Two New Mexico Republicans Involved in U.S. Attorney's Firing

As the link in this entry's title to a Washington Post article shows, two New Mexico Republicans are implicated in the firing of the U.S. Attorney in that state on December 7th. They are that state's Republican Senator Pete Domenici and Congressperson Heather Wilson.

Both of them are running the same defense which is basically "yes I called him, but I didn't pressure him." Of course that defense ignores political reality. If you are a politically appointed U.S. Attorney, and you receive a call about an ongoing public corruption case from two prominent Republicans, the mere fact that the call is made is political pressure. Given the context of the calls the pressure was about as subtle as the head of a horse on the U.S. Attorney's bed.

The facts are that Heather Wilson, who is regarded as the political heiress to Pete Domenci's Senate Seat in 2014, was in a very tight race in a district that Gore carried in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. She needed something to take the heat off of her and put it on the Democrats. She had an interest in seeing that a New Mexico Democrat was indicted before the election. Domenici had an interest in seeing that his political ally got elected. Both of them screwed up and are now paying the price.

The irony may be that the lack of oversight during the first six years of the Bush Administration by Congressional Republicans may have contributed to their behavior. When one party controls everything that party's members begin to think that the rules don't apply to them. In such an environment even otherwise ethical politicians do stupid things. Pete Domenici risking his political reputation by making a phone call to help a friend qualifies as one of those stupid things.