Iglesias Talks Scott McClellan, Heather Wilson

The last time I saw former New Mexico U.S. attorney David Iglesias, he was standing in the middle of his home in Albuquerque watching his four daughters scamper around, while his wife Cyndy prepped spaghetti for dinner. Months had passed since Iglesais became one of eight U.S. attorneys fired by the Justice Department, for, it turned out, political purposes by the Bush administration. In the scandal’s aftermath, Iglesias had become a kind of matinee idol, appearing on "Meet the Press" and and "Real Time with Bill Maher," among other shows. Literary agencies had approached him about writing a book and he was faced with the dilemma of whether he should do it or not. I cautioned him against it.

Iglesias then proceeded to join the cadre of my nieces, the Northwestern University athletic department and Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, as people who don’t take my advice. Last month Wiley published his book– "In Justice: Inside the Scandal that Rocked the Bush Administration." While on his book tour, Iglesias and I sat down for coffee in downtown Washington yesterday, where I asked him about a more prominent tome aimed at the Bush administration–former White House Press Secretary** ** Scott McClellan’s "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception."

****

** ******"I think he’s got a lot of guts," Iglesias said, sipping a cold mango tea. "I took a lot of heat from local Republicans, but not so much from the national Republicans. In Scott’s case they trotted out Bob Dole to take shots at him — which is pretty amazing since Dole’s been retired and pushing Viagra.

"Scott’s been around politics long enough to know what was coming," Iglesias continued. "I knew, to some extent, people were going to be taking shots at me. But Scott knew exactly who would be taking shots at him, and he did it anyway. I think it’s a bit cynical to think he only did it for money. I‘m sure he got a nice advance –and I’m happy for him — but I completely sympathize with him wanting to clear his conscience, despite what it was going to do to his reputation."

Iglesias also had some pointed words for Rep. Heather Wilson (R-New Mexico), who was instrumental in his firing. She recently lost her primary bid to replace retiring Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who was also a figure in the scandal.

"I can tell you I’m very happy Heather Wilson lost her primary race," Iglesias said. "I knew it would happen. This is a good consequence [of the scandal]."