Rove passed on complaints about Iglesias, others

Posted 3/12/2007 10:32:00 AM

The Bush Administration is acknowledging that presidential adviser Karl Rove took complaints from Republican officials about U.S. attorneys to the Justice Department, further involving the White House in a situation in which officials had previously asserted it played almost no role.

Rove, the White House’s chief political operative, did pass along complaints about David Iglesias, former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, McClatchy Newspapers is reporting. A White House spokesman confirmed that Sunday evening.

The Justice Department had previously asserted that the White House was only involved in the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys, including Iglesias, by approving, after the department made the decisions, a list of those who would be fired on Dec. 7.

The admission adds a new dimension to the investigation over whether Iglesias and seven other former U.S. attorneys were fired in December for political reasons. House Democrats leading that chamber’s investigation now say they plan to talk with Rove about the situation, the news service is reporting.

The White House’s comments came after Allen Weh, chair of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said he complained about Iglesias to a Rove staffer in 2005, and to Rove at the end of 2006 – either right before or right after the Justice Department notified Iglesias he was being fired.

Weh urged the firing of Iglesias, a fellow Republican, in part because of his disappointment that he hadn’t issued any indictments as a result of a widespread voter fraud investigation that followed the 2004 election. Many Republicans believe they presented more than 100 verifiable cases of voter fraud to Iglesias, but the investigation quietly died in the first few months of 2005 without action.

Iglesias has accused U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., of pressuring him to speed indictments in a public corruption probe involving at least one high-ranking Democrat in time to sway voters in the November 2006 election. He alleges he was fired after refusing to do it.

It’s fair to note that, though the highest-ranking target of the investigation is former Senate President Manny Aragon, a Democrat, Republicans have also been implicated and may be indicted in the scandal.

But Aragon would certainly be the focus of attention.

Domenici and Wilson say they did call Iglesias in October to inquire about the investigation but say they didn’t pressure him. Domenici is the subject of a Senate ethics probe, and it’s likely that Wilson will face a similar investigation.