You Can Handle the Truth - Right?

Dear Mr. Iglesias:

I read in a recent article that, in addition to spending time mowing your lawn, you have a couple of other interesting activities to fill your days:

Besides [shuttling his daughters to and from school and their various activities, Iglesias] goes jogging in the Foothills, fields calls from reporters, reads a few blogs and tries to spend a little time each day by the bubbling rock.

I''ve noticed that one of those "reporters" you've been spending time on the phone with is Greg Palast, and I'm concerned that maybe someone failed to make you aware the Greg Palast is basically a writer who makes his money peddling conspiracy theory books to further the agenda of the far left. This could become problematic for you as I know you are struggling against those who have portrayed you as a poster boy of the far left:

Whitney Cheshire, a former spokeswoman for the New Mexico GOP, has used her blog to call Iglesias a "poster child" for the Democrats and question what kind of reward he'll get for his statements.

Iglesias says he's been approached by envoys for two prominent Democrats - one on the state level and another on the national stage. He won't say who, and says he doesn't know what they wanted because he rebuffed the entreaties.

"I told them I'm not interested," he says. "I'm not a Democratic stooge."

See, this is a problem. I'm truly afraid that someone is going to question your sincerity. Some may find it difficult to take you at your word regarding that whole "Democratic stooge" thing while you are willing actor in Democratic productions such as this one by Democracy NOW delivering lines like this:

DAVID IGLESIAS: I had no idea that a few local yokels in New Mexico would have enough stroke to get the President to complain.

Mr. Iglesias, we all know that Senator Pete Domenici began complaining about your unwillingness to prosecute voter fraud in New Mexicoin September of 2005 . And, it has been well documented that this led to his asking for your replacement. However, for you to call New Mexico's senior Senator, a "local yokel" is, well, something that could be portrayed as the act of a Democratic stooge.

But, no worries. I've decided to help you set the record straight. I don't want people to start labeling David Iglesias as "a man who can't handle the truth." So, you might have noticed that I'm having a little bit of trouble getting some answers from the Department of Justice to my FOIA requests. Their unwillingness to release documents about you is only going to reinforce the rumors that you can't handle the truth.

However, together, you and I, can prove once and for all that David Iglesias CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH. Just take a moment and write up a little note authorizing the Department of Justice to release all of the information I requested in my intitial FOIA request. I'll be happy to swing by and pick up a notarized copy at your earliest convenience.

In pursuit of the truth,

Mario

Last Night Turned Into This Morning

To those who came back to check before going to bed, "Sorry." The day flew by, and by the time I got home from work it was after midnight, and I was beat. Of course, I'm running late this morning for a breakfast meeting, so let me just address the David Iglesias FOIA responses received to date.

It seems that Department of Justice (DOJ) has determined that the easiest way to address my request is one item at a time. I'll give you the original question and the response below:

Q4: Mr. Iglesias has recently stated that public corruption cases were not ignored during his tenure. Please provide details of Mr. Iglesias’ calendar during the Vigil trials?

A4: A request must describe the records sought in sufficient detail to allow location of the records with a reasonable amount of effort (i.e., processing the request should not require an unduly burdenson effort or be disruptive of Department operations). Please provide more specific information about the records you seek, such as appropriate dates, locations, names, natures of the records, etc.

Ok, let's consider this a group exercise. If someone would be so kind as to provide me the exact dates of the Vigil trial, I will happily re-submit my request.

Q14: Please produce the name of any USA that has ever been appointed outside of the current political/constitutional process for the appointments of USAs.

A14: The Freedom of Information Act only applies to records already in existence and does not require an agency to conduct research, create new records, or answer questions presented as FOIA requests.

Hmm, it doesn't look like I'm going to get an answer to this one.

Q3: Letter(s) signed by Assistant United States Attorneys concerning Mr. Iglesias’ foreign travels, management or other perceived shortcomings.

A3: It is the policy of the Executive Office neither to confirm or deny that records concerning living third parties exist. Further, any release to you of such records, if they do exist, would be in violation of the Privacy Act 5 U.S.C. § 552a. The requested material would also be exempt from release pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6) and/or (b)(7)(C) which pertain to records whose disclosure would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Now, this response did also include an outline for an appeal to this ruling. So, if one of you legal begals that read this blog religiously would like to step up and help guide me on how best to respond in the name of the public good, I would be much obliged.

The next set of questions was lumped together as a third party request:

Q5: Please provide the result of the investigation and review of the Eric Serna information concerning possible public corruption, bribery, political and "charitable" contributions involving but not limited to Con Alma and Southwest Charities.

Q7: Please provide a list of the public corruption crimes and related crimes that will be, have been or may be adversely impacted by the statute of limitations and the failure of the office, under Mr. Iglesias to proceed in a more prompt manner?

Q9: Mr. Iglesias, since leaving the office of the United States Attorney, has referred to emails concerning contacts with members of the public concerning voter fraud or the “voter fraud task force.” Please provide a set of all copies of DOJ/USA correspondence and emails provided to Mr. Iglesias concerning voter fraud or the Voter Fraud Task Force from members of the public.

Q10: Please provide copies of his responses. Please provide the DOJ/USA policy concerning employee access to emails for personal purposes, both during and after employment.

Q12: Copies of all of Iglesias’ emails received from, or sent to, members of the public.

A5,7,9,10,12: You have request records concerning a thrid party (or third parties). records pertaining to a third party generally cannot be released absent express authorization and consent of the third party, blah, blah, blah.

So, that's where we stand to date.

More to Come

I just got back into town last night after spending three days in Atlanta with a client at the Waste Expo. I've got a bunch of mail to go through including three envelopes from the DOJ regarding my FOIA request, and a City of Albuquerque Notice of Violation Fixed Speed - looks like I'll be able to take an inside look at how this new money making scheme works.

