Iglesias Not Running for Domenici Seat

ABC News’ Jack Date and Jason Ryan Report:  David Iglesias, the former New Mexico U.S. Attorney, said Friday he does not plan to run for Senator Pete Domenici’s New Mexico senate seat. 

Iglesias told ABC News, "I will not be running for any political office." 

Iglesias was fired last year for what Justice Department officials called "performance related" reasons after Domenici complained about the progress of investigations of New Mexico Democrats.  The calls from Domenici and New Mexico Congresswoman Heather Wilson may have violated congressional ethics rules against interfering with criminal investigations.

As the U.S. Attorney controversy began to consume the Justice Department earlier this year, Iglesias  testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was allegedly asked to speed up an investigation by the  two members of Congress. 

Iglesias testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March that he was contacted by Domenici and Wilson  shortly before the 2006 elections.

Iglesias’ office was investigating alleged bribes paid to a state democratic leader in a state courthouse construction project. 

On March 6, 2007 Iglesias gave his account of the exchange with Domenici saying,  "I recognized the voice as being Senator Pete Domenici. And he wanted to ask me about the corruption matters or the corruption cases that had been widely reported in the local media. I said, all right. And he said, are these going to be filed before November? And I said I didn’t think so. And to which he replied, I’m very sorry to hear that, and then the line went dead."

Describing a call from Wilson, Iglesias testified, "She’d been hearing about sealed indictments, and she said, ‘What can you tell me about sealed indictments?’ The second she said any question about sealed indictments, red flags went up in my head, because as you know, we cannot talk about indictments until they’re made public."

On an early draft list of which U.S. Attorneys should be fired Iglesias was originally identified as a strong performer but on later lists he was pegged for removal  in the U.S. Attorney firings.

Iglesias wished the six-term senator, "Godspeed as [Sen. Domenici] battles his disease," but added that he trusts "that the Senate Ethics Committee will move forward on their investigation of him despite his announced retirement."

Wilson is expected to announce her intention to run for Domenici’s seat.   On that, Iglesias said, "she may first want to consider whether possible ethics charges against her will be an impediment to running for U.S. Senate."