N.M. GOP Official Sought Attorney Ouster

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, march 6, 2007, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on politicization in the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook) (Dennis Cook - AP)

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party was quoted Saturday as saying he urged presidential adviser Karl Rove and one of his assistants to fire the state's U.S. attorney. He said later, however, the decision had already been made by the time he talked to Rove.

McClatchy Newspapers reported that Allen Weh said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House liaison who worked for Rove, asking that he be removed, and followed up with Rove personally in late 2006 during a visit to the White House.

"Is anything ever going to happen to that guy?" Weh said he asked Rove at a White House holiday event.

"He's gone," Rove said, according to Weh.

"I probably said something close to 'Hallelujah,'" said Weh.

Weh told The Associated Press later Saturday that "Rove has little or nothing to do with this."

"This is a personnel action, firing an incompetent United States attorney who should have been fired" earlier, Weh told the AP. "He absolutely was a disgrace to the Department of Justice."

He said his conversation at the White House with Rove came "after the fact, after the termination had occurred."

"When I talked to Karl it was at a White House briefing for state party chairmen after a reception the day before," Weh told the AP. "The termination had already occurred."

The GOP party leader made no secret of his dissatisfaction with Iglesias, in part from his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation.

"If you're a crook you need to be in jail," he told the AP. "If you're an incompetent government official you should be fired."

The Justice Department has said the dismissal of Iglesias and seven other U.S. attorneys was a personnel matter. White House involvement, Justice said, was limited to approving a list of replacements after the Justice Department made the decision to fire the eight.