NOB HILL--Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias only made one mistake when he recounted his telephone calls with Congresswoman Heather Wilson and Senator Pete Domenici: he didn't report the conversations to the Justice Dept. immediately. The story is well told in tonight's ABQ Tribune. And he explained it on NPR tonight by saying he was "stunned" at the perceived pressure being put on him by Wilson and Domenici to bring indictments against local Democrats before last November's election. He was too stunned to report it. Then, he said, he thought everything would just blow over. He added, "I was wrong."
Boy howdy. He is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee next Tuesday where, he says, he will be under oath to tell the truth. I might add this needs to be the WHOLE truth.
I believe that Iglesias, a loyal and dedicated Republican, consciously did Wilson and Domenici a favor by not reporting their actions before that election. Wilson's contest against Patricia Madrid was close. In fact Wilson might have been trailing in the polls when she made that call. Wilson was trying to get the public to associate Madrid (Patsy she called her) with hispanic politicians with crooked reputations. Manny Aragon's name was rumored to be in the indictments; certainly this would hurt the Madrid campaign. Heather Wilson and her mentor Pete Domenici wanted those indictments now...not after the election.
To his credit Iglesias did not rush the indictments (In fact they have yet to come down). But he also did not report their phone calls to the Justice Dept. like he was supposed to. Would the Justice Dept. under the Bush administration have done anything? Who knows. Would the calls have been made public at that time? Probably not.
Still, I am sure that Iglesias was certain that he was doing Wilson and Domenici a huge favor in "forgetting" about the calls. Maybe that seems obvious, but this would then be yet another violation of the public trust...and something that Iglesias probably would not admit to doing without being "under oath." He will be under oath next Tuesday.
So there were two actions here. Wilson and Domenici sought to influence the timing of legal proceedings, and Iglesias hid their phone calls. He hid them until he was fired.
How he must have felt everything was going to be okay! Sure he hadn't rushed the indictments surrounding the building of the courthouse, but then he had something on Wilson and Domenici as well. He was keeping their secret.
Until he was fired. What really burned him up was the reason given for his dismissal: poor performance. Livid, he recounted those phone calls, and chose not to go down alone.
4 comments:
...
I'd say something, and his conduct is deserving of some ignominious phrase, but really, I'm kinda stunned. Now this is too far from an election to even effect Wilson and Domenici. gah
It is never to late to out the swine.
J
I would like to make an argument in defense of Sen. Pete Domenici and Congresswoman Heather Wilson and all the people who got caught in the mess of the fired prosecutors.
Over the last few days I was thinking to myself "how is it possible that the republicans are out of power, but still have so many ethical problems"?
To answer the question, I have to go back to communication…
When the democrats have a problem with an elected official they do their research. They find a small thing they can pin on him, and then make a big noise. They demand an investigation. They demand that the Department of Justice should appoint a 'special' prosecutor.
A nice fellow sits at home one night listening to the news, and he hears that Sen. Someone Democrat… is demanding an investigation into Somebody Republican, and not just an investigation, but the Attorney General should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged crime. What is the first thing that crossed his mind? "A special prosecutor….This is a serious crime". Now you can come and knock on his door and tell him that the special prosecutor came up with nothing but the only thing he will now likely remember is "this guy is a criminal". The Republican, under suspicion, is already a shade grey in everyone's mind. So the democrats get the job done.
What happens if it's vice versa, and the Democrat is under suspicion?
The Republicans hear that there is a criminal investigation going on involving a Democrat. What do they do? They call (the arrogant, selfish) prosecutor, and ask him (not demand him to investigate) about the investigation… Don’t you think that a phone call to a news reporter is worth more money then to call a prosecutor?
Ultimately, the voters decide who is eligible for office, largely based on ethical behavior. The republican lack of conveying misconduct to the public is a major factor in their current political status, which doesn't seem to be bettering.
Post a Comment