David Iglesias (attorney)
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
.
He was appointed by President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
as the United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
for the District of New Mexico
United States District Court for the District of New Mexico
The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the state of New Mexico...
in August 2001 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in October 2001. He served for 6 years. He was one of eight U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
in 2006 for "performance-related issues." (see Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...
). All U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. Iglesias had received a positive performance review before he was fired. A review of the matter released by the US Department of Justice Inspector General in October 2008 found that his firing had been politically motivated.
Allen Weh
Allen Weh
Allen Edward Weh was a Republican candidate for Governor of New Mexico in the 2010 election. He is the president and CEO of CSI Aviation Services, Inc., an international air charter and leasing services company he founded in 1979...
, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party, complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney Iglesias to a White House aide for Karl Rove, asking that Iglesias be removed. Weh was dissatisfied with Iglesias due in part to his failure to indict New Mexico State Senator Manny Aragon on fraud and conspiracy charges. Iglesias claimed in his testimony before Congress in March 2007 that Sen. Pete Domenici
Pete Domenici
Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici is an American Republican politician, who served six terms as a United States Senator from New Mexico, from 1973 to 2009, the longest tenure in the state's history....
, R-N.M., and Rep. Heather Wilson
Heather Wilson
Heather A. Wilson , is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives representing from 1998 to 2009...
, R-N.M. both made calls urging him to rush indictments against Aragon prior to Election Day in November, 2006, even though Aragon was running unopposed in the election. http://www.bernco.gov/upload/images/clerk/past_elections/pr_062004.html. Three weeks after Iglesias was dismissed, his replacement, Acting U.S. Attorney Larry Gomez brought a 26 count felony indictment against Aragon. In a plea bargain, Aragon pled guilty to three felony fraud counts. Weh followed up with, "There’s nothing we’ve done that's wrong. It wasn’t that Iglesias wasn’t looking out for Republicans. He just wasn’t doing his job, period.”
On January 22, 2009, as a member of the US Naval Reserve Judge Advocate General's Corps
Judge Advocate General's Corps
Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, refers to the legal branch or specialty of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called Judge Advocates. The Marine Corps and Coast Guard do not maintain separate JAG Corps...
, Iglesias was reactivated as part of a special prosecution team for Guantanamo detainees. Asked on KRQE.com about the unlikelihood of being named to a frontline job in the war on terror, after being fired as a US Attorney, Iglesias allowed: "It's been very ironic."
Early life
Born in Panama City, Panama to BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, his mother, Margaret Geiger, is a German-American, and his father, Claudio Iglesias, was a Kuna
Kuna (people)
Kuna or Cuna is the name of an indigenous people of Panama and Colombia. The spelling Kuna is currently preferred. In the Kuna language, the name is Dule or Tule, meaning "people," and the name of the language in Kuna is Dulegaya, meaning "Kuna language" - Location :The Kuna live in three...
-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
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
work for the Kuna people, documenting the Kuna language
Kuna language
The Guna language, spoken by the Kuna people of Panama and Colombia, belongs to the Chibchan language family.-Vowels:Vowels may be short or long.-Consonants:...
. After Panama his family moved first to Newkirk, Oklahoma
Newkirk, Oklahoma
Newkirk is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,243 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Kay County.-Geography:...
(1964 to 1970), and then to Gallup, New Mexico
Gallup, New Mexico
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 20,209 people, 6,810 households, and 4,869 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,513.7 people per square mile...
. Moving again, he graduated from Santa Fe High School
Santa Fe High School (New Mexico)
Santa Fe High School, founded in 1889, is a public high school in the Santa Fe Public Schools. It is located about two miles southwest of downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico and is the largest school in Santa Fe, public or private, with an enrollment of 1,542...
, in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
(1976). He obtained a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from Wheaton College
Wheaton College (Illinois)
Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...
in Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton, Illinois
Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...
(1980), and a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
from the University of New Mexico School of Law
University of New Mexico School of Law
The University of New Mexico School of Law is the law school of the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. It is the only law school in the state of New Mexico. Approximately 350 students attend the school, with approximately 115 enrolled in the first-year class...
(1984).
He served on active duty in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, and is a mobilized member of the U.S. Naval Reserve. While in the navy, from 1985 and 1988, he was a Judge Advocate (JAG), at the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
and Naval Legal Service Office, in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, at the Washington Navy Yard
Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy...
. In 1986, he was one of the members of the legal team that was the inspiration for the film A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men (film)
A Few Good Men is a 1992 drama film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore. It was adapted for the screen by Aaron Sorkin from his play of the same name. A courtroom drama, the film revolves around the trial of two U.S...
, with Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
and Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
, a case involving the assault of a fellow Marine at their base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
A political independent during his college years, he became a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
while in the Navy. His core ideals line up better with the Republican party. Iglesias in an interview with Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley
Tavis Smiley is a talk show host, author, liberal political commentator, entrepreneur, advocate and philanthropist. Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi and grew up in Kokomo, Indiana. After attending Indiana University, he worked during the late 1980s as an aide to Tom Bradley, the mayor of...
, said that he was for: "smaller government, less taxes, personal responsibility, and government restraint." He added, "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."
