Rove Paid Homage to Domenici on Bush Visit to NM

Turns out Karl Rove was on a stealth mission with The Decider when Bush zoomed into Albuquerque on August 27th to attend a big dollar fundraiser for Sen. Pete Domenici at the home of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Mayor Larry Abraham. According to a report by Jeff Jones in today's Albuquerque Journal (which I can't find online), Abraham told him he rode back to Kirtland Air Foce Base in the presidential limo with both Bush and Rove after the luncheon fundraiser.

There had been no previous mention of Rove's presence in New Mexico with Bush, probably with good reason. Testimony and emails have linked Rove with the U.S. Attorney firing scandal in no uncertain terms. And Domenici and NM GOP operatives were clearly enmeshed with Rove in the unethical political maneuvering that unsuccessfully pressured New Mexico's former U.S. Attorney, David Iglesias, to file bogus "voter fraud" cases and rush indictments in the Albuquerque courthouse case before the November 2006 election. Domenici and other New Mexican Repubs, you may recall, reportedly urged Rove and others to see that Iglesias was fired when he didn't buckle under their pressure.

Iglesias was back in the news recently when Alberto Gonzales finally resigned in disgrace. He's quoted in an article in the Albuquerque Tribune:

"Alberto Gonzales is not solely responsible for my illicit firing. People like (Sen.) Pete Domenici also were responsible," Iglesias told The Tribune.

Iglesias said he believes Karl Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff, "cooked up" the plan to fire the U.S. attorneys with the aid of people such as Domenici, the Albuquerque Republican who today hosted President Bush at a fund-raiser in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque

Since Rove's last day on the job was August 31st, one of his last acts while on the White House payroll was to jet here to see his old cronies in the New Mexico GOP. Rove apparently thought it important to touch base with Domenici, helping him raise cash while undoubtedly urging him to continue his support for Bush's miserably misbegotten Iraq occupation. I'm sure Karl also made a point of hugging Pat Rogers, Mickey Barnett and Repub Party Chair Allen Weh, who were so instrumental in attempting to execute Rove's long running battleground state "voter fraud" strategy to disenfranchise and discourage Dem voters. The three, along with Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, were also heavily involved in the process that led to former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias getting fired.

To refresh your memory, Domenici and Weh reportedly urged Rove to pass along the word to Bush and Alberto Gonzales that they wanted Iglesias fired for refusing to make the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico an arm of the GOP political operation. Soon afterwards, Iglesias was gone.

Check out the discussion about the involvement of Rogers and Barnett in our post from May of this year. Also be sure to revisit the excellent piece by James Scarantino from the May 24-30, 2007 edition of the alibi that details the shady dealings of Pat Rogers, Pete Domenici and Rove related to the "voter fraud" campaign and Iglesias' firing.

No wonder Rove accompanied the president to New Mexico last month. He wanted to link up once again with the New Mexico Repubs who were such important cogs in the machine Rove created to politicize the U.S. Department of Justice and make the federal government just another element of his grand plan for GOP dominance at the polls. Oh to have been a fly on the wall when Rove reunited with his New Mexico GOP hit team to reminisce and plot one last time before he left his post at the White House to pursue who knows what. I'm sure Rove wanted to remind his cronies to stick with the party line in any future proceedings in DC about the attorney firings. After all, neither Domenici nor Wilson have yet to be cleared of wrongdoing in their admitted calls to Iglesias before the 2006 election. Silence is golden, and loose lips sink ships -- even ships of state.

For a collection of our previous posts on the firing of David Iglesias and the U.S. Attorney scandal, visit our archive.