Playing Catch-Up: Gonzales, Rove, NM Repubs and the Iglesias Scandal

Sheesh, take a couple days off from politics to relax and drive up north into Georgia O'Keeffe country, and the media and blogsphere explode with new revelations about the U.S. Attorney firing scandal. New names in the mix include Karl "Rovesputin" Rove (right), NM Republican Party Chair Allen Weh and assorted New Mexico lawyers of the Republican persusasion. I've been playing catch-up today and I imagine you might be too. Where to speed read for the latest developments? Good places to start are posts on a few of our local political blogs that are chasing this story, including Joe Monahan, and Heath Haussamen.

NM Repub Party Chair Weh Brings Rove Into the Picture
Carpetbagger Report has a good rundown on the weekend's stories about Weh pushing Rove and one of his aides to can Iglesias. Today, the White House admitted Rove's involvement, as reported in another excellent story from McClatchy Newspapers, which original broke the early developments in the scandal:

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Rove had relayed complaints from Republican officials and others to the Justice Department and the White House counsel's office. She said Rove, the chief White House political operative, specifically recalled passing along complaints about former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and may have mentioned the grumblings about Iglesias to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

We have Weh claiming he whined to Rove deputy Scott Jennings in 2005 and to Rove personally in late 2006 about Iglesias not moving quickly enough on cases of political importance to the NM Republican Party. Rove and the deputy both claim they can't remember Weh talking with them about Iglesias, though they don't dispute the content of the conversations.

Rove reportedly then passed on the complaints about Iglesias to AG Alberto Gonzales, who passed them on to Harriet Meirs, then White House Counsel. Of course there was nothing "political" about any of this. As Gonzales testified under oath to a Senate committee back in January, he would "never" fire U.S. Attorneys for political reasons. No, he was just tending to routine performance reviews and personnel matters, despite the preponderance of glowing reviews in the files of the fired U.S. Attorneys. Oops. House Democrats will definitely be questioning Rove to learn more about his involvement:

Democrats consider Rove the key source for any political interference at the Justice Department because of his role at the center of politics and policy in the White House.

Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., and Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., confirmed their plans after McClatchy Newspapers reported Saturday that New Mexico's Republican Party chairman, Allen Weh, had complained to Rove and one of Rove's deputies about Iglesias.

"Mr. Conyers and Ms. Sanchez intend to talk with Karl Rove about any role he may have had in the firing of the U.S. attorneys," Sanchez spokesman James Dau said. "The revelations from Mr. Weh certainly give us something else relevant and salient to talk about."

Today, Sen. Chuck Schumer asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to call on Rove to testify, making this statement:

The more we learn, the more it seems that people at high levels in the White House have been involved in the U.S. Attorney purge... Recent disclosures reveal that Rove talked to the NM State Party Chair Allen Weh before any public announcement of the firing was made and that Rove talked about Mr. Igleisas to the Attorney General and the White House Counsel. While the White House states not incorrectly that someone in Karl Rove’s position might get complaints about U.S. Attorneys, it is almost unheard of for a U.S. Attorney to be fired shortly after such discussions occur, when that US Attorney had received highly favorable reviews and ratings.

Gonzales Next Up in the Hot Seat
Now we've got pressure building for Alberto Gonzales to resign:

In another development, two leading Democrats said Gonzales should resign. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Gonzales has lost credibility with his handling of the firings, his failure to catch privacy infringements by federal investigators operating under the Patriot Act and other controversies at the Justice Department.

The New York Times editorial board has even come out and called for Alberto's resignation, characterizing him as a "failed attorney general" and concluding that:

He has never stopped being consigliere to Mr. Bush’s imperial presidency. If anyone, outside Mr. Bush’s rapidly shrinking circle of enablers, still had doubts about that, the events of last week should have erased them.

And MyDD reports that national blogs are calling for the impeachment of Gonazales AND Rove.

New Mexico Scene
Talking Points Memo covers the involvement of New Mexico Republicans Pat Rogers and Mickey Barnett in the pressuring of Iglesias. Meanwhile, another McClatchy article entitled, "Firing of U.S. attorneys may be 'enormously problematic' for Republicans," has this to say:

"It would be enormously problematic if, in fact, the Justice Department or the White House were trying to use U.S. attorneys for political purposes," said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia. "The questions are now hanging in the air."

Some Democrats hear echoes of Watergate in the administration's dismissals of the prosecutors ...

A New York Times article examines the shifting political landscape in New Mexico due to the involvement of Rep. Heather Wilson, Sen. Pete Domenici and other locals in the scandal, and provides some background on how Iglesias fell from grace with our state's Republicans.

And an Albuquerque Tribune article considers the possibility that Mr. Iglesias may end up running for Rep. Wilson's or Sen. Domenici's seat -- as a primary challenger within the Republican Party. Now wouldn't that be rich?

(Rovesputin graphic above from darkblack via firedoglake.)