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Ex-Justice No. 2: Iglesias `very able' attorney
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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department's former No. 2 official told Congress today that he thought former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of Albuquerque was a "very straight, very able" attorney whom he would not have fired.
Testifying before a House Judiciary subcommittee, former Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey said he thought only one of the eight U.S. attorneys, all Republicans, who were fired last year was weak - Kevin Ryan of San Francisco.
Comey, who was deputy from 2003 to August 2005 and now is general counsel for Lockheed Martin, said he worked with three of the fired U.S. attorneys - Iglesias, Dan Bogden of Nevada and Paul Charlton of Arizona - on an initiative to target violent crime in neighborhoods.
"Albuquerque experienced a dramatic drop in homicides in particular and shootings, as I recall, in their most problem-plagued neighborhoods as a result of that program," said Comey.
Comey said Iglesias "was a very effective U.S. attorney . . . straight, very able."
Comey was also asked about the criticism of Iglesias by other Justice Department officials that Iglesias, who spent 40 to 45 days a year on Naval Reserve duty, was an "absentee landlord" who delegated too much to first assistant Larry Gomez.
Comey said he knew Iglesias was in the Naval Reserve because Comey "used to tease him about not being as cute as Tom Cruise," who played a character modeled on Iglesias in the movie "A Few Good Men."
Comey said he would not have held it against a U.S. attorney if he "was away to serve his country."
In fact, Comey said, he gave "all the hard stuff" to his own first assistant when he was a U.S. attorney for New York City's Manhattan District.
Iglesias has charged that he was fired because New Mexico Republicans complained that he didn't prosecute voter fraud cases in 2004 and because he wouldn't submit to what he perceived as pressure from Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, both Albuquerque Republicans, to speed up indictments in the corruption case involving prominent New Mexico Democrat Manny Aragon before November's elections.
Aragon and three others were indicted in March; former Albuquerque Mayor Ken Schultz and two others pleaded guilty to related charges in the case in February.
Rep. Chris Cannon, a Utah Republican, pressed Comey on Iglesias' failure to report the calls from Domenici and Wilson in October to the Justice Department, as is department protocol.
"It sounds to me like he screwed up in that instance, and should have made the call and reported the contact," Comey said. "It doesn't necessarily change my view of him that he was a competent U.S. attorney."
Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asked Comey in February 2005 to name U.S. attorneys he thought were weak. Comey said he mentioned only Ryan, because of management problems in the San Francisco office.
