Moving to fend off calls for an ethics investigation, New Mexico GOP Senator Pete Domenici Sunday admitted he called U.S. Attorney David Iglesisas before last year's election to ask about a corruption investigation involving at least one prominent Democrat, but he denies he pressured Iglesias to speed up indictments in the case. Here are the money paragraphs in the senator's statement which you can read in its entirety at the Washington Post.

I called Mr. Iglesias late last year. My call had been preceded by months of extensive media reports about acknowledged investigations into courthouse construction, including public comments from the FBI that it had completed its work months earlier, and a growing number of inquiries from constituents. I asked Mr. Iglesias if he could tell me what was going on in that investigation and give me an idea of what timeframe we were looking at. It was a very brief conversation, which concluded when I was told that the courthouse investigation would be continuing for a lengthy period.

In retrospect, I regret making that call and I apologize. However, at no time in that conversation or any other conversation with Mr. Iglesias did I ever tell him what course of action I thought he should take on any legal matter. I have never pressured him nor threatened him in any way.

The Washington Post news story on the Domenici apology is here. And the report from the ABQ Journal is here.

Iglesias has also charged that he was called by ABQ GOP Congresswoman Heather Wilson just prior to last year's election and pressured by her to speed up the courthouse investigation indictments. Unlike Domenici, Wilson has refused comment. We'll have more on our Monday blog.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2007
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