And if Domenici Won't Support No Confidence, Ask Him Who His First Choice Was...

by emptywheel

I noted the other day that, if you happened to be a constituent on the phone with one of the Senators deeply implicated in the USA Purge, you ought to use that to encourage them to vote no confidence in Gonzales. The conversation might go,

Senator Domenici, I've read that you're deeply sorry for any appearance of impropriety you had in the Iglesias firing. Well, I'd sure be more convinced about your apology come November 2008 if you supported the call for no confidence on Monday.

Well, if it's Senator Domenici you've got on the phone, you probably ought to ask him who his first choice for USA was. You see, one guy who keeps showing up in stories about New Mexico's Republicans pushing the Bushies to fire Iglesias is a guy named Patrick Rogers. As in this story in today's LAT

Weeks before the 2006 midterm election, then-New Mexico U.S. Atty. David C. Iglesias was invited to dine with a well-connected Republican lawyer in Albuquerque who had been after him for years to prosecute allegations of voter fraud.

"I had a bad feeling about that lunch," said Iglesias, describing his meeting at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen with Patrick Rogers, a lawyer who provided occasional counsel to the New Mexico Republican Party.

When the voter fraud issue came up, Iglesias said, he explained to Rogers that in reviewing more than 100 complaints, he hadn't found any solid enough to justify criminal charges.

[snip]

Rogers, Iglesias recalled, had pressed him in 2004 and then again just before the 2006 election to push for voter fraud convictions in the state. Iglesias said he was so concerned about the propriety of the preelection get-together with Rogers that he asked a colleague from the office to join him as a witness.

Or this story about how Rogers and fellow NM Republican Mickey Barnett complained to Monica Goodling about Iglesias' refusal to take voter fraud cases.

Mickey Barnett on Wednesday confirmed he and fellow Albuquerque attorney Pat Rogers met June 21 with Monica Goodling, Gonzales' senior counsel in Washington, D.C., to vent frustrations about a New Mexico voter fraud investigation.

Which is all kind of interesting because Pat Rogers was one of Domenici's four choices to replace Iglesias. And it appears that someone with a six-letter name--either Rogers or Peifer--was Domenici's "overwhelming choice" on January 8. It sure sounds like Domenici has been pushing for Rogers for a while.

Domenici had for years wanted Rogers to be U.S. attorney in part because of his experience with touchy political issues, but Rogers had turned him down, Domenici's chief of staff, Steve Bell, said Monday. Domenici recommended Rogers again this year in hopes he might take the job, Bell said.

''He's just done an awful lot of stuff for the state,'' Bell said. ''Our state — especially with the history (of corruption) we've had — we need to have somebody with a fair amount of courage.''

Now either to his credit or because of his personal role in the stink of it all, Rogers has withdrawn his name from consideration.

But if we could get an unredacted copy of the email Domenici's Chief of Staff sent on January 8, we might learn whether Rogers was willing to take the job of the man he had a hand in getting fired.

Because that would be especially neat, wouldn't it? If Rogers got Iglesias fired because he wouldn't trump up voter fraud cases against Democrats ... with some kind of expectation he might replace Iglesias?

Update: Oh, I meant to add this bit.

Rogers has a bit a lot of Rovian nastiness to him. Witness this column trying to get Iglesias to stop talking about the manner in which he was fired. It literally looks like something they recycled from their attacks on Joe Wilson in July 2003, with the complaints about his media coverage and this bit:

The next U.S. Attorney should curtail the foreign junket opportunities and use the savings to hire more prosecutors.

Of course, "junket" in this case refers to Iglesias' military service. See what I mean about the similarity to the attacks on Wilson? And that military service? Exotic lands:

For someone preoccupied with his own travel to exotic foreign lands in lieu of hiring more prosecutors, his demands seem very misguided.

And if we accept that he's a good Rovian, then what should we make of this?

Update: Ah, here's the document I was looking for. Apparently, the WH had a suggestion to replace Iglesias in mind on December 14, but Domenici was "not so sure." So I'm wondering. Did the WH suggest Rogers, and Domenici just played along all nice like? And if not, who would be a better choice for the WH than vote fraud enthusiast Pat Rogers?

Comments

[John Lopresti]

Senatorial politics in NM likely are more important than the impact of pols from NM the US House of Representatives, yet, throughout the US attorney purge voter fraud scandal I have continued to wonder what the co-author of Sensenbrenner's FISA rewrite, Heather Wilson, R-NM, might have suggested to Iglesias; likely the same talking points as Sen, Domenici applied as near-preelection evidence. There is discussion on the internet now about an organization which formed in 2005 five days before federal hearings on voter fraud in OH called ACVR. PFAW is saying ACVR had NM in its target zone for a voter fraud scheme in Espanola which the state attorney general, Madrid, was investigating. Evidently ACVR attempted to advance the scare tactic about voter fraud in states which were likely to pass new impediments for impoverished and untogether voters like ID cards. But ACVR recently has taken down its website and its chief organizer has removed the name of NGO ACVR from his resume very recently. For some reason, Rep. Wilson has removed the 2006 press releases from her congressional website, so her reports of her draft legislation for FISA also are unavailable; e.g. broken link. Here are some of the ACVR materials: its history; its very recent disappearance; an Indiana judge's recent decision based upon ACVR's voter fraud accusations in IN, a case which voter law expert Rick Hasen assesses is on its way to the US Supreme Court; the local state attorney general's February 2006 investigation which had attracted ACVR's interest in NM.

