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Sunday, May 11, 2008
Politics, Then and Now
By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer
“In Justice,” by David Iglesias with Davin Seay
Wiley, $25.95, 256 pp.
David Iglesias' first foray into New Mexico politics came in 1998, when he ran unsuccessfully for state attorney general.
From then until late 2006, Iglesias said, he had known only what he termed the positive side of politics — “getting the job done, helping people at fundamental levels, seeking justice, that kind of thing. I had never experienced the dark side of politics.”
Not until December 2006, when the Bush administration fired him as U.S. attorney for New Mexico, along with six other appointed U.S. attorneys.
The firings caused a scandal and were viewed as a factor in the resignation of Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general.
In his new book, which carries the double-edged title “In Justice,” Iglesias gives previously unreported details of the hot topic as well as his thoughts and observations about it.
“It was a wake-up call for me,” Iglesias said in a phone interview about the firings.
“I look at politics now, I think, with open eyes. I'm still a Republican. I still like the ideas of the party. I don't like the leadership for the most part. I'm disappointed with the national leadership. And I think the local statewide leadership needs to be replaced.”
The Panama native said he has no plans to run for office and he is neither publicly endorsing nor campaigning for any candidates this year.
“I am staying out of the mosh pit because when you get in the mosh pit, it's exciting but it's dangerous and dirty,” the 50-year-old Iglesias said.
Two things he wanted to clarify.
The rank-and-file Republicans with whom he's spoken are supportive of the seven fired U.S. attorneys. And so are most of the currently serving U.S. attorneys, he said.
The Bush administration claimed the firings were over performance-related issues.
U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., and U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., had called Iglesias about possible indictments in a federal corruption case coming before the 2006 general election.
Iglesias said in testimony to Congress after his firing that he felt pressured by Domenici's and Wilson's calls to him. In the book, he declared they were inappropriate, and so were their questions.
He wrote that he had told Domenici that indictments weren't going to happen before the November election.
In his book, Iglesias said he considered Domenici his mentor, the man who helped get him appointed U.S. attorney.
The Senate ethics committee recently ruled that Domenici shouldn't have called Iglesias but found “no substantial evidence” that he tried to improperly influence a federal investigation.
Iglesias said there are still a handful of pending investigations into the firings:
n One is from the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility.
n Another is by the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency created in the aftermath of Watergate.
n The House and Senate judiciary committees still have reports pending.
n And the House has a pending lawsuit to force two White House aides to testify on whether they knew in advance about the firings. The aides have claimed executive privilege.
At present, Iglesias is working in Albuquerque as an adviser to a global consulting firm on border, law enforcement and information-sharing issues. He declined to identify the firm.
Will he remain a Republican?
“Probably, yes,” he said. “I was an independent for about 12 years. I became a Republican when I was about 30. I like the ideas of the party better. But I've been very disappointed with how the party has attempted to implement its vision, and that's the sense that it's a scorched-earth, winner-take all, no-compromise, end justifies the means.
“I don't agree with that. I'll never agree with that. Just in terms of simple governance. … The war on terror has been used to justify a creeping federal power to the detriment of our civil liberties. …We all want to be safe, but not at the expense of our core liberties.”
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