Leave it to David Iglesias to bring us back from the dead…
Sort of…
Like, oh’mi GOSH! The Wednesday Morning Quarterback is writing something today – that’s like so COOL…
AND WE HAVE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT today – so read on, friends…
Because unlike David Iglesias, we too could have spent our time “sleeping in” today, but we opted to get up and go to work…because COME ON!
We know you saw this article – front page of the Washington Post yesterday – and sorry, but we just couldn’t let some of that UHGGGG, slide.
First, what is up with the Post slamming New Mexico so badly?
Dear reporter Sridhar Pappu –
Albuquerque is not “formed” by a “dusty, desolate collection of adobe homes and Vietnamese restaurants”, thank you very much.
Haven’t you seen Governor Richardson’s billboards???
Or our float in the Rose Bowl Parade???
And DUDE – great literary connection between feasting coyotes and the poor political tangles that forced-to-quit US Attorney David Iglesias has found himself in. But seriously…did you actually HEAR those mountain lions that you wrote about, or did David Iglesias just tell you about them?
Uh huh…
We’re surprised Pappu managed to escape the Disneyland-like outdoor adventure, complete with “hot tub”, to make it safely back inside that protective Beltway in order to write this GREAT story…
Because we loved this David Iglesias quote – “Had I stayed a US attorney and not gotten forced to resign, no one would know who I was outside of New Mexico. In a perverse way this has already put me on the national map.”
We’ll agree with the “perverse” description, for sure.
Leastways, with Iglesias’s desire to be on the cover of Vanity Fair.
One of the “rumors” we heard from Iglesias’s early years of service with the Albuquerque City Attorney’s office was that he would walk the halls and claim that one day he’d be on the cover of Vanity Fair…
Seriously…
And we never wrote about it because who would be so ODD as to make such a claim?
We were skeptical, for sure.
But yesterday, he said “I’m really surprised we haven’t been contacted by magazines like Vanity Fair or the Atlantic for a larger story. I like them.”
Aye aye aye…
And look…anybody who thinks “Schumer, Leahy, and Feinstein” are just loving and helpful people who are willing to cross party lines to support a floundering Republican because they just really CARE about him…
Oh my…
But here’s a voice of reason from John McKay, the former US Attorney in Washington, who said yesterday, “I wasn’t looking for attention, and it was pretty miserable, quite frankly. Others have said ‘Oh boy, it’s good you got all this attention.’ I’m never going to feel that way.”
But not our very own David Iglesias - who told the Washington Post THIS...
That “One day he found (his wife) Cindy weeping, face-down on the carpet of their bedroom closet.”
That’s nice…
And AGAIN – why are we bothering with all of this?
The WMQB – along with many others – has been saying since this news fiasco erupted that somehow there was a disconnect between what the Department of Justice saw in Iglesias’s work, and what was seen on the ground here in New Mexico.
The DOJ had good progress reports for him, while STUFF just wasn’t getting done.
We believe that if David Iglesias had put a quarter of the energy he is now using to gain public, national, notoriety into prosecuting cases of public corruption and voter fraud while US Attorney, then nobody, including his old “friends and allies”, would have had any reason to BITCH about his job performance in the first place.
This ran last week in the Kansas City Star – Former ACORN worker pleads guilty in voter fraud caseBy MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
A former voter registration worker for a community organization pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to filing false paperwork with the Kansas City election board.
Carmen R. Davis, 38, was charged in January with committing voter registration fraud and identity theft before the November elections. The charges against her and three other former ACORN workers have become a national issue…Earlier this week, Dale D. Franklin, who pleaded guilty in February to filing false voter registrations, received probation. Brian Gardner pleaded guilty in March and is awaiting sentencing. Kwaim A. Stenson is set for trial in July.
Uhh…you mean filing FALSE VOTER REGISTRATIONS is against the law??? And to think there were thousands upon thousands of them in New Mexico in 2004…and not a single prosecution…
And in case you missed this letter in the Albuquerque Journal yesterday – Give Iglesias Taste Of Own Medicine
DAVID IGLESIAS, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, says he cannot locate sufficient evidence to justify his firing, so he now demands a federal government Office of Special Counsel investigation.
I don't have any personal information about his Department of Justice foreign trips, or whether he ignored public corruption crimes. I do know about his failure to do anything about crimes involving my family.
In 2004, before the November election, my 13-year-old son's name, along with someone else's Social Security number and date of birth, were stolen by an ACORN employee to successfully obtain a fraudulent voter registration. Once I brought this case to light, other cases of fraud and forgery involving this particular ACORN employee, as well as others, began to surface in New Mexico.
Despite widespread media coverage, a lawsuit and a personal complaint by me to the task force set up by Iglesias, I have never received a response from his office. If Iglesias' office did not want to prosecute these federal felony cases, as he says lately, then why weren't the cases referred to the state level where forgeries of this nature are also fourth-degree felonies?
As a voter and a father with nearly 22 years of law enforcement experience, I am amazed at the apparent level of malfeasance exhibited in my family's case. In my opinion, Iglesias deserved to be removed from his post.
When my family needed Iglesias to just do his job and prosecute clear crimes, he did nothing. Now that Iglesias has lost his high-level political job, he wants a federal investigation of his complaint. I hope his investigation is performed in the same manner and by the same people who were supposed to help my family and New Mexico voters.
GLEN STOUT
Albuquerque
OK – enough about Iglesias…for now.
But don’t miss PBS’s The Line this Friday night at 7:00 pm, Channel 5, where we’ll be welcoming former Democrat Party Chairman John Wertheim for a wrap-up discussion on Monica Goodling’s testimony scheduled for today, and it’s New Mexico fallout.
BUT WAIT – we’re not quite done – we have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT to make…
We’re closing up shop over here at the WMQB.
We’ve had it with blogging. We’re done.
NOT!
Actually…we’re proud to be joining what is turning into a growing and very successful political blog - Heath Haussamen’s blog.
Heath has earned a solid reputation for covering New Mexico politics in an honest and straightforward manner, and we’re proud to be part of his efforts to bring the best coverage, and the best commentary, (so says us) to this desolate, rocky, and wild part of the world known as New Mexico.
Yeehaw!!
And since we are at no loss in this state for over-the-top grandiose statements about self-importance, we’ll say our JUMP is “One small step for man, one giant leap for woman-kind”
Now that’s silly…
So next Wednesday, check out Heath’s blog for our first WMQB commentary in a new SETTING. We’ll try to write every Wednesday, so keep the comments and tips coming.
OH – and if you’re concerned that Heath has fallen off the boat and gone RIGHT – think again…The WMQB shall be balanced out by some-yet-to-be-identified leftist commentator…
As if the Internet needs more of those…
OK – thanks for stopping in – come visit us next week at our new home…we’ll turn the porch light on…