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Paper: Pressure Calls Came from New Mexicans
Well, our list of suspects just got a whole lot shorter.
Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias told McClatchy Newspapers (and The Washington Post) that two members of Congress had called him in mid-October to pressure him about an ongoing corruption investigation of a state Democrat. He refused to identify the lawmakers in any way, because he feared retaliation.
But in comments to the Albuquerque Journal, he was a whole lot more specific. He told the paper that "two members of the New Mexico delegation" had contacted him.
Now, there are only two members of the New Mexico delegation that we haven't heard from: Rep. Heather Wilson (R) and Sen. Pete Domenici (R). And it's not just us. The pair have ducked calls from everyone (a partial list: McClatchy, The Washington Post, the Albuquerque Journal and Albuquerque Tribune). Back in October, Wilson was fighting for her political life in one of the closest races in the country. Domenici, as the state's sole Republican senator, is the White House's state contact for the U.S. attorney in the state -- he would have been originally responsible for Iglesias' nomination and the nomination of his successor.
The ball is in their court. We put in another call to their offices this morning.
Comments (22)
Long Memory wrote on March 1, 2007 12:04 PM:This is Karl Rove 101, folks. Those people who contacted the U.S. Attorney didn't even really care if there were indictments. They just wanted a statement about an investigation, so they could twist it into a "possible indictment" before the election. Rove did this stuff in Texas, too.
Zandru wrote on March 1, 2007 12:21 PM:Wilson only won by a few hundred votes and a prolonged count of both absentee and provisional ballots, and believe me, it takes a close election before they even BOTHER to count absentee ballots, let alone the provisionals.
Throughout the campaign, her line was that, as a graduate of the military academy, she did not "lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do." Indeed, she's well known for misleading weasel wording and partial truths, to obscure how frequently she lies and cheats and covers for those of her party who do.
Too bad this kind of thing ONLY and ALWAYS comes out after all the votes have all been cast and counted.
This Machine Kills Fascists wrote on March 1, 2007 12:37 PM:Can we get Richardson to run against this clown, if he drops out of the Pres. race?
Richard L. Adlof wrote on March 1, 2007 12:40 PM:Two more Republican political types ready for indictments . . . Oops . . . There is no U.S. Attorney available willing to investigate the case . . . I guess they get a pass.
Where is the independant Congressional ethics review process I was promised for my vote five months ago?
LiberalMusician wrote on March 1, 2007 12:48 PM:After reading this article, I emailed my representative and both of my senators. I asked them to encourage the ethics committees an judiciary
Mark F. wrote on March 1, 2007 1:43 PM:committees to begin investigations into these allegations. Tampering with a federal investigation is a serious allegation. I encourage everyone to contact their representatives with a similar message. Stop complaining and start demanding that
our republic works the way it is supposed to. We are a representative democracy and we must demand that our representatives begin to police their congressional bodies again and comport themselves as befits the leaders of our nation.
From members of the Republican Party??? This is such a shock! Wilson and Domenici clearly need help. They should both check themselves into the Betty Ford Center at their earliest possible convenience.
Zandru wrote on March 1, 2007 2:22 PM:You can also contact the members of the Ethics Committees. Unfortunately, you'll need to phone or fax, since their email contact forms screen out anybody not from their district. Here's the House:
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct:
House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct:
Dave wrote on March 1, 2007 2:49 PM:Democrats:
Chair: Stephanie Tubbs-Jones fax (202) 225-1339
Gene Green fax (202) 225-9903
Lucille Roybal-Allard fax (202) 226-0350
Michael Doyle fax 202-225-3084
William Delahunt fax (202) 225-5658
Republicans:
Doc Hastings (ranking Repub) fax (202) 225-3251
Jo Bonner fax 202-225-0562
Gresham Barrett fax 202-225-3216
John Kline fax 202-225-2595
Michale McCaul fax 202-225-5955
Alberto Gonzales testified before Congress (under oath, no less) that these firings weren't political. That puts him in kind of an awkward position if it turns out he wasn't telling the truth, doesn't it?
mbbsdphil wrote on March 1, 2007 5:20 PM:Presumably, before saying anything publicly, Wilson and Domenici are huddled with their lawyers, figuring out a claim that says they didn't break any laws or ethics rules. If they made the calls, and one or both are lawyers, they should also worry about explaining those calls to their state bar associations.
EH wrote on March 1, 2007 5:33 PM:I'm guessing they're spending more time figuring out which laws they didn't break. They could issue a blanket denial at the drop of a hat, something tells me that blowing off any interest in the issue isn't going to fly into the weekend news cycle.
stevix wrote on March 1, 2007 7:23 PM:Looks like someone needs to get reconnected to a higher power and spend more time with their families.
Ol' Hillbilly wrote on March 1, 2007 10:06 PM:Another reply touches on this -- but -- I suspect something much more sinister.
In Texas, Karl Rove worked with a "rogue" FBI agent who would start an investigation against a Democratic candidate just prior to an election, thereby forcing the Democrat to deal with the investigation and neglect his campaign. In every case, the "investigation" was dropped after the election.
Has anyone else noticed that two of the federal attorneys who were fired were in New Mexico and Arkansas? And the one in Arkansas was replaced with Karl Rove's former chief of staff?
Two Democratic presidential candidates are involved here -- Bill Richardson from NM, Senator Clinton from Arkansas.
I'm betting that sometime later this year "investigations" will be opened into Richardson and Clinton that will serve to distract them from their campaigns and that will give the Republican lie machine a lot of ammunition to accuse two Democratic candidates of criminal activity.
Vintage Rove.
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