they wanted is “reprehensible – namely that I should have proceeded without having proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“The public has a right to believe that prosecution decisions are made on legal, not political, grounds,” he wrote.

Iglesias wrote that, of more than 100 complaints made, “I felt there was one possible case that should be prosecuted federally.” He wrote that he worked with the FBI and Justice Department on the case, but “could not overcome evidentiary problems,” and said the FBI and Justice Department “did not disagree with my decision in the end not to prosecute.”

Iglesias wrote that “good has already come from this scandal,” noting that the Senate voted Tuesday to take away the attorney general’s power to appoint interim U.S. attorneys indefinitely. President Bush expressed gratitude for the service of the fired U.S. attorneys Tuesday, and Iglesias wrote that it was “the first time I have been thanked.”

“But only a written retraction by the Justice Department setting the record straight regarding my performance would settle the issue for me,” Iglesias wrote.