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Sunday, August 03, 2008
State's Former U.S. Attorney Still a Spokesman on Firings
By Melanie Sloan
Executive Director, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
The political drama known as the U.S. Attorney Scandal began unfolding Dec. 7, 2006, when an official in the Department of Justice telephoned seven sitting U.S. attorneys and told them they had been fired. No explanations were offered, and no questions were answered. It turned out that two additional prosecutors had also been terminated.
The firings were unprecedented in Justice Department history. While U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, once confirmed to their positions generally they are replaced only upon the advent of a new administration or after they resign of their own volition.
To the surprise of many in the Bush administration, official Washington took immediate notice upon learning that this tradition had been violated. Improper political motives were suspected and then confirmed when it leaked out that the U.S. attorney for New Mexico, David Iglesias, had fielded telephone calls from U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and Sen. Pete Domenici inquiring as to the timing of indictments in ongoing corruption investigation in an effort to influence the 2006 elections.
Iglesias's new book, "In Justice," written with Davin Seay, tells Iglesias' tale of his rise and fall in New Mexico Republican politics and provides a firsthand account of the firings and the resulting reverberations. While still in shock over being fired right before Christmas despite stellar performance reviews, Iglesias received an e-mail from Washington U.S. Attorney John McKay announcing his own resignation. Suddenly suspicious that his firing might not have been an isolated incident, Iglesias responded with his own e-mail, asking McKay if he, too, had received a phone call.
The prompt reply: "I sure did. And I'm not the only one." The two then spoke by phone and McKay revealed that at least three others had been given the boot as well: Arizona's Paul Charlton, Nevada's Dan Bogden and Carol Lam from the Southern District of California. Later, they would learn that Margaret Chiara from Western District of Michigan and Kevin Ryan, of the Northern District of California had also been terminated on the same day. Two others, Bud Cummins of Arkansas and Todd Graves of Missouri had been forced out months earlier.
Iglesias describes how, after talking among themselves, several of the group realized they had been pushed out of their jobs for political reasons. Graves, McKay and Iglesias all apparently had been fired for refusing to pursue charges to assist the Republican party win close elections, Lam and Charlton for prosecuting administration friends Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Rick Renzi, both corrupt Republican members of Congress.
Although angry about their abrupt terminations, the prosecutors were, at first, hesitant to defend themselves publicly, but most shared McKay's view: "If they even hint that any of this was performance-related, I'm going to go public."
By February, in an effort to tamp down the growing scandal, that is just what happened. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty testified that all the prosecutors save Bud Cummins — who admittedly had been removed to make way for Karl Rove acolyte Tim Griffin — had been "urged to leave because of poor performances."
For Iglesias and the others, it was clear that "the time had come to set the record straight." They began telling their stories to reporters and eventually, on March 6, 2007, Iglesias, Lam, McKay, Cummins and Bogden all testified before Congress, defending their records and noting previous strong evaluations.
Iglesias quickly became the face of the scandal, appearing regularly on cable news outlets. He discusses his surprise at finding himself taking down the Justice Department hierarchy when he had previously considered himself a Republican party stalwart and an integral part of that same hierarchy. Nevertheless, supported by his family and religious faith, Iglesias ultimately became comfortable with the role, recognizing that the justice system itself was at stake.
"In Justice" sheds new light on how the Justice Department's reputation has been stained by the arrogance and incompetence of its leadership under the Bush administration. Over the past eight years, many long-time career lawyers have fled the office, which came to value ideology and loyalty over intelligence and competence. The next president — whatever his party — will face the Herculean task of rebuilding the once vaunted department, now viewed with derision.
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