David Iglesias plays the sour-puss (what a surprise) in the Ny Times and makes you wonder whether or not the guy is neive or there was really a good reason to let him go:

“WITH this week‚Äôs release of more than 3,000 Justice Department e-mail messages about the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors, it seems clear that politics played a role in the ousters.

Of course, as one of the eight, I’ve felt this way for some time. But now that the record is out there in black and white for the rest of the country to see, the argument that we were fired for “performance related” reasons (in the words of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty) is starting to look more than a little wobbly.

United States attorneys have a long history of being insulated from politics. Although we receive our appointments through the political process (I am a Republican who was recommended by Senator Pete Domenici), we are expected to be apolitical once we are in office. I will never forget John Ashcroft, then the attorney general, telling me during the summer of 2001 that politics should play no role during my tenure. I took that message to heart. Little did I know that I could be fired for not being political.

Politics entered my life with two phone calls that I received last fall, just before the November election. One came from Representative Heather Wilson and the other from Senator Domenici, both Republicans from my state, New Mexico.

Ms. Wilson asked me about sealed indictments pertaining to a politically charged corruption case widely reported in the news media involving local Democrats. Her question instantly put me on guard. Prosecutors may not legally talk about indictments, so I was evasive. Shortly after speaking to Ms. Wilson, I received a call from Senator Domenici at my home. The senator wanted to know whether I was going to file corruption charges — the cases Ms. Wilson had been asking about — before November. When I told him that I didn’t think so, he said, “I am very sorry to hear that,” and the line went dead.

A few weeks after those phone calls, my name was added to a list of United States attorneys who would be asked to resign ‚Äî even though I had excellent office evaluations, the biggest political corruption prosecutions in New Mexico history, a record number of overall prosecutions and a 95 percent conviction rate. (In one of the documents released this week, I was deemed a ‚Äúdiverse up and comer‚Äù in 2004. Two years later I was asked to resign with no reasons given.)”

First David, what part of “political appointment” do you not understand? What part of “serves at the pleasure of the President “do you not understand?” Obviously neither. The fact is that AG appointments ARE political appointments and many times their termination of service is as well. In fact – as the in the case of the Clinton 93 they are. Either David is blinded by the light, stupid, or perhaps working worse, but this OPED seems a bit on the “coached” side.

Nevertheless, while I will say that Heather Wilson and Pete Domenici possibly stepped over the line in contacting Iglesias, I will also point out that there is NOTHING wrong with inquiry in general into a investigation or even possible prosecution. Fact is that I know for a fact it happens a lot.

If there was a total prohibition then Senator Chuck Schumer would be answering serious questions right now about that rather threatening letter he sent to James Comey about the Plame Game status (note the very plain expectation of a pre-determined outcome Schumer projects).

In reading Iglesias he sounds a lot like the “talking points” of Schumer than of the person some of us know. Again, re-read the OPED along side of congressional democrat statements and it’s striking.

Moreover, I’ve been told that the real reason that Iglesias didn’t prosecute voter fraud was he was actually thwarted by state democrats including current Presidential contender Bill Richardson who blocked recount efforts in 2004.

Saying that, it may be a good idea to gather some phone records of Mr. Iglesias from his days in office to see if he had received any other calls, specifially from state or national democrats during that time frame. Time for another FOIA request via the State of New Mexico.

gonzales Iglesias