[looseheadprop]

"Domenici had for years wanted Rogers to be U.S. attorney in part because of his experience with touchy political issues, but Rogers had turned him down, Domenici's chief of staff, Steve Bell, said Monday. Domenici recommended Rogers again this year in hopes he might take the job, Bell said."

What a crock. Senators do not send up names of people that they don't already KNOW are willing to take the job.

It costs a lot of money to vet the candiates and if they get to the bockground check stage a lot mmore money. You would NEVER put up somebody who might refuse

[freepatriot]

so how many people were involved in trying to get Mr Iglasias to fill false charges of voter fraud ???

US Attorneys serve "at the pleasure of the president", but they don't serve to do the President's bidding

once a US Attorney has been appointed and confirmed, the US Attorney's job is to UPHOLD THE cONSTITUTION AND ALL THE LAWS ESTABLISHED THEREUNDER

anybody who attempts to OBSTRUCT the preformance of a US Attorney's duties (by doing something like pressuring the USA to file false charges) is GUILTY OF OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

if there were SEVERAL PEOPLE involved in a CONSPIRICY to OBSTRUCT a US Attorney by pressuring the USA to file false charges, then the laws against conspiricy are also available as a remedy

if mr rogers is a lawyer, then he knows the penalties for conspiricy to commit obstruction of justice

put this fucker in front of a Grand Jury and see if he wants to be a witness or a suspect

[The Oracle]

The "culture of corruption" Republicans won't go down without a dirty, dirty fight.

Even with all the revelations of rampant Republican corruption, the "culture of corruption" Republicans, in Washington and in any state they control (like Texas), are still following Karl Rove's evil (neo-Nazi, neo-Commie) game plan.

Freedom-loving U.S. citizens will never be able to breathe easy, even after we see what the outcome of the November 2008 elections are. The future of our freedom, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and the "rule of law" will still hang in the balance after the elections, just as now.

The perverse and un-American "culture of corruption" Republicans have perverted our democratic, constitutional government from top to bottom, and even though Democrats control the U.S. House of Representatives, this will not stop the Republicans' insidious plans for our society.

As it is, it will take many, many years to undo the damage already done to our nation. This is the legacy the "culture of corruption" Republicans are leaving for our nation's children...and even their own. Insane? Yes. Reversible? I don't know. Only time will tell.

[clichy]

I think once the smoke clears from the ruins of the Bush Crime Family adventure in American government some serious thought needs to be given in the hallowed halls of serious independent think tanks on how we fix what is obviously broken and how we change things that are in need of changing.

Obviously in the area of oversight the one party controlling all three branches just ain't gonna get it because it's already been shown that venality pervades those who like to present themselves as pious and God-fearing, e.g. Scalia, Goodling, Bush Jr., Abramoff, Ashcroft (although he did perform a gallant act in defense of the Constitution).

Independent watchdogs would be nice with funding provided through tax dollars which will be recovered through ending the give-aways to the top 1/2% of taxpayers in this country and through a drastic reduction is arms spending.

If we don't demand unassailable levers of control over government we might as well just sit back, eat some peyote, and enjoy the show because we will have forfeited our government to shameless, greedy thieves.

[Novista]

The best 'levers of control over government' would be not giving it arbitrary power in the first place.

Checks-and-balances once worked; they could again.

Not only for DOJ as here, but in areas like the stupidity of cost-plus, no-bid contracts with little or no oversight.

[TiredFed]

Marcy, does this lead to more questions for Monica on Wednesday? Do you want Cong. Conyers to ask for Domenci's COS's unredacted email (if it went to anyone at DOJ it is under subpoena)? I was hoping you would send a follow-on copy of the questions we compiled (at TiredFed.spaces.live) to Cong Conyers, since you are one of his constituents and I'm not (I'm just another faithful public servant).

[Sara]

Rather than just blame "them" maybe we need to ask why mass participation institutions of Civil Society seem to have failed us over the past several decades. While I don't for a minute mean to let the scoundrels ride free, there is a good deal of Citizen's failing to pay attention involved here too.

What would help???

Perhaps a new "Fairness Doctrine" in both over the air and cable broadcasting.

Perhaps breaking up the Media Monoply, and finding a way to encourage local production and ownership.

[Dismayed]

Sara, you are right on. Cable news was the beginning of the end here. At the end of the day we can't deregulate everything. There are good reasons for antitrust laws and areas of regulation. The GOP has allowed massive consolidation of power under the banner of 'deregulation' with the promise that it would create more competition, but in reality it always seems to bring less.

I'm all about thinking one level up. We have to get corporate money out of the political system. I can think of very few problems that would not begin to move toward resolution if we could get government back in the hands of the people and out of the hands of monsterous corporations. Long, long overdue.