[Vision2020] Was U.S. Attorney Fired for Being a Reservist?

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 5, 2007) Daily News Roundup Edition of the Army Times -

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Was U.S. attorney fired for being reservist?

By Jennifer Talhelm - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Apr 5, 2007 19:28:50 EDT

WASHINGTON - New Mexico's former U.S. attorney, David Iglesias, is talking
with the government's independent counsel about whether Justice Department
officials violated federal law when they fired him late last year.

A deputy in the Office of Special Counsel, which protects federal government
whistleblowers, first contacted Iglesias in early March as part of an
inquiry into whether his firing may have violated a law that protects
military reservists from discrimination.

The special counsel's staff also is examining possible violations of laws
designed to protect whistleblowers and prohibit political activity by
government employees, Iglesias said in an interview this week.

Iglesias said he has authorized an investigation, but there are no formal
charges pending. The process is in its very early stages, he said, adding:
"It's too early to tell whether will result in a legal claim."

Iglesias was one of eight U.S. attorneys fired last year as part of a
Justice Department and White House plan to weed out some federal prosecutors
in President Bush's second term. The firings are the subject of a
congressional investigation.

Justice Department officials have said they added Iglesias to the list of
prosecutors to be dismissed because his supervisors deemed him an "absentee
landlord," who delegated too much authority to his second-in-command.

Iglesias acknowledges traveling out of New Mexico on U.S. attorney business
and that he has spent some 40 to 45 days a year in his service in the Navy
Reserve.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act prohibits an
employer from denying any benefit of employment on the basis of an
individual's military service.

A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment
April 5.

New Mexico Republicans, including Sen. Pete Domenici, complained to White
House and Justice Department officials that Iglesias moved too slowly on
voter fraud and political corruption cases.

Iglesias says he was fired for resisting pressure from Domenici and Rep.
Heather Wilson, R-N.M., to rush indictments in an investigation of an
alleged kickback scheme involving Democrats. Domenici and Wilson acknowledge
calling Iglesias in October before the 2006 election, but they say they did
not pressure him.

Iglesias said his discussions with the Special Counsel's staff includes
questions about whether the pressure from officials to act on voter fraud or
corruption cases might violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits civil servants
from engaging in partisan political activity.

Iglesias said the Special Counsel also is looking into whether he might have
a claim under whistleblower protection laws, even though he was dismiseed
two months before he publicly discussed the calls he received from Wilson
and Domenici. Iglesias said the details are still being researched.

A spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel did not immediately return a
call for comment.

Iglesias said he has not hired a private attorney. He has said what he wants
most is a written retraction from the Justice Department indicating he was
not fired for poor performance.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)