The Swiftboating of David Iglesias begins

March 28, 2007

New Mexico’s former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias has been one of the more hard-to-explain firings in the administration’s prosecutor purge. Everything about his record suggests he’d be the last federal prosecutor any sane administration would want to get rid of.

As recently as 2004, he was up for a promotion. In 2005, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey called Iglesias “one of our finest.” Once the scandal broke, Justice Department officials tried to craft after-the-fact talking points to explain why Iglesias had to be removed from office — and they had trouble coming up with anything. Then, over the weekend, Iglesias had a sterling performance on Meet the Press, making his dismissal appear even worse.

The man was quite obviously fired for partisan political reasons — the Bush gang wanted him to prosecute more Democrats and Iglesias stuck to the belief that he’d bring cases when the evidence warranted it.

But what can the Bush gang and its allies do now? What they always do — smear those who get in the way. As Digby explained, “[I]t looks like the Rovian character assassins have decided it’s time to go after the US Attorneys.” Here’s a new attack ad playing on New Mexico radio stations:

Former US Attorney David Iglesias wonders why he was fired. He says it was politics. Well, let’s look at the facts.

Iglesias brags he won a huge corruption case but he cut sweetheart deals with those involved and then lost 23 of 24 counts at trial (voices: NOT GUILTY!)

In 2004, 3000 suspect voter registration forms turned up. But Iglesias did nothing even when a crack dealer was busted with them and even when political operatives took the fifth and refused to testify about their fraud. David Iglesias just looked the other way. No wonder a criminal defense lawyer just praised him. He let her client walk.

While he looked the other way on fraud, Iglesias did prosecute a girl for putting bubble gum on a speeding ticket and he did find time to take dozens of taxpayer funded junkets around the world.

Meanwhile his own prosecutors criticized him and a former state supreme court judge publicly called him an ingrate. Now Iglesias is even trying to play the race card. David Iglesias. He still can’t figure out why he was fired.

C’mon David, isn’t it obvious?

Wow.

Digby summarized this nicely:

This was put together by a group called New Mexicans For Honest Courts. (You can hear the ad at the web site.) They appear to have been around since 2004 and look to be one of those rightwing groups that have sprung up in states all over the country to protest “activist judges.” It’s hard to know where they got the money for this ad since it looks like they didn’t file a PAC report since July of 2006. Maybe some “angel” just came to town.

The message is clear. If you speak out against the family, you’ll get whacked.

I can’t say I’m surprised, but damn.

Might this backfire? Iglesias is a conservative Republican, with credibility and the facts on his side. If Iglesias has any more dirt to spill, now’s the time to let everyone know.

This could backfire big time. Iglesias has already shown that he’s not going to take his firing lying down, and this will make him forget any lingering discretion he may have felt towards his old bosses and his party.

Or at least it should. If it doesn’t, I don’t know what will.

  • Is this even legal? He’s a private citizen now and not running for any office. We’re getting into some seriously insane Orwell territory when people are actually taking out attack ads for something like this.

  • Wow! Nasty Red on Red! Attacking your own (especially a competent one) is not the best way for a Permanent, uh, Majority.

    Rove and crew just don’t know when to quit.

    This has not been a good day to be a Repub.

  • Following up on L Boom’s comment, what’s next, attack ads against random blogs?

    ” The carpetbagger report… a left-wing lunatic blog that is now attacking New Mexicans … this is the same blog that once called for the prosecuting of girls who put bubble gum on speeding tickets… will they ever learn? Paid for by New Mexicans For Sticky Speeding Tickets “

  • Does it really matter if this ad effects public opinion in NM? Isn’t it really the opinions of Congress that matter now? This isn’t an election.

  • That definitely looks like its designed to intimidate people, and if we had a real media they would be all over this.

    But we don’t.

    The stations who are paid to play this crap sure aren’t going to object to it.

  • Perhaps they’re jealous because they’ve never been the basis for the main character in a movie. Unless you count some B-Horror flicks. Seriously, he’s in the Navy, a simple push back would be asking them why they’re attacking a member of the Navy while the US is at war. Drape that flag around their necks and p-u-u-ll.

    A more complex rebuttal…Not that I am suggesting this would be the right thing to do (ahem) but I imagine a former USA still has lots of connections that would give him all sorts of interesting information on the members (in both senses of the word) of this cabal. Really. Don’t fuck with the lawyers.

    We’re getting into some seriously insane Orwell territory when people are actually taking out attack ads for something like this.

