Sometimes Hearings Do Matter

A New York Times Editorial dated this morning concludes:

Congress must keep demanding answers. It must find out who decided to fire these prosecutors and why, and who may have authorized putting pressure on Mr. Cummins. And it must look into whether Senator Domenici and Representatives Wilson and Hastings violated ethics rules that forbid this sort of interference. We hope the House committee will not be deterred by the fact that Mr. Hastings is its ranking Republican. The Justice Department also needs to open its own investigation. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s claim that these prosecutors were fired for poor performance was always difficult to believe. Now it’s impossible.

Indeed it is.

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Rep. Heather Wilson Admits Call.

Paul Kane and Dan Eggen of the Washington Post report that Representative Heather Wilson has admitted calling David Iglesias "to complain about the pace of his public corruption investigations." She claims the call was completely professional. She was just complaining about the pace of the investigation. Isn't calling to complain about the pace of the investigation exactly what Iglesias said she did. Representative Wilson says she did made the call to let Iglesias know that Republicans were grumbling that he was dragging his feet. She called to let him know for his own good. Isn't that an admission of inappropriate pressure?

Regardless of how professional or "well meaning" the call, Rep. Wilson has just admitted violating house ethics rules. Of course that isn't fair. Before the election the house didn't enforce ethics rules.

In related news the Senate ethics committee announced today that it has begun a preliminary inquiry into Senator Pete Domenici's actions.

The game is afoot.

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McClatchy confirms Domenici and Wilson Pressured US Attorney

McClatchy's Washington Bureau has confirmed that Senator Pete Domenici and Representative Heather Wilson pressured US Attorney David Iglesias about the timing of an indictment of a democrat in the run up to the last election.

The two people with knowledge of the incident said Domenici and Wilson intervened in mid-October, when Wilson was in a competitive re-election campaign that she won by 875 votes out of nearly 211,000 cast.

Apparently people have forgotten that there was a serious movement back in the late 1920s and 1930s to clean up Federal law enforcement in general, and the US Attorney offices, in particular, all across the country. Back in the bad old days Federal law enforcement was perceived as being the personal privilege of the party in power at best or for sale to the highest bidder at worst. Remember Al Capone and the Untouchables. Well the Untouchables were part of the movement to professionalize Federal law enforcement. For the last 70 years the professionalism of Federal law enforcement including the very professional US Attorney offices across the country, has been one of our crowning jewels. They have played the role of straight shooters, enforcing the rules for everybody.

Nobody was shocked when Lam followed the evidence and went after Cunningham and Foggo. All of us should be proud, but not surprised, that Iglesias rebuffed Domenici and Wilson. Wilson was new and scared, maybe her call could be excused. Domenici is an old hand. He should have known better.

We Americans used to take it for granted that regardless of which political party was in power the US Attorney was going to prosecute political corruption regardless of who was involved. The US Attorney's office didn't play favorites or time its indictements to impact elections. If a politician did a crime, and the US Attorney could prove it, he could expect to do the time.

Apparently the Justice Department under Alberto Gonzolas is nothing more than an arm of the Republican party. Justice is no longer blind. It is expected to peak and if a Republican is involved, it is expected to wink. That perception has to change right now. This is not a tempest in a tea pot story. This is a story that goes straight to the heart of the American experiment. If we can't trust the United States Justice Department to prosecute any law breaker regardless of power or party, we will find ourselves back in the 1920s of Al Capone wondering how we can possibly stop corrupt political machines.

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Senator Domenici and Representative Wilson Refuse to Deny Presssuring Iglesias

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo is reporting that all but two of the Republican Members of the New Mexico delegation have flatly denied pressuring US Attorney David Iglesias to indict some democrats prior to the November election. The two who have refused to deny are Representative Heather Wilson and Senator Pete Domenici. As was previously reported, Iglesias says that two members of the New Mexico delegation pressured him to indict prematurely to help Republican reelection efforts. He refused, insisting on waiting until he had sufficient evidence.

Two plus two equals Domenici and Wilson?

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