David Iglesias (attorney)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Official Justice Department photo

David Claudio Iglesias (born 1958) is an American attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico.^[1]^[2]

He was appointed by President George W. Bush as the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico in August 2001 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2001.^[2] He was one of eight U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration in 2006 for "performance-related issues." (see Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy). Iglesias had received a positive performance review before he was fired.

1 Early life
2 Appointment
3 United States Attorney dismissal
4 Post U.S. attorney
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Born in Panama City, Panama to Baptist missionaries, his mother, Margaret, is American, and his father, Claudio Iglesias, is a Kuna-Panamanian. His mother and father raised him on a small island off the coast of Panama where they were building a church, and doing medical, dental, and linguistic work for the Kuna people, documenting the Kuna language. After Panama his family moved first to Newkirk, Oklahoma (1964 to 1970), and then to Gallup, New Mexico. Moving again, he graduated from Santa Fe High School, in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1976). After he was turned down by Stanford University, he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois (1980), and a Juris Doctor from the University of New Mexico (1984).^[1]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

He served in the United States Navy, and is a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve. While in the navy, from 1985 and 1988, he was a judge advocate (JAG), at the Pentagon and Naval Legal Service Office, in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Navy Yard. In 1986, he was one of the members of the legal team that was the inspiration for the film A Few Good Men, with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, a case involving the assault of a fellow Marine at their base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.^[1]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

A political independent during his college years, he became a Republican while in the Navy. His core ideals line up better with the Republican party. Iglesias in an interview with Tavis Smiley, said that he was for: "smaller government, less taxes, personal responsibility, and government restraint."^[3] He continues:

"Only problem is, our leaders haven't been practicing that. We've outspent the Democrats for the past eight years. So there's a difference between the ideals, which I love, and the actual application, which I don't love."^[3]

In 1995 he was a member of the White House Fellowship program, as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Transportation.^[8] He was a state Assistant Attorney General (Special Prosecutions; defending police officers in civil rights cases) for the state of New Mexico from 1988 to 1991. From 1991-1994, he was an assistant city attorney for the city of Albuquerque. He went back to the state of New Mexico, first for the State Risk Management Legal Office (1995 to 1998) as Chief Counsel, and the Taxation and Revenue Department, General Counsel (1998 to 2001). He ran for New Mexico Attorney General as a Republican in 1998, but lost 51-49 to Democrat Patricia A. Madrid.^[1]^[4]^[6]^[8]

At the time of his appointment to U.S. Attorney, Iglesias was an associate with the law firm of Walz and Associates in Albuquerque, as well as a Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve JAG Corps.^[8]

In his spare time he reviews Native American films, both fictional and documentary. In 2002, he contributed an article to Native Peoples Magazine, called "Brothers in Arms: Windtalkers."^[9]^[10]

Iglesias lives with his wife, Cynthia (Cyndy), to whom he has been married for 19 years, and their four daughters, Claudia, Amanda, Marrisa, and Sophia, in Albuquerque's Northeast heights.^[1]^[6] He has two older sisters, Marina and Lorie.^[7]

[edit] Appointment

Iglesias was nominated by the White House on August 2, 2001 to the position of United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico.^[8]

Iglesias headed a panel that advised the U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on matters of homeland security. And he opposed pulling the National Guard away from the U.S. border with Mexico.^[11]

[edit] United States Attorney dismissal

Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys Controversy ( v • d • e )
Articles Main issues Timeline Summary of attorneys Documents Congressional hearings List of Dismissed Attorneys Complete list of related articles
Administration Officials Involved Fred F. Fielding, White House Counsel William K. Kelley, Deputy White House Counsel William Moschella, Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Brett Tolman, U.S. Attorney, District of Utah, former counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee Involved Administration Officials that Resigned Alberto Gonzales, United States Attorney General, former White House Counsel Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General Michael A. Battle, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General Monica Goodling, Justice Department's liaison to the White House William W. Mercer, U.S. Attorney, Acting Associate Attorney General (retains position as U.S. Attorney in Montana) Sara Taylor, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Political Affairs Paul McNulty, Deputy Attorney General Harriet Miers, former White House Counsel (resigned prior to publicity surrounding the controversy, effective January 31, 2007) Karl Rove, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Bradley Schlozman, Director Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys; former Acting Assistant Attorney General for, and later Pricipal Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; former interim U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Patrick Leahy, Chair (D) Arlen Specter, Ranking member, former Chair (R) Chuck Schumer, Chair: Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts (D)
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary John Conyers, Chair (D) Lamar Smith, Ranking member (R) Linda Sánchez, Chair: Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law (D)

Main article: Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

In October 2006 (prior to the 2006 midterm election) Senator Pete Domenici called to ask about the progress of an investigation, New Mexico U.S. Attorney Iglesias said he felt this inquiry was trying to "pressure" him to speed up indictments in a federal corruption investigation that involved at least one former Democratic state senator. When Iglesias said an indictment wouldn't be handed down until at least December, "the line went dead." Iglesias was fired one month after the election by the Bush Administration as part of the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy. Also in October, Representative Heather Wilson called about the indictments in a federal corruption investigation that involved at least one former Democratic state Senator."^[12]

Allen Weh, chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House aid for Rove, asking that Iglesias be removed.^[13] Then in 2006 Rove personally told Weh “He’s gone,” Rove said.^[13]

Indeed, one of the stated reasons for Iglesias' dismissal, by Administration officials, was dissatisfaction in his prosecution of voter-fraud cases. Nevertheless, Iglesias "had been heralded for his expertise in that area by the Justice Department, which twice selected him to train other federal prosecutors to pursue election crimes" and was "one of two chief federal prosecutors invited to teach at a 'voting integrity symposium' in October 2005… sponsored by Justice's public integrity and civil rights sections."^[14]

Iglesias alleged that in October 2006 he received inquiries regarding the timing of a federal probe of a kickback scheme involving local Democrats from two congressmen whom Iglesias refused to name for fear of retribution. He said that they appeared eager for there to be an indictment in time to assist the Republicans in the upcoming November election, and believed that he was ultimately fired for refusing to expedite matters.^[15] In comments to the Albuquerque Journal he described them as "two members of the New Mexico delegation".^[16]

The Justice Department also stated that part of the reason for Iglesias's dismissal was his frequent absences. In response to this charge, Iglesias stated that the reason for these absences was his mandatory 40-day per year service as part of the Navy Reserve, in which he still serves as a commander.^[17] This represents a possible violation of USERRA.

He was to be replaced with Larry Gomez, the man who had been his assistant.^[18]

[edit] Post U.S. attorney

On the television show Hardball with Chris Matthews on March 22, 2007, Iglesias indicated that he was not interested in a future political career and would be more interested in a media job. In May of 2008 he released with contributer Davin Seay 'In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration'. He has also been interviewing for a private sector position.^[3]^[19]