{"id":1325,"date":"2007-02-28T09:53:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-28T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/outgoing-u-s-attorney-iglesias-says-he-was-fragged\/"},"modified":"2007-02-28T09:53:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-28T15:53:00","slug":"outgoing-u-s-attorney-iglesias-says-he-was-fragged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/outgoing-u-s-attorney-iglesias-says-he-was-fragged\/","title":{"rendered":"Outgoing U.S. Attorney Iglesias says he was fragged"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

David Iglesias, the outgoing U.S.<\/st1:country-region> attorney for New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, says it was politics, not job performance, that cost him the position.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In an interview with the Albuquerque Tribune<\/a>, he confirmed that he did write in an e-mail to a friend that his dismissal was a political \u201cfragging\u201d \u2013 a military term for being killed by a subordinate.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The e-mail was first reported Monday on Joe Monahan\u2019s<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI know that performance was not the real issue,\u201d the Tribune quoted Iglesias as saying, contradicting a deputy U.S. attorney general who told a Senate panel the opposite.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThat leaves only one possibility, and that\u2019s politics,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 This was not a respectful way to treat someone who has served this administration for five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Iglesias leaves office today. His ouster is part of a larger controversy in which eight U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorneys have recently been dismissed by the Bush Administration. Six are Republicans appointed by President Bush, and all, including Iglesias, received positive evaluations before being forced out.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Senate Democrats are investigating.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI would have had no objection to someone calling me and saying I\u2019d lost my political support,\u201d Iglesias told the Tribune. \u201cInstead, they said it was performance, and I\u2019ve got lots of data showing that\u2019s not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Many speculate that Iglesias\u2019 ouster has to do with a lukewarm prosecution of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil and delays in a public corruption case currently under investigation regarding the construction of government buildings in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Many suspect Republicans wanted indictments in the second case, which could include Democratic powerhouse Manny Aragon, to come out before the November election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Iglesias told the newspaper the indictments will come out \u201cvery soon,\u201d but was not specific. A source tells me they may be coming next week.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And he said he has helped bring public corruption cases to the forefront in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Iglesias told the Tribune he doesn\u2019t know who pushed for his ouster.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt could have been someone at the White House, someone at Justice or someone in Congress,\u201d he said. \u201cAll political roads lead back to Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, but no one has reached out to tell me what the problem was. I wish they had.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>, R-N.M., recently recommended four to replace Iglesias \u2013 Jim Bibb of Santa Fe<\/st1:city>, who ran unsuccessfully against Gary King for attorney general last year; T. Glenn Ellington of Santa Fe<\/st1:city>; Charles Peifer of Albuquerque<\/st1:city>; and Pat Rogers of Albuquerque<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Bibb is a former assistant U.S.<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> attorney. Ellington is a former secretary of the state Taxation and Revenue Department and state judge. Peifer is a former chief assistant attorney general for the state. Rogers<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has done a lot of work for the state Republican Party and is involved in the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rogers<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> has already declined the job, leaving the other three.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

There\u2019s quite a controversy brewing today. McClatchy Newspapers<\/a> is quoting Iglesias as saying he was called in October by two members of Congress to inquire about when there would be indictments in the ongoing probe into a kickback scheme involving the construction of government buildings in Bernalillo<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. It\u2019s the scandal that could result in the indictment of former Senate Leader Manny Aragon.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The implication is that the elected leaders wanted indictments before the November general election. When they didn\u2019t come, Iglesias was ordered to step down a month after the election.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that because I didn\u2019t play ball, so to speak, I was asked to resign,\u201d Iglesias told the news service.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He refused to name the members of Congress out of fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Staffers for Sen. Jeff Bingaman<\/a>, D-N.M., and Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, R-N.M., have told other media organizations today that they didn\u2019t make such calls to Iglesias. The others haven\u2019t yet commented to anyone.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s possible Iglesias was referring to members from other states, though it\u2019s unlikely. Those he was most likely referring to were Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a> and Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>, R-N.M.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019ve been unable to reach Domenici and Wilson press staffers for comment.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

One Republican I spoke with today said Iglesias\u2019 failure to prosecute that case in a timely manner was one of several problems. He also cited the Vigil case and the 2004 voter fraud case, in which Iglesias\u2019 office investigated more than 100 complaints but issued no indictments.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Iglesias\u2019 allegations are likely to ramp up the Senate Democrats\u2019 investigation of the situation.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In response to the allegations made by Iglesias, Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate will force several of the eight ousted U.S.<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> attorneys, including Iglesias, to testify under oath about their situations, the Associated Press<\/a> is reporting. They will issue subpoenas if necessary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Iglesias, the outgoing U.S. attorney for New Mexico, says it was politics, not job performance, that cost him the position. In an interview with the Albuquerque Tribune, he confirmed that he did write in an e-mail to a friend that his dismissal was a political \u201cfragging\u201d \u2013 a military term for being killed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}