Unfortunately, I've got a meeting packed morning, so I'll have to wait until tonight to write in detail about these and other topics. Make sure to come back and visit before you got to bed.

Department of Justice First Response to FOIA

I promised to keep you informed, so I wanted to let you know that I did receive in yesterday's mail the following response from the Department of Justice (DOJ) dated April 11, 2007:

Dear Mr . Burgos:

Your letter was received by this office via facsimile on April 10, 2007, and was forwarded to the Freedon of Information Act Unit, Executive Office for the United States Attorneys, in Washington, D.C.

Federal Regulation 28 U.S.C. § 16.3 requires that we forward FOIA requests to the FOIA Unit in Washington, D.C. That office coordinates the processing of FOIA requests for all of the United states Attorney offices, and will respond directly to you regarding your request.

Please direct all of your subsequent FOIA matters to the FOIA Unit in Washington, D.C. as this will accelerate the processing of your request. The address for the FOIA Unit is as follows:

Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act Unit
Executive Office for United States Attorneys
600 E Street, N.W., Room 7300
Washington, D.C. 20530

Telephone (202) 616-6575
Facsimile: (202) 616-6478

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please direct them to the FOIA Unit in Washington, D.C.

Sincerely,

LARRY GOMEZ
acting United States Attorney

RUMALDO R. ARMIJO
Executive Assistant United States Attorney

I also found it interesting that someone in the DOJ decided to use Google to do a little research to learn more about me.
I wonder if that's standard operating procedure or just a little extracurricular activity? It's good to know that people in the government use the same research tools that we do. Who knows, maybe they'll become regular readers.

FOIA Request - David Iglesias

I faxed this over this morning, and I'll keep you posted as I receive responses:

Facsimile: 346-7296

FOIA Officer for the United States Attorney
District of New Mexico
Rumaldo Armijo, Esq.
P.O. Box 607
Albuquerque, NM 87103-0607

RE: Freedom of Information Act Request

Dear FOIA Officer:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552) for documents concerning David Iglesias.

I request that a copy of the following documents, or documents containing the following information, be provided to me on an expedited basis:

1. Mr. Iglesias has claimed publicly he was required to go to various out-of-county and out-of-state locations on the orders of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Provide copies of any such orders or instructions. Provide any information that any other US Attorney (USA) traveled out-of-state, using DOJ funds, as much as Mr. Iglesias, during 2000-2007.
   
   
2. DOJ/USA records, including itinerary and expenses for David Iglesias’ DOJ/USA out-of-state travel including but not limited to travel to Mexico, Columbia, Laos from 2000-2007.
   
   
3. Letter(s) signed by Assistant United States Attorneys concerning Mr. Iglesias’ foreign travels, management or other perceived shortcomings.
   
   
4. Mr. Iglesias has recently stated that public corruption cases were not ignored during his tenure. Please provide details of Mr. Iglesias’ calendar during the Vigil trials?
   
   
5. Please provide the result of the investigation and review of the Eric Serna information concerning possible public corruption, bribery, political and "charitable" contributions involving but not limited to Con Alma and Southwest Charities.
   
   
6. Please provide records or statistics as to the public corruption leads and referrals that were not pursued by the USA?
   
   
7. Please provide a list of the public corruption crimes and related crimes that will be, have been or may be adversely impacted by the statute of limitations and the failure of the office, under Mr. Iglesias to proceed in a more prompt manner?
   
   
8. Any 2004 Voter Fraud Task Force report, study or collected documents. Please produce a list of persons on the task force, minutes of meetings, or any correspondence concerning the Task Force.
   
   
9. Mr. Iglesias, since leaving the office of the United States Attorney, has referred to emails concerning contacts with members of the public concerning voter fraud or the “voter fraud task force.” Please provide a set of all copies of DOJ/USA correspondence and emails provided to Mr. Iglesias concerning voter fraud or the Voter Fraud Task Force from members of the public.
   
   
10. Please provide copies of his responses. Please provide the DOJ/USA policy concerning employee access to emails for personal purposes, both during and after employment.
    
    
11. Mr. Iglesias’ presentation to DOJ/USA personnel concerning the formation and operation of voter fraud task forces.
    
    
12. Copies of all of Iglesias’ emails received from, or sent to, members of the public.
    
    
13. Presumably you are aware that Mr. Iglesias stated publicly that "politics" should not play any part in the selection of the next permanent USA for New Mexico. Please produce any correspondence, including e-mails received from or sent to Mr. Iglesias from you or Mr. Gomez, on the topic of the appointment of the next USA.
    
    
14. Please produce the name of any USA that has ever been appointed outside of the current political/constitutional process for the appointments of USAs.

While several of these requests may take some time to locate documents, please do not delay any responses to the more simple requests.

I request a waiver of fees for this request. I intend to make the documents available on a website so that the public has a chance to see the basis of Mr. Iglesias’ public statements and to judge the validity of the criticisms of Mr. Iglesias supposedly contained in letter(s) signed by the AUSAs, reported in the media.

The disclosure of the requested information is important to me and to the public because the former United States Attorney is now giving media interviews, attempting to use selective facts and opinions to argue he was competent and diligent. The requested records, if produced, should allow the public to judge for themselves whether his media arguments are factually based. The disclosure of this information will assist the public to understand whether the chief federal law enforcement official for New Mexico was discharging his duties and, if so, whether those duties were performed in an appropriate and prompt manner.

If charges are absolutely necessary, I will pay up to $100 for these documents with this important public information.


Sincerely,


Mario Burgos