    Good point. Of course it was not a bunch of Democrats who came up with the idea of picketing the homes of doctors who provide abortions. Neither will you find a Democrat who will try to obtain the names of women who have had abortions so they can release that information to the public. And I believe it was in Colorado where a group of people who were not Democrats tried to compile a comprehensive list of every citizen who was gay or lesbian, just out of curiosity, I’m sure….

  • Who the heck is paying for the attack ads, with what funds, & by whose authorization? No way did that just suddenly strike some independent citizen’s group as a good way of using up some of the surplus cash they just happened to have lying around and going to waste.

  • Why would any radio station even accept this ad? Iglesias isn’t running for any public office, and it sure sounds defamatory. Stations decline ads all the time; why accept this one??

  • I’m still really curious about what exactly their rationale is, and how they’re able to get it on the air. It can’t technically be a political ad because there are no candidates, laws, or referenda involved. It’s an explicit personal attack targeting a private citizen on his job performance. How would this be any different than an ex-spouse sufficiently enraged to buy a nasty radio ad attacking their former wife/husband?

    It’s pretty clearly a PR attack in defense of Domenici and Wilson trying to discredit Iglesias and minimize the scandal but I’d be really interested in seeing how something defending them so indirectly (There’s no “By the way, citizens of New Mexico, Pete Domenici and Heather Wilson are totally not corrupt. Also, they like puppies and grandchildren.”) would be classified as a political ad.

    This seriously creeps me the hell out if something like this is legal. What happens when big corporations decide to use these tactics on whistleblowers?

  • To answer my own question (ALWAYS click the links), it’s Linda Chavez Krumland (Chairman) & Betty R. Patton (Treasurer), New Mexicans for Honest Courts
    (their “send us contributions” website is at http://www.honestcourts.com/ ).

    They had just under $1,700 on hand as of June 2006 and again July 2006, with no activity in those two periods.
    http://www.sos.state.nm.us/main/ethics/0706%20CanImages/NMHonestCourts.tif

    Krumland was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2004.

  • Now Iglesias is even trying to play the race card.

    I’ve been following this story but haven’t come across any mention of Iglesias and the race card. Any info about that? (Gonzales, on the other hand, seems to be channeling Steve Martin in The Jerk. . .)

  • New Mexicans For Honest Courts sounds like the bilge-rot on the soft white underbelly of our ship of state. What other unAmerican antics has this group been engaged? Attacking an indepencent judiciary and questioning the rule of law are just two such activities this groups seems all too willing to embrace! -Kevo

  • One really gets a sense of how important those Bush tax cuts were to the right-wing noise/smear machine. The elites that sponsor the hacks, the lying pundits, the broadcast smears, and assorted nonsense are spending incredible amounts of money for this disinformation. It would be nice if the greedy bastards decided that they weren’t getting a worthwhile return on their “investment.”

  • It’s amazing what you can find on the internet, and what you can get for contributing a few thousand dollars to your congressional representative:

    Linda Chavez Krumland and her husband Tom own a Toyota dealership in Roswell, New Mexico. When they opened the dealership, Tom Krumland asked his local congress-critter, Daniel Foley, to ask the National Guard to send some planes to do a fly-over for the grand opening.

    From http://www.roswell-record.com/archives/021006/news06.html
    “On Nov. 10, two New Mexico Air National Guard fighter jets flew over the grand opening of the Roswell Toyota dealership on West Second Street. ….. Rep. Daniel Foley, R-Roswell, requested the flyover on behalf of Tom Krumland, owner of Roswell Toyota. Foley has said he requested the flyover for a car dealership opening in conjunction with Veterans Day and the Marine Corps birthday. Veterans Day is Nov. 11 and the Marine Corps birthday is Nov. 10.

    “Brig. Gen. Kenny Montoya, who commands the New Mexico National Guard, approved the flyover but maintains that a car dealership opening was not part of Foley’s request, and that he would not have approved the flyover had he known the event was mainly a car dealership opening.

    “Krumland has said the event honored war veterans, free enterprise and the freedom in America to build a successful business. Charlie Daniell of the Disabled American Veterans, who came to the meeting from Artesia, said the flyover was ‘purely a political and business operation.’ [However, veterans were irritated because they hadn’t heard anything about it] …… In a Feb. 1 story on the KOB-TV Web site, Krumland, in reference to the flyover, said, ‘If we offended anybody, then they’re unpatriotic.’

    “Krumland denied that the $6,000 he has donated to Foley’s political campaigns since 2002 had anything to do with the flyover. ……. Foley ……could not be reached for comment.”

