Rudy endures his first real bad press as Presidential candidate.
A lot of people have noted today’s news that New Mexico Democrat Manny Aragon was indicted yesterday by the guy who replaced David Iglesias. This was the indictment that Sen. Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Wilson (R-NM) wanted Iglesias to pop before the November election, to help Wilson head off the challenge from Democrat Patricia Madrid.
Now, the first thing to say is that I don’t know enough about the particulars of the Aragon case to comment on it specifically. But I will say that my assumption has always been that Iglesias was investigating this case as a very real and serious criminal inquiry and probably intended eventually to bring indictments. The article notes that three of the four people indicted had actually reached sealed plea deals earlier this year. So those may actually have been secured during Iglesias’s tenure.
However that may be, I would caution people against jumping to the conclusion that Iglesias’s successor has brought an indictment that Iglesias himself was unwilling to seek. Given how much wrongdoing we’ve found in this story I wouldn’t say it’s impossible either. But my impression has always been that the issue here was timing. Domenici and Wilson wanted Iglesias to rush an indictment in time for the election to help Wilson hold on to her House seat. He refused.
If we hear anything that indicates otherwise, we’ll let you know.
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.
So who’s been better on Iraq over the years, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton?
Check out our massive and handy chart comparing all their votes on the war and decide for yourself.
As we’ve sought to explain over recent weeks, the US Attorney Purge story connects to another extremely important story — the way the Bush administration has moved, on political and legal fronts, to use bogus ‘vote fraud’ claims to depress (particularly minority) voter turnout. At least two of these US Attorneys were canned because they wouldn’t make themselves partisan tools in that effort. Now ex-DOJ officials are coming forward to explain how Bush administration appointees at DOJ have been using their enforcement powers to shift election outcomes.
Definitely give this a look. There’s a lot more here.
Radar Mag: Creeping Carneyism! This week’s Time mag has no US Attorney Purge coverage.
Chris Hayes on The Internet, Alinsky and the Bourgeois Revolt.
On the case: Pentagon hires PR agency to help with Walter Reed scandal.
President Bush says the Iraq/Afghanistan emergency budget supplemental is needed by mid-April or funding for the US troops in those countries will run out. A new Congressional Research Service report says that’s not true. Current funds could last them through July. (ed.note: The news report is behind the subscription wall of NJ Congress Daily.)