Former US attorney in New Mexico David Iglesias did a phone interview on Hardball this evening wherein he divulged that three weeks ago he filled Hatch Act complaint with Scott Bloch and OSC against several Bush administration officials. Iglesias believes this complaint was at least partially the motivation behind OSC's current 'investigation' of Rove and other Bush administration officials. Given this disclosure, Congress has yet more reason to aggressively persue relevant documents and other records during the DoJ's decision-making process during the attorney purge and, more importantly, demand a real special counsel.
MSNBC::
MATTHEWS: Well, April 3 is not that long ago.
What—what, in terms of the timeline, leads you to believe that your - that your complaint led to this probe?
IGLESIAS: Well, based on Special Counsel having powers to investigate where the evidence goes.
I actually filed a Hatch Act complaint against Gonzales, McNulty, Kyle Sampson, and Monica Goodling. And I think OSC is already getting information, getting documents produced from the Justice Department and possibly from the White House already.
US News & World Reports also reports that Iglesias filed another complaint:
Iglesias, a U.S. Navy Reserve captain, filed a complaint to Bloch's office under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination against individuals because of their service in the armed forces reserve, the National Guard, or other uniformed services. In a Justice Department internal E-mail justifying the eight dismissals, Iglesias, who spent an estimated 40 to 45 days a year on military duty, was described as an "absentee landlord."
Iglesias' complaints should only feed fuel to the fire that Bush administration officials were yet again favoring politics over the public interest--something that OSC investigator Scott Bloch himself isn't above doing.
Iglesias, too, believes Goodling is the key to getting to the bottom of what occured:
IGLESIAS: No, I mean, that has been tried. I watched the five hours of testimony. That was fruitless. I think Monica Goodling holds the keys to the kingdom. I think if they get her to testify under oath, with a transcript, and have her describe the process between the information flow between the White House counsel, the White House and the Justice Department, I believe the picture becomes a lot clearer.
MATTHEWS: So if Karl Rove or one of his deputies wanted to influence something in your department, they would work through her, through Monica Goodling?
IGLESIAS: Yes, she wore two hats. She was counselor to the attorney general. She was also the White House liaison. So her job was to serve as a conduit for information between the Justice Department and the White House.
Maybe it's time for a real special counsel?