    Not the gravest of scandals, but classic happy-to-waste-your-tax-money-as-long-as-I’m-benefitting-from-it Republicanism.

  • We of the US Military proudly tip our wings to the mass importation of cars from Japan! In the trade gap we trust!

  • LOL Zeitgeist.

    I’m wondering three things:

    1. How much does such a flyover cost? From what little I understand, the price of fuel alone would buy you at least one Toyota. But I’d be willing to contribute if the NMNG flew over Krumbum’s house and delivered a payload of old fishheads.

    2. If Flyboy McCain had been pioloting one of the jets, might this story have had a happy ending?

    But most importantly…

    3. Is it safe to say that any ReThuglican pol. named Foley should be watched very closely, or is that profiling?

  • L Boom wonders if it’s legal to create attack ads against private citizens who aren’t running for public office. But what he doesn’t tell you is that he himself is a private citizen who isn’t running for public office. Equally suspicious is that Boom brags about “insane Orwell territory” yet a perusal of any map shows conclusively that there is no such place. It was invented. By whom? By Boom (voices: BOO!)

    And so before you listen to anything L Boom has to say, make sure to ask him the hard-hitting questions that he continues to squirm out of answering to this day. Like why he stopped beating his mother. And whether or not he enjoys it when he kills those kittens. Non-mother-beating-kitten-killers don’t have trouble with those questions. Why does Boom?

    Children are dying senseless deaths every day all over the world. Meanwhile, L Boom deigns himself holy enough to ask pointless questions on the legality of attack ads against his ilk of illicit private citizenry who are screwing with America. He still can’t figure out why everyone hates him. C’mon Boom, isn’t it obvious?

    (This ad paid for by The American Citizens Against Boom Committee)

  • TAIO, that’s unfair profiling. All republicans should be looked at with equal suspicion.

  • LindaChavez is much more than the wife of a car thief and a delegate to the Republican Convention in 2004. She is a leading “conservative Latino,” was very prominent in the 80s trying to “build bridges” to the Latino community and was (I believe) Secretary of HUD (or something in the Cabinet) under Reagan. She spoke at the ’80 or ’84 convention where she did the “mi casa es su casa” bit in her speech, “outreaching” to Latinos.

    BTW – that e-mail I provided has now crashed due to overload. You can all be proud of yourselves.

  • Tom, I think it’s a different Linda Chavez. The one who was on Reagan’s Civil Rights Commission and whom Bush The Less Incompetent nominated as his Secretary of Labor is a commentator in print and on Fox and (at least as recently as 2004) lived in Purcellville, Virginia.

  • I am SO glad I took the time to read these comments! I needed a good chuckle.

    I am also committed to calling my Congressman to request a flyover at an open house I plan at my home on Veterans Day. I’ll be celebrating veterans and the security in which they enable me to live , as well as our free enterprise that enables me to pay the mortgage. AND, wait for it, one of my best friends actually is a veteran!

  • Why would a US Attorney prosecute someone for putting gum on a speeding ticket which is a state crime NOT a federal? Sounds strange to me…………….

  • HonestCourts.com is registered to Harvey Wayne Klick of Lawrence, Kansas. State Senator Rod Adair, NM Dist. 33, is one of his clients. No surprise that Adair supports voter ids.

    From Web Pages by Wayne Harvey:

    Portfolio
    Sites We Have Done

    The Rio Grande foundation
    The Rio Grande Foundation of New Mexico is an independent, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to the study of public policy. The Foundation promotes prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility.

    Errors of Enchantment
    This is the weblog hosted by The Rio Grande Foundation.

    Systants
    A Novato, CA consulting and training firm providing resources for building sustainable business cultures.

    Senator Rod Adair
    Sen. Adair represents most of Lincoln County and parts of Chaves County in southeastern New Mexico. His website includes archives of each of his three email publications, New Mexico Political Journal, Legislative Update, and Let’s Talk Sense….

    H. Ward Camp For New Mexico Public Regulation Committee
    Campaign site for Mr. Camp, featuring his platform and background.

    The Alberquerque Forest Sciences Laboratory
    A division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. A government site describing the activities and research of the AFSL.

    No surprise that Senator Rod Adair supports

  • I started a thread about New Mexicans For Honest Courts at the TPM Cafe. Another one of Klicks’ clients is former NM representative, George D. Buffet who posted about Iglesias and “voter fraud” in June 2006 on his blog.

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