I have not asked Pat about his personal position on these accusations this time around, but based upon past arguments on this very issue (we deal with similar ones almost constantly around here, including a recent Federal court case in which we found ourselves on the same side, defending a middle ground that neither party is really happy with), I am willing to bet that he does in fact believe that some level of registration fraud is occurring. While we may disagree with him, a falsehood is not necessarily a lie if the one making the statement believes it to be true. Incorrect, yes, perhaps even ignorant by some standards, but not the mark of a liar.

The ACORN issue is recurring and demonstrably bogus, and the US Attorney firings were an unprecedented politicization of our justice system that were indicative to a much greater threat to our system of governance.

That being said, going after Pat Rogers is going after the wrong person, and ironically borders on guilt-by-association.

I am a Democratic political operative in New Mexico, and I have known Pat for many years; indeed, as he is the head attorney for the Republican Party of New Mexico, I have even faced him in court.

Two years ago, the Democratic Party of New Mexico started receiving reports of Democratic voters (mostly in Bernalillo County) receiving election weekend calls telling them where their precinct was. The problem was that these calls were coming from the campaign of GOP-incumbent Congresswoman Heather Wilson, and were universally telling the Democratic voters the wrong voting locations. Thus, on the day before election day, we found ourselves spending ten-and-a-half hours in a courtroom attempting to get an injunction against such behavior. Pat was the defending attorney for his party.

It should be noted that we lost; Pat made a much better case, and he did so honestly.

Outside the courtroom, I work with Pat Rogers frequently, as he is a board member of the Foundation for Open Government. FOG is a non-profit organization responsible for citizen advocacy of open meetings and records laws, and is directly responsible for the fact that New Mexico now has the broadest such laws in the country. Pat was instrumental in that fight. It is actually an incredibly liberal organization.

When FOG founder Bob Johnson (a highly decorated Associated Press reporter who had been the AP bureau chief in Dallas in 1963 and in Munich in 1973) died, Pat was asked to speak at the funeral.

This brings me to the U.S. Attorney scandal. Did Pat Rogers lodge a complaint about David Iglesias? Yes. Was Iglesias fired essentially for refusing to partake in the current attempts to disenfranchise voters? Almost certainly. However, if you look at the reports, Pat's complaint was completely unrelated, and came up because it was the excuse the administration came up with to attempt to justify their firing of Mr. Iglesias - a paradoxical move in light of their insistence that the attorneys fired all served at the pleasure of the President.

When it came time to appoint Mr. Iglesias' replacement, who was the first person the Bush administration appointed? Pat Rogers... WHO TURNED DOWN THE JOB.