Prosecutor says ouster was politically based

'Like a thief in the night'
He said the Bush administration's call for his resignation came without warning and was rooted in politics — not performance.

"This episode came like a thief in the night," he said of the Dec. 7 request for him to step down. He added, "Obviously, I tripped some wire."

Iglesias displayed charts with statistics showing that the number of defendants charged during his tenure rose 13 percent and immigration cases increased 78 percent. At the same time, the caseload of his assistant U.S. attorneys went up 24 percent, while the number of full-time employees in the office went up just 7 percent.

"I'm proud of my office," he said. "They've done righteous work."

He also insisted that he received strong "atta-boy" performance reviews in 2003 and 2006 and was certain that the call for his ouster was not performance related nor the result of any misconduct.

"What does that leave? Politics," he said.

The suggestion that Iglesias was asked to resign because he failed to bring an indictment is "flatly false," said Brian Roehrkasse, a Justice Department spokesman. "This administration has never removed a United States attorney in an effort to retaliate against them or inappropriately interfere with a public integrity investigation."

Roehrkasse also said that the Justice Department was unaware of any conversations between Iglesias and New Mexico's congressional delegation.

Performance cited as reason for termination
Iglesias was confirmed in 2001 to a four-year term "and was allowed to extend his service for an additional year and a half," Roehrkasse said.

"During his 5 1/2 years of service, we had a lengthy record from which to evaluate his performance as a manager and we made our decision not to further extend his service based on performance-related concerns," Roehrkasse said.

An interim U.S. attorney for New Mexico is expected to be appointed soon.

Iglesias said he still feels "hugely disappointed" by his ouster but said he was not disgruntled.

"If anything, if such a word exists, I'm gruntled. I had a great five-and-a-half years."

Still, he said, he represents three big constituencies for the Republican Party — evangelical Christians, Hispanics and veterans — and said he couldn't understand why the administration would ask someone who's doing a good job and who represents those constituencies to step down.

Iglesias said he's proudest of prosecuting political corruption, and that his biggest regret is leaving unfinished an investigation into construction contracts for an Albuquerque courthouse. He said he expects an announcement in that case in the next month.

He still considers himself a loyal member of the Republican Party. No organization is perfect, he said, "but what I've seen in the last two months is imperfection practiced at a ... grandiose level."

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