DCCC Launches 'Heather Wilson Watch'

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) today launched a new website, Heather Wilson Watch, chronicling the role played by Rep Heather Wilson (R-NM1)i n the firing of former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. There are serious and unresolved differences between Wilson’s political statement and Mr. Iglesias’ testimony under oath:

“I received a call from Heather Wilson. She said ‘what can you tell me about sealed indictments.’ The second she said any questions about sealed indictments, red flags went up in my head, because as you know, we cannot talk about indictments until they’re made public. In general, we specifically cannot talk about a sealed indictment.” -- David Iglesias

“A federal prosecutor was fired only after he refused to bend to Heather Wilson’s political pressure,” said Jennifer Crider, Communications Director at the DCCC. “Heather Wilson needs to quit playing games and tell the truth about her role in the U.S. Attorney scandal. The website Heather Wilson Watch will hold Wilson accountable for her refusal to come clean about why she tried to interfere in a federal investigation and her role in getting Iglesias fired.”

Pressure is expected to continue to get Wilson, Sen. Domenici and others to tell the truth on the record about their roles in the scandal. An article in The Hill reports:

Kyle Sampson’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week suggests that congressional pressure may have played a significant role in the firing of a New Mexico prosecutor.

Statements from Sampson, who served as chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before resigning last month, to the Judiciary Committee last Thursday are placing additional pressure on New Mexico GOP Sen. Pete Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, as well as Gonzales, White House political adviser Karl Rove and ex-White House counsel Harriet Miers, to explain what roles, if any, they played in the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, according to legal experts.

... Justice Department e-mails and Sampson’s testimony also show that sometime between Oct. 17 and Election Day, Iglesias’s name was added to the list along with three names that were redacted in the e-mails.

Domenici and Wilson, who was running in a tight reelection race, called Iglesias just a few weeks prior to the Nov. 7 election.

Earlier this week, protestors showed up outside Rep. Wilson's "state of the district" appearance before the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce to urge her to come clean on her role in the scandal. So far, Wilson has stuck to her story that her call to Iglesias just prior to the November 2006 election was "entirely appropriate." Well, only if you go by the politically poisoned standards of the Bush administration and its cronies.

The Senate Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into Domenici's role in Iglesias' firing.  Members of the House ethics panel won't comment on whether they’ve launched a probe.

To update yourselves on the facts of this scandal, check out the DCCC's timeline covering Wilson's involvement.