New Mexico Pols Still in Trouble

Just a reminder, you might say.

Over the past month, the U.S. attorneys scandal has focused resolutely on Alberto Gonzales, other senior Justice Department officials, and the White House. But remember that early on, much of the focus was on Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM). Weeks before Election Day, both called then-U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias to squeeze him on his office’s corruption investigation of a state Democrat. Iglesias charged that he was fired because he hadn’t brought an indictment before the election.

As The Hill reports this morning, Domenici and Wilson are still very much on the hook. Kyle Sampson couldn’t even recall the alleged “performance” reason behind Iglesias’ firing during his testimony last week. And the only possible reason Sampson offered for his firing — that he’d failed to indict certain voter fraud cases — amounts to the same allegation: that Iglesias was fired for not indicting more Democrats.

From The Hill:

“[Iglesias’s] dismissal from the Justice Department — that is the one clear-cut example of a dismissal that appears to be based almost entirely on political motivation and political interference,” [Gerry Hebert, the executive director of the Campaign Legal Center and a 21-year veteran of the Justice Department] said….

“Pete Domenici needs to be placed under oath and asked whether he talked to Bush or Gonzales or Karl Rove and Harriet Miers, and what he said,” Hebert said.

In the piece, a former Senate Judiciary Committee staffer also raises the prospect of having a public hearing with Domenici.