In 1995 he was a member of the White House Fellowship program, as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Transportation. 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 1991-1993, 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
New Mexico Attorney General's Office
The New Mexico Attorney General's Office is overseen by the Attorney General of New Mexico, an elected executive officer of the state. The AG serves as head of the New Mexico Department of Justice and is required to be a licensed attorney....
as a Republican in 1998, but lost 51-49 to Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Patricia A. Madrid
Patricia A. Madrid
Patricia A. Madrid is an American politician and the former Attorney General for the U.S. state of New Mexico. She is a member of the Democratic Party.-Political career:...
.
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
Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy
The Judge Advocate General's Corps also known as the "JAG Corps" or "JAG" is the legal arm of the United States Navy. Today, the corps consists of a worldwide organization of more than 730 Judge Advocates, 30 limited duty officers , 500 enlisted members and nearly 275 civilian personnel, serving...
. He is currently a Captain in the Navy JAG Corps. [10]
In his spare time he reviews Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
films, both fictional and documentary. In 2002, he contributed an article to Native Peoples Magazine, called "Brothers in Arms: Windtalkers".
Iglesias lives with his wife, Cynthia (Cyndy), to whom he has been married for 21 years, and their four daughters, in Albuquerque's Northeast heights. He has two older sisters, Marina and Lorie and is a practicing Evangelical Christian.
Appointment
Iglesias was nominated by the White HouseWhite House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
on August 2, 2001 to the position of United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico.
Iglesias headed a panel that advised the U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
on matters of homeland security. While serving on the panel, he opposed pulling the National Guard away from the U.S. border with Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
United States Attorney dismissal
In October 2006 (prior to the 2006 midterm election) Senator Pete DomeniciPete Domenici
Pietro Vichi "Pete" Domenici is an American Republican politician, who served six terms as a United States Senator from New Mexico, from 1973 to 2009, the longest tenure in the state's history....
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 State Senator Manny Aragon. When Iglesias said, he didn’t think an indictment would be issued before November, "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
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...
. In October, Representative Heather Wilson
Heather Wilson
Heather A. Wilson , is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives representing from 1998 to 2009...
also called about the indictments in a federal corruption investigation that also involved Aragon."
Allen Weh
Allen Weh
Allen Edward Weh was a Republican candidate for Governor of New Mexico in the 2010 election. He is the president and CEO of CSI Aviation Services, Inc., an international air charter and leasing services company he founded in 1979...
, chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico
Republican Party of New Mexico
The Republican Party of New Mexico is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in New Mexico, headquartered in Albuquerque. The party is led by Chairman Monty Newman....
, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House aide for Rove, asking that Iglesias be removed. Then in 2006 Rove personally told Weh “He’s gone,” Rove said.
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."
Iglesias said 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
United States House elections, 2006
- House of Representatives prior to the election :As of November 7, 2006, the U.S. House of the 109th Congress was composed of 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats and 1 Independent . There were also four vacancies...
, and believed that he was ultimately fired for refusing to expedite matters. In comments to the Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque Journal
-History:Its earliest predecessor, the Albuquerque Daily Journal, was first published on October 14, 1880. The newspaper is owned by the Journal Publishing Company, a family-owned business headed by president/publisher T.H. Lang; it is operated by the Albuquerque Publishing Company...
he described them as "two members of the New Mexico delegation".
The Justice Department said 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. This represents a possible violation of USERRA.
In October 2008, a report by the Department of Justice's Inspector General found that Iglesias had been wrongfully dismissed because he had refused to pursue prosecutions against the Democrat-linked community organization ACORN
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues...
and a prominent New Mexico Democrat. "The real reasons for Iglesias' removal were the complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists about how Iglesias handled voter fraud and public corruption cases in the state," the report says. The Inspector General's report says that Senator Domenici's complaints were the "primary" reason Iglesias was fired.
Larry Gomez, the man who had been his assistant, took over as acting U.S. Attorney, but never received a presidential appointment to the post.
In July 2010, Department of Justice prosecutors closed the two-year investigation without filing charges after determining that the firing was inappropriately political, but not criminal, saying "Evidence did not demonstrate that any prosecutable criminal offense was committed with regard to the removal of David Iglesias. The investigative team also determined that the evidence did not warrant expanding the scope of the investigation beyond the removal of Iglesias."
Post U.S. attorney
On the television show Hardball with Chris MatthewsHardball with Chris Matthews
Hardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 5 and 7 PM hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who...
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 2008 he released with contributor Davin Seay In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration. He has also been interviewing for a private sector position.
On The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
first broadcast on June 16, 2008, Iglesias was asked about his political ideology. Host Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
pointed out that Iglesias had been a committed Republican. Stewart asked whether Iglesias' experiences made him feel disappointed and betrayed. Iglesias replied, "Yes, and to use a Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
kind of imagery, I thought I was working with the Jedi Knights, and I was working for the Sith Lords."
In 2009, Iglesias was named as an honoree to Esquire Magazine’s annual “Best and Brightest” issue for his work as a terrorism prosecutor with the Defense Department’s Office of Military Commissions.
External links
- "Why I Was Fired", by David C. Iglesias, The New York Times, March 21, 2007
- Purged: A Q&A with Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, Interview with GQ, by Greg Veis, March 28, 2007
- "The Next Best Path", Washington Post, May 22, 2007