Posted on 03/29/2007 3:41:56 PM PDT by CedarDave
Four people were indicted Thursday in an alleged kickback scheme that’s at the core of the debate over the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.
Former state Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon, Toby Martinez, Raul Parra and Sandra Mata Martinez all face charges.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Albuquerque says Marc Schiff, Ken Schultz and Manuel Guara had already entered guilty pleas in the case.
Investigators say the kickbacks were related to the construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse in Albuquerque.
Iglesias believes he was fired as the federal prosecutor for New Mexico for resisting pressure from Senator Pete Domenici and Representative Heather Wilson, both New Mexico Republicans, to rush indictments in an alleged Democratic kickback scheme before the November election.
Stay with Eyewitness News 4 and KOBTV.com for complete coverage of this developing story.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Watch it! We've got more nukes than the entire eastern seaboard.
"There are many Conservative Dems in SE New Mexico. Zell Miller types."
Or in other words "West Texans". I say that as a former Texan. :-)
According to the 2000 Census, 44.7% of New Mexico's population was composed of white Anglos, while 42.1% was Hispanic. It's possible that the 2010 Census will show a Hispanic plurality, but it's not there yet. BTW, only 5.4% of New Mexicans in 2000 were non-citizens, which is far lower than fellow border states California (15.9%), Arizona (9.0%) or Texas (9.5%).
I don’t think he was hired specifically for that purpose. Not to mention he received the file from the FBI in early october and was pressured by Pete and Heather to have an indictment by election day a month later.
Does anyone know if any seizures have taken place in this case? The indictment reads like the government knows where the proceeds are, and that they intend to seize them but perhaps they have not? I mention this as an indication that perhaps this indictment was rushed just a bit? I honestly don’t know, but that sure struck me as odd. I’ve always thought the government seized the fruits of the crime first, then let the defendant fight to get it back. Seems like if they knew where it was, they’d tie it up straight away. Perhaps it’s already been done?
Didn’t he live in Eldorado ? I used to live there
(we was long gone by the time I got there..)
Meanwhile...Diane Feinstein walks.
He never lived in ElDorado as far as I know. He is from the South Valley.
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