{"id":1443,"date":"2007-03-20T14:41:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-20T20:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/iglesias-was-once-considered-a-top-tier-prosecutor\/"},"modified":"2007-03-20T14:41:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-20T20:41:00","slug":"iglesias-was-once-considered-a-top-tier-prosecutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/iglesias-was-once-considered-a-top-tier-prosecutor\/","title":{"rendered":"Iglesias was once considered a top-tier prosecutor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>E-mails released Monday night by the Bush Administration and other sources continue to confirm that, until sometime mid-2006, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias<\/a> was considered one of the brightest federal prosecutors in the nation by higher-ups in the Department of Justice. <\/p>\n

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

In April 2004, Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff for Attorney Alberto Gonzales<\/a>, wrote that Iglesias was one of several who \u201cmight be enticed to leave their districts and come to Washington<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> to run the (Executive Office of United States Attorneys), according to an e-mail<\/a> found among thousands of pages by TPMMcukraker.com<\/a>. In the e-mail, he described Iglesias as a \u201cdiverse up-and-comer; solid.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Despite that, Iglesias didn\u2019t get the job.<\/p>\n

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

The Washington Post<\/a> reported Monday that Iglesias was considered an expert in voter fraud issues by the Justice Department, which twice selected him to train colleagues in pursuing such allegations.<\/p>\n

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

The last time was in October, 2005, when he was invited to teach a seminar on voting integrity.<\/p>\n

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

But as allegations of voter fraud stemming from the 2004 election went unprosecuted, Republicans in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> became increasingly frustrated, and that high opinion of Iglesias went sour, as I\u2019ve already reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Controversy continues to spread<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>On a national level, this keeps getting worse for the Bush Administration. The Senate today passed, on a vote of 94-2, a bill revising the Patriot Act to remove a provision that allows the attorney general to appoint interim U.S.<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> attorneys to serve indefinitely, effectively bypassing the Senate confirmation process. The current controversy began several long weeks ago with the complaints by a few members of Congress that, under the provision, the mass firings could lead to a number of political hacks being appointed to serve out Bush\u2019s term.<\/p>\n

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

The House must still vote to approve the measure, but should do so, and President Bush<\/a> has indicated he\u2019ll sign it. Under the previous system, which the bill would restore, the White House and Senate have 120 days to name a replacement U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorney. If that isn\u2019t done, a federal judge names a replacement.<\/p>\n

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

U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici<\/a>, R-N.M. and an integral figure in the controversy because of his October 2006 phone call to Iglesias about an ongoing investigation, voted for the measure, but not before supporting two failed motions that would have removed the provision allowing a judge to make the appointment.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI have concerns about allowing one branch of government, the judicial branch in this instance, to have the final say over an executive branch vacancy,\u201d Domenici said in a news release. \u201cWhile both these amendments failed, I still voted for final passage of the bill because I believe the Senate should retain the advice and consent powers it is granted under the Constitution to confirm presidential nominees.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

And calls for Gonzales\u2019 resignation continue to mount, but Bush continues to defend him. The president has called a news conference for 3:45 p.m.<\/st1:placename> Mountain Standard Time to make a statement many expect will be in support of Gonzales.<\/p>\n

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

In addition, as Congress has increased its demands that Karl Rove and others voluntarily testify, the White House offered today to allow them to be interviewed in private, without transcripts and not under oath. (You can read the White House\u2019s letter here<\/a>, courtesy of The Politico<\/a>.) The offer will likely be rejected as Democrats seek public testimony on how the firings of the U.S.<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place> attorneys came about.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 4:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Bush proposed today a deal with Congressional Democrats who are investigating: He will allow Gonzales and other Justice Department staffers to testify under oath. In addition to the more than 3,000 pages of Justice Department documents released Monday night, Bush said the White House will release all its documents. And he referenced the offer of allowing Rove and other White House staffers to be interviewed, but not under oath.<\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s common for agency heads and staffers to testify when subpoenaed, because their budgets are dependent on Congress. Whether White House staffers should testify has always been a controversial topic, and Bush said he would not allow Rove and others to testify under oath because he does not want to allow a precedent that will make staffers afraid of advising the president.<\/p>\n

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

Bush said what he\u2019s offering allows \u201cextraordinary disclosure\u201d and almost \u201cunprecedented\u201d access to information. He said if Congressional Democrats truly want answers, his offer should satisfy them. If their goal is partisan attack, he said, they won\u2019t be satisfied, but he pledged to fight if subpoenas are issued for White House staffers.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe will not go on a public fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants,\u201d he said. \u201cI have proposed a reasonable way to avoid an impasse. I hope they don\u2019t choose confrontation. \u2026 It\u2019s not too late for Democrats to drop the partisanship and work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

He also pledged continuing support for Gonzales.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got support with me,\u201d Bush said. \u201cI support the attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

E-mails released Monday night by the Bush Administration and other sources continue to confirm that, until sometime mid-2006, former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was considered one of the brightest federal prosecutors in the nation by higher-ups in the Department of Justice. In April 2004, Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff for Attorney Alberto Gonzales, wrote […]<\/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-1443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","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=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}