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Jolt may ripple beyond N.M. politics

By Michael Gisick
Friday, March 30, 2007

The corruption investigation that went public with four indictments Thursday was expected to send waves through New Mexico politics.

But with former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias' claims he was fired because he resisted pressure to rush the case now on center stage in the nation's capital, the courthouse case could have wider reverberations.

It's already resulted in an ethics probe of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, who has acknowledged calling Iglesias about the case but denied pressuring him.

Here's a quick look at possible consequences at home and elsewhere:

Of the national controversy

Iglesias said in sworn testimony to Congress this month he believes he was fired because he rebuffed Republican pressure to bring indictments in the case ahead of last year's election. U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, an Albuquerque Republican, was then locked in a tight re-election battle with Democratic Attorney General Patricia Madrid.

Thursday, Iglesias said the indictments proved the case was moving forward under a timeline dictated by legal considerations, not political ones.

"I do feel vindicated," he told The Tribune. "The indictments were made public when it was the right time; not too soon and not too late."

Pat Rogers, an attorney for the Republican Party of New Mexico and one of the nominees as a possible replacement for Iglesias, said Iglesias' claims of vindication were "hard to understand."

"This isn't about David Iglesias today," he said. "This is about public corruption, and it's a sad day for New Mexico."

Rogers said it is well known within the legal community that other projects, including the construction of the state District Courthouse, were also part of the federal corruption investigation.

Iglesias' failure to move more quickly with the case could jeopardize other parts of the investigation because of statute of limitations issues, Rogers said.

"(Iglesias') failure to promptly attend to and proceed with indictments will cause significant problems with crimes committed by some of these same people prior to 2002, of which he is aware," Rogers said.

Peter Schoenberg, an attorney for lobbyist and former Albuquerque Mayor Ken Schultz, one of the three men who has accepted a guilty plea in the Metro Court case, said Schultz had cooperated with investigators since February 2006.

The lead prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathon Gerson, spent much of last year involved in another major corruption case, the trial and retrial of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil.

Gerson declined to comment on how the Vigil trial affected the progress of the courthouse case, but defended the result.

"This was an enormously complicated financial case," he said of the latest indictments. "We had a lot to work out. There were lots of records to obtain. We had to understand how the money moved. These things take time."

He said the three guilty pleas were finalized only in the last six weeks - on Feb. 18, March 20 and March 27.

"We filed it now because we believe we are now ready," Gerson said.

As for the controversy in Washington, one analyst said it likely won't be affected by the details of the Albuquerque corruption case.

The larger controversy also includes the firing of seven other U.S. attorneys and growing criticism from members of both parties over the Justice Department's handling of their dismissals.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said the Albuquerque corruption case is a "tiny piece of what has become a major national scandal."

Will it hurt Bill Richardson?

A second major corruption case involving state Democrats isn't likely to make New Mexico's next tourism pitch.

But with Richardson's presidential bid still barely registering in national polls, could the case focus the wrong kind of attention on a campaign badly in need of the right kind?

Sabato, who's been generally pessimistic about Richardson's chances, doesn't think so.

"I think any rational person will look at this and say that, apparently, Richardson wasn't involved. Just because he's from the state and he's the governor doesn't mean he did anything wrong," Sabato said.

In the past, Republicans have criticized Richardson over his supposed role in the hiring of now-indicted Manny Aragon as president of New Mexico Highlands University.

Rising above corruption

The courthouse case comes on the heels of the state treasurer scandal. What can the state do to keep from taking a third strike?

State Auditor Hector Balderas, who took office this year, said the state has already taken an important step: It's hiring two advance investigators.

Those investigators, the first to work for the Auditor's Office, will inherit 300 pending complaints of fraud, waste or abuse when they start work in July, Balderas said. Many of the complaints are likely simple waste and some are probably just bad rumors, Balderas said, but without investigators there's no way to know.

"I've found that there's a big gap between the informal information we receive, the buzz and the chatter, and the ability to link that chatter to real facts," he said.

Also on tap is a hot line that would allow people to report suspicious activity.

Next up, Balderas said, is a push to create a task force involving the Auditor's Office, the FBI and the state Attorney General's Office. Balderas also wants a way to hold governmental entities accountable when they fail to submit timely audits. At present, he said, late audits are generally accepted as the way things go.

"When you have an entity where there's a problem, one common denominator is that their audits are usually out of date," he said.