A re-cap on the U.S. attorney purge / scandal

Over the past four days, we've had a lot of stories coming out on this U.S. attorney purge / scandal--coming out so fast and furious that I haven't had a chance to seriously consider what has been going on with this mess. So I thought I would provide a listing of the major stories that came out.

Let's start off with a couple of re-caps here. The first is a great Daily Kos posting by Miss Laura that provides a nice summary of the case up to Friday, May 2, 2007. There are plenty of links on Miss Laura's post that show the progression of the scandal from what was first considered a bad performance review to what is now a full-blown White House scandal. You can also find plenty of postings on the attorney scandal through The Daily Kos here.

The best site to review this scandal would TPM Muckraker, which has a full archive of the scandal, progressing from day one. Josh Marshall, over at Talking Points Memo, has been all over this scandal, providing a play-by-play coverage. And it is going to get even more interesting, once the congressional hearings get started this week.

Media Matters also gives a nice summary of the scandal, reporting that the three major broadcast networks have neglected to give any coverage of the entire scandal. Even the cable news coverage of this scandal is shoddy, as Media Matters reports that Fox News coverage is parroting the Bush White House talking points.

Now for some of the latest stories on the scandal. The Washington Post reports that New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici admitted to contacting U.S. attorney David C. Iglesias regarding the corruption probe on a Democratic legislator. The New York Times has a story which provides a lot of speculation as to why these attorneys were fired. The Washington Post gives the Bush administration's response to the attorney scandal. MSNBC reports that the firings are putting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in a hot seat, where Gonzales had testified that the attorneys were fired due to performance issues, and not because of the Bush White House shenanigans.

There has been a lot of background stories on the connections between the Iglesias firing and the calls made by the two members of Congress. The Albuquerque Tribune provides a story, regardingGOP VIPs ponder Iglesias fallout on the New Mexico's state Republican Party. The Albuquerque Journal has a background story, where Iglesias practically identifies the two members of Congress as Domenici and Rep. Heather Wilson, providing interesting information as to why Wilson would involve herself into this scandal. The ABQ Journal also provides some background information regarding Domenici's involvement with Iglesias. TPM's Josh Marshall reports an interesting angle from Heath Haussamen, who blogs on New Mexico's politics, on how the State Republican Party in keeping New Mexico's Attorney General Patricia Madrid's office from investigating a state treasurer corruption scandal, so that the Wilson campaign could attack Madrid for not doing anything on the state treasurer scandal in the close House race between GOP Heather Wilson, and Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid. Madrid lost to Wilson in a close vote. And finally, McClatchy has been all over this story--Sources: GOP lawmakers tried to influence federal investigation, and Political interference alleged in sacking of a U.S. attorney. Both of these McClatchy stories are incredible source of background information on the scandal.

That's a round-up of the main stories on this attorney scandal for the past week.