Iglesias Wasn't Working Hard Enough?

The current administration spin on David Iglesias is that he wasn't working hard enough. Cases were stacking up. He was just not up to the job. Domenici knew it. Months ago he had talked to the department about replacing the slacker.

Well the outstanding team of bloggers over at TalkingPointsMemo's TPMmuckraker just torched that claim.

(S)tatistics kept by the Federal Judiciary don't reflect an inability for Iglesias' office to move more quickly on cases -- in fact, quite the opposite. In 2001, when Iglesias took over, the data (pdf) shows a median of 4.6 months for a criminal case in the New Mexico office to move from filing to disposition (dismissal, guilty plea, or trial). In 2005, that time had dwindled to 3.7 months.

And that's a time when Iglesias' office was increasingly snowed under by more cases. His office opened 1,548 criminal cases in 2001; in 2005, the office opened 2,915.

Where is the New York Times or the Washington Post? Hummmmm. Just asking.