On the New Mexico

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On the New Mexico indictment noted below, TPM Reader LS writes in …

Did I miss the ‘voter fraud’ part?

That’s the issue Domenici was floating, I thought. This seems like a kickback case…I didn’t see the voter fraud part.

Here’s the answer I sent LS

To the best of my knowledge, two separate issues. The history of complaints re: Iglesias from Domenici and Republicans in the state was about his failure to pursue vote fraud allegations stemming from the 2004 election. The particular issue with those two calls was about this case — political corruption, but not vote fraud. Sampson’s argument yesterday was that it was that general complaint about lax vote fraud enforcement that got him canned.


Late Update
: In response to this TPM Reader SB writes in …

There may be another issue of timing to yesterday’s indictment of Aragon. The timing of the indictment, at the same time the hearings are going on, gives off the impression that Iglesias’ replacement is saying “See, something WAS going on all along”.

Who’s to say the indictments aren’t premature now and won’t be thrown out next month. Another example of this Administration’s total lack of finesse when it comes to how what they do looks or sounds.

Maybe. This is a good example of one of the many reasons why political appointees and members of Congress shouldn’t start trying to game criminal indictments. Once you start mucking around, politicizing the process, it’s very hard to restore any faith that indictments aren’t being used as proxies for spin and electioneering. Having said that, there’s plenty of wrongdoing in this scandal for which we have plenty of evidence. I’ll assume this is on the level until I see evidence that suggests otherwise.

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