Rogers Took Himself Out of the Running for Iglesias' Job
By Jennifer Talhelm/
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Two of the major players in the ouster of federal prosecutors last year were themselves considered for U.S. attorney jobs, according to documents and interviews.
Kyle Sampson, who helped orchestrate the firing of eight prosecutors as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff, was the Bush administration's pick to fill Utah's vacant U.S. attorney post last spring.
Pat Rogers, an Albuquerque attorney who has represented the New Mexico Republican Party and party officials for several years, raised his concerns about his state's U.S. attorney, David Iglesias, with high-level Justice Department officials, among others.
After Iglesias was fired late last year, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., recommended Rogers for the job, along with three others, in January.
Iglesias was one of eight prosecutors whose ouster created an uproar on Capitol Hill this month. The information about the role Rogers and Sampson played in the firings — and the interest in them serving as U.S. attorneys themselves — were revealed in internal e-mails released last week.
The e-mails showed that President Bush's political strategist, Karl Rove, suggested as early as January 2005 that U.S. attorneys should be replaced in Bush's second term.
Lawmakers have demanded to know whether the prosecutors were fired as part of a purge to fill the jobs with political cronies.
Rogers had been a vocal critic of Iglesias' work on voter fraud. He said in an interview Monday that he raised several valid allegations about fraud during the 2004 election and was dismayed when Iglesias decided to create a task force to investigate, rather than bring charges.
He and fellow Albuquerque attorney Mickey Barnett complained to the Justice Department in a June 21 meeting with Monica Goodling, Gonzales' senior counsel.
Rogers said he didn't ask to be nominated for U.S. attorney, and he took himself out of the running after the Justice Department contacted him to set up an interview earlier this winter. He says he told Goodling that he was not interested in the job, and that he lodged complaints about Iglesias ''because I'm concerned about the U.S. attorney's office.''
Domenici had for years wanted Rogers to be U.S. attorney in part because of his experience with touchy political issues, but Rogers had turned him down, Domenici's chief of staff, Steve Bell, said Monday. Domenici recommended Rogers again this year in hopes he might take the job, Bell said.
''He's just done an awful lot of stuff for the state,'' Bell said. ''Our state — especially with the history (of corruption) we've had — we need to have somebody with a fair amount of courage.''
Sampson, who has Utah ties, has been at the center of the inquiry into the U.S. attorney firings. He resigned last week after his role was made public.
The internal e-mails show Sampson discouraged a White House proposal that all U.S. attorneys be fired. Instead, he and others began a review to weed out prosecutors who the administration deemed to be performing poorly.
The e-mails also suggest that Sampson may have unsuccessfully tried to push Utah's federal prosecutor out of office.
''I suspect that when push comes to shove, home-state senators likely would resist wholesale (or even piecemeal) replacement of U.S. attorneys they recommend (see Senator Hatch and the Utah U.S. attorney),'' Sampson wrote in a Jan. 9, 2005, e-mail to David Leitch, deputy counsel and deputy assistant to the president.
Sampson's lawyer, Brad Berenson, declined to comment Monday.
The outgoing U.S. attorney at the time, Paul Warner, left in February 2006 to become a U.S. magistrate. Warner said Monday that the move was ''a natural progression for me.''
''These judicial positions do not come open that often,'' he said in an interview. ''I never felt any pressure to leave.''
Warner said he had long known that Sampson wanted his job, however.
Sampson was the Bush administration's choice for Warner's replacement. But Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett backed former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer Brett Tolman.
The contest resulted in a standoff of sorts. Bush ultimately picked Tolman last summer.
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