{"id":1486,"date":"2007-03-29T06:24:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-29T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/domenici-staffer-thanked-karl-rove-for-everything-but-did-that-include-getting-rid-of-iglesias\/"},"modified":"2007-03-29T06:24:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-29T12:24:00","slug":"domenici-staffer-thanked-karl-rove-for-everything-but-did-that-include-getting-rid-of-iglesias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/domenici-staffer-thanked-karl-rove-for-everything-but-did-that-include-getting-rid-of-iglesias\/","title":{"rendered":"Domenici staffer thanked Karl Rove ‘for everything,’ but did that include getting rid of Iglesias?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An e-mail that was originally overlooked by congressional investigators but rediscovered this week provides further insight into Karl Rove\u2019s<\/a> involvement in replacing former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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

The e-mail<\/a>, written to Rove from U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s<\/a> chief of staff, Steve Bell, is dated Jan. 8. Domenici had already recommended four candidates to replace Iglesias, and the e-mail indicated that a fifth name was coming.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cTo repeat (name redacted) is our overwhelming choice and will take the job,\u201d the e-mail states. \u201cThanks for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The e-mail, released to the public along with thousands of other documents, was also sent to two other White House staffers. I and just about everyone else originally overlooked it because it was sent to an e-mail address Rove uses that isn\u2019t easily identifiable as his, but Newsweek<\/a> first reported today that the address is Rove\u2019s, and that he was the primary recipient of the e-mail.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>The question is, for what was Domenici\u2019s chief of staff thanking Rove?<\/p>\n

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

Here\u2019s a recap of what we know about the involvement of Rove and Domenici in Iglesias\u2019 firing.<\/p>\n

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

Iglesias was added to the list sometime in October of those who would be fired on Dec. 7 of last year. That same month, Iglesias received calls from Domenici and U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson<\/a>. He says they both tried to pressure him to speed indictments in a public corruption probe in time to sway voters in the November 2006 election, which they both say isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n

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

Whether Iglesias\u2019 name was added to the firing list before or after the calls isn\u2019t clear.<\/p>\n

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

Domenici had already met several times with officials from the Justice Department to complain about Iglesias\u2019 performance in 2005 and 2006. He and other New Mexico Republicans were upset that no voter-fraud charges had been brought following the 2004 election.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>What\u2019s known publicly about Rove\u2019s involvement is that the chair of the Republican Party of New Mexico<\/a> complained about Iglesias to a Rove staffer in 2005. Then in December 2006, Allen Weh<\/a> complained personally to Rove while at an event at the White House.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cHe\u2019s gone,\u201d Weh claims Rove told him.<\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s not clear if that was before or after Iglesias was fired.<\/p>\n

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

The newest e-mail indicates that Rove was involved in the process of replacing Iglesias, which is not complete. But does it shed any light on Iglesias\u2019 firing?<\/p>\n

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

White House spokesman Tony Fratto told Newsweek the e-mail was \u201cinterpreted\u201d by Rove and the others who received it as a thank you for considering Domenici\u2019s recommended replacements \u2013 not for removing Iglesias.<\/p>\n

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

But Iglesias told Newsweek it proves he was fired for political reasons.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis absolutely corroborates what I\u2019ve been saying all along \u2013 this is a political matter, not a performance matter,\u201d he told Newsweek. \u201cWhat is he thanking (Rove) for? It\u2019s thanking him for getting Dave out of the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos declined to comment to Newsweek, saying Bell<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> \u201cdid not want to discuss a private communication.\u201d That doesn\u2019t make sense to me, because public e-mails are, well, public, and that\u2019s why this one has been released to the public.<\/p>\n

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

Fratto refused to comment on whether Rove intervened to have Iglesias removed. The White House has said previously that Rove did pass along complaints he received about Iglesias.<\/p>\n

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

Kyle Sampson<\/a>, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales<\/a>, is scheduled to testify today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He may shed light on this.<\/p>\n

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

According to the Associated Press<\/a>, he\u2019ll say the prosecutors were fired for not implementing the president\u2019s priorities, not to interfere in public corruption probes.<\/p>\n

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

That has become the new defense of the firings in the Bush Administration\u2019s shifting set of explanations. Sampson is expected to try to tie differing explanations together by saying there\u2019s no difference between the president\u2019s goals and policy, so firing the attorneys for failing to implement those goals is both political and performance-based.<\/p>\n

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

Radio ad attacks Iglesias<\/span><\/p>\n

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

A new radio advertisement<\/a> airing in the Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> area is defending Iglesias\u2019 ouster. Paid for by New Mexicans for Honest Courts<\/a>, the ad says he botched prosecution of the treasurer scandal, did nothing with voter-fraud allegations and took taxpayer-funded trips around the world.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cHe still can\u2019t figure out why he was fired,\u201d the ad states. \u201cCome on, David. Isn\u2019t it obvious?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The conservative group is based in Roswell<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> was formed in 2004. Its chair is activist Linda Chavez Krumland, who has given money to Wilson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> in the past.<\/p>\n

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

The U.S.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> attorney scandal is widespread and complicated. TPM Muckraker<\/a> has put together a timeline that helps sort it out. Check it out by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An e-mail that was originally overlooked by congressional investigators but rediscovered this week provides further insight into Karl Rove\u2019s involvement in replacing former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. The e-mail, written to Rove from U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici\u2019s chief of staff, Steve Bell, is dated Jan. 8. Domenici had already recommended four candidates to replace Iglesias, […]<\/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-1486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486","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=1486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}