[Guest post by DRJ]

The Politico reports that New Mexico’s Senator Pete Domenici has been admonished for his actions in connection with US Attorney David Iglesias:

“The Senate Ethics Committee has issued a “qualified admonition” of GOP Sen. Pete Domenici (N.M.) for a phone call he made to David Iglesias, former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico, in a corruption case involving local Democrats shortly prior to the 2006 elections.

The ethics panel announced one year ago that it was taking up the case, but there was no indication until now that it had reached a decision. A “qualified admonition” has little practical impact, and it means that the panel, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), felt it did not have enough evidence to take stronger action, although it was unwilling to let Domenici completely off the hook.

Domenici has admitted that he tried on several occassions to get Iglesias fired but the New Mexico Republican denied any link between his phone call to Iglesias and the later decision by the Justice Department to oust Iglesias. Domenici later apologized for making the call. Iglesias was not placed on a list of federal prosecutors who were fired by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in late 2006 until Domenici complained to the White House.

“The Committee finds no substantial evidence to determine that you attempted to improperly influence an ongoing investigation,” the ethics committee said in a formal letter to Domenici. “The Committee does find that you should have known that a federal prosecutor receiving such a telephone call, coupled with an approaching election which may have turned on or been influence by the prosecutor’s action in the corruption matter, created an appearance of impropriety that reflected unfavorably on the Senate.”

In his own statement, Domenici said he was pleased that the case had been resolved.
***
Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) also made calls to Iglesias about the case, and she is under investigation by the House ethics committee. Wilson denied trying to improperly pressure Iglesias, but Iglesias later told lawmakers that he felt “sickened” the calls from Domenici and Wilson.”

Patterico and WLS have written more on the US Attorney matters and they may address this, so consider this a place-holder post until then.

— DRJ