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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Domenici Key in Firing of Iglesias, Report Says

By Michael Coleman
Journal Washington Bureau
       WASHINGTON — A Justice Department report released Monday concludes that Sen. Pete Domenici was the "primary factor" in the firing of former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias in New Mexico, and that Iglesias was not dismissed for poor job performance as some top department officials claimed.
    Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced the hiring of a special prosecutor to pursue potential charges against former Justice Department officials and others involved in the firing of Iglesias and eight other U.S. attorneys.
    The Justice Department report indicates that special prosecutor Nora Dannehy of Connecticut might also seek to determine whether Domenici or Rep. Heather Wilson, both New Mexico Republicans, illegally pressured Iglesias to bring indictments against New Mexico Democrats before the 2006 general election.
    "It is possible that those seeking Iglesias' removal did so simply because they believed he was not competently prosecuting worthwhile cases," the Justice Department report says. "However, if they attempted to pressure Iglesias to accelerate his charging decision in the (Metropolitan) courthouse case or to initiate voter fraud investigations to affect the outcome of the upcoming election, their conduct may have been criminal."
    Lee Blalack, an attorney for Domenici in Washington, issued a statement late Monday that described the Justice Department report as "replete with innuendoes that pass as findings."
    Wilson, in a prepared statement, said the report shows that the Justice Department bungled the Iglesias firing and that some of the document is "incorrect and incomplete."
    "The report released today confirms that the Justice Department never investigated complaints about Mr. Iglesias' job performance and badly mishandled his termination," Wilson said.
    The report found that Iglesias was asked to resign in December 2006 because of complaints from prominent New Mexico Republicans about his handling of voter fraud complaints and public corruption cases.
    The 356-page report was issued by the Justice Department's inspector general and office of professional responsibility. It provides the most complete picture yet of the circumstances surrounding the controversial firing of the federal prosecutors in 2006.
    The report says the Iglesias case was "most troubling."
    Iglesias and other former prosecutors contend they were fired for political reasons — an assertion bolstered by the report.
    In preparation for congressional testimony on the firings last year, former Justice Department official Monica Goodling wrote that Iglesias was an "underachiever in a very important district," an "absentee landlord" and that "Domenici says he doesn't move cases," the report says.
    But the report concludes that the Justice Department's description of Iglesias' management style was an "after-the-fact justification" for firing him.
    "We found no evidence that any such concerns actually contributed to Iglesias' removal," the report says.
    The report says Domenici and his chief of staff, Steve Bell, refused to be interviewed by Justice Department investigators. Their lack of cooperation "hampered" efforts to get all of the facts related to Iglesias' firing, the report says.
    Blalack disputed that characterization in his statement.
    "The inspector general rejected the senator's repeated offers to answer questions in writing through counsel," Blalack said.
    Goodling, former White House adviser Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and other key witnesses also refused interviews with investigators.
    Wilson did answer investigators' questions and was interviewed three times, the report says.
    Iglesias, who was in New Hampshire speaking to a college class on Monday, cheered the appointment of a special prosecutor.
    Iglesias told Congress last year that he felt "pressured" by Domenici and Wilson to bring indictments against prominent Democrats in the Metropolitan Courthouse corruption case before the 2006 elections.
    "This investigation needs to go to the next logical step, which is to determine if criminal laws were broken," Iglesias told the Journal in a brief telephone interview.
    Wilson took issue with references in the report to "New Mexico Republican members of Congress" who contacted Justice Department or White House officials to complain about Iglesias' job performance.
    "At no time did I discuss Mr. Iglesias' job performance with the Justice Department or the White House before the decision was apparently made to replace him," Wilson wrote in a letter to the authors of the report on Monday.
    "I did not request that Mr. Iglesias be removed at any time," Wilson wrote. "This is a significant mistake in the report that should be corrected."
    Wilson told Rove at a breakfast meeting on Nov. 15, 2006, after the election, that Iglesias was doing a bad job, but Rove told her Justice officials had already decided to ask for his resignation, the report says.
    Wilson also said she was informed by the House Ethics Committee in July that there would be no congressional inquiry of her actions, and that the matter was closed.
    Domenici received a "qualified admonition" from the Senate Ethics Committee in April.
    Domenici and Wilson have acknowledged calling Iglesias to inquire about the status of a corruption investigation before the November 2006 general election, but both have repeatedly denied pressuring him in any way.
    Other New Mexico Republicans mentioned in the report as complaining to federal officials about Iglesias' job performance, particularly in connection with alleged voter fraud, include state Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh; Albuquerque lawyer Pat Rogers; and Mickey Barnett, an Albuquerque lawyer and former state senator.
    In a statement to the Journal, Rogers — who met with Bush administration officials to complain about Iglesias' job performance in 2005, especially his failure to prosecute voter fraud — said the investigation and subsequent report were flawed.
    "The internal DOJ "investigation" has not included any effort to obtain the testimony or documents of assistant U.S. attorneys who complained to the Department of Justice about the shortcomings of Mr. Iglesias," Rogers said. "The DOJ has declined other and repeated opportunities to receive evidence that Mr. Iglesias should have been replaced much earlier."