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 ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ the cases Ms. Wilson had been asking about ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ 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 ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ 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 “diverse up and comer” in 2004. Two years later I was asked to resign with no reasons given.)
Yes, US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. That fact is not in dispute. Historically, Presidents put their people in place at the beginning of their Administration- not six-plus years into it. In part, this is common sense and tradition. It’s also a way to insulate a President from charges of manipulating our legal system for political gain. This is what smart Presidents and their capable, nimble servants do. Sadly, though, this is neither a smart President we’re talking about here, nor are his underlings particularly capable.
The ham-handed and highly partisan manner in which the US Attorney firings were handled has left the Bush Administration open to charges that they’re far more concerned with political fealty than they are the administration of justice. That there’s a paper trail miles long that appears to amply support this accusation is yet another indictment of The Worst President EVER © and the most inept, corrupt, venal Administration in our nation’s history.
Frankly, these trolls make the Nixon Adminstration look like graduates of the Mother Teresa School of Public Service. To the Adminstartion’s everlasting chagrin, not all of the former US Attorneys are taking their firings laying down. David Iglesias, to his credit, has decided that the time has come to defend his reputation and his performance, which was by all indications stellar. His “crime”, if you want to call it that, was apparently insufficient loyalty to the “cause”, in that he pursued his job in an impartial and nonpartisan manner. Pursuing lawbreakers is generally a nonpartisan endeavor, and Iglesias seems to have done his part admirably. That he was insufficiently political (i.e.- he didn’t pursue Democrats when obliquely instructed to do so) was what apparently did him in.
There is undoubtedly much more to this story, which would accounted for Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader’s © bellicosity over what he alleges to be “show trials”. Sounds like someone has something to hide, eh?
What normally happens when BushWorld comes under attack? Yep, they circle the wagons and go on the attack, accusing those who want answers of playing politics. It’s an interesting charge from perhaps the most aggressively partisan Administration in our nation’s history, but if there’s one thing that BushWorld excels at, it’s fighting what they see as heat with some high-velocity combustion of their own.
Stay tuned, y’all…this oughta get interesting….
