Gonzales, Iglesias Cross Paths in Controversy« Thread Started on Apr 10, 2007, 8:15am » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gonzales, Iglesias Cross Paths in ControversyApril 9, 2007 By Neil H. Simonread at source> http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/ne ... liticsWhen the Attorney General paid his first visit to U.S. Attorney David Iglesias in Albuquerque in 2005, Mr. Iglesias took his then-boss to El Pinto. At the old Spanish-style restaurant with their New Mexican meals, the similarities between the two Hispanic attorneys would have been obvious.In one seat was the longtime counsel to the president, the country's highest appointed Hispanic official, Alberto Gonzales. In the other, Mr. Iglesias, the newly minted top prosecutor for New Mexico, hand-picked by the White House to add diversity to the Republican Party's higher-office talent pool."Gonzales was a real inspiration," Mr. Iglesias said about the man who helped shape his job as a U.S. attorney. But Mr. Iglesias now knows his inspiration brought on the sweep of firings that cost him and seven other U.S. attorneys their jobs. Mr. Gonzales first said the prosecutors were fired for performance reasons, but he later defined "performance" to mean whether attorneys were following administration priorities, particularly in prosecuting election fraud. Mr. Gonzales initially said he was not involved in the dismissals, then recounted that he was in White House meetings about them.