DAVID IGLESIAS BOOK LIKELY TO RUIN HEATHER WILSON'S SLIM CHANCE TO REMAIN IN POLITICS

Come on, Pete, tell us who put you up to it

Pete Domenici, wisely, is following the advice of friends, family and medical practitioners and retiring from the Senate before he further disgraces himself and his state. His protégé, Rep. Heather Wilson, on whose behalf he illegally harrassed and threatened U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, is not only unwilling to go voluntarily, she is seeking to move up from the House to the Senate. Heather Wilson fully intends to allow Domenici to take the fall but she participated in the outrageous interference with the U.S. Attorney's office and the political firing of one of New Mexico's brightest Republican stars, David Iglesias. Wilson is damaged goods-- very damaged. And a new book by Iglesias In Justice is not likely to help her longshot bid to hold the New Mexico seat for theGOP.

Today the McClatchy papers broke a story about a longtime Bush crony, Johnny Sutton (a Texas U.S. Attorney and Karl Rove lackey) telling Iglesias he was fired for political reasons and he should just "go quietly" and not fight it. This isn't likely to go away soon, although, no doubt, the Regime is eager to ardon everyone involved with this and every other scandal reminding voters that the GOP has been, first and foremost, a criminal conspiracy.

"This is political," Iglesias recalls Texas U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton telling him shortly after he was ousted. "If I were you, I'd just go quietly."

Iglesias, a former U.S. attorney in New Mexico, is one of nine federal prosecutors-- including Seattle's John McKay-- whose firings triggered a yearlong controversy at the Justice Department and led to the resignations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and 11 other Justice Department officials.

Iglesias cites the exchange with Sutton in his upcoming book, "In Justice," as further evidence that he was forced out because Republicans were displeased with his refusal to prosecute Democrats.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing: a U.S. attorney all but admitting that a colleague was being hung out to dry for reasons that had nothing to do with performance or professionalism," he wrote in a draft of the book, which McClatchy obtained.

Sutton, who's the top U.S. attorney in San Antonio, didn't return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.

Justice Department officials said they couldn't comment on Iglesias's account because of a continuing investigation of the firings by the department's inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility.

And this isn't the only scandal dogging Wilson. There's a dirty little vote buying scandal in Bernalillo County that Wilson is trying hard not to deal with now. And then there's the best reason at all not to vote for her: her voting record. Even as she desperately tries to move up the political ladder she is still voting the selfish interests of the lobbyists and campaign donors instead of ordinary New Mexico families. Earlier this week she was one of the minority of radical right Republicans who refused to back the bipartisan Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act. The man she hopes to run against for the New Mexico U.S. Senate seat, Tom Udall, voted for the bill, as did all the moderate congressmembers on both sides of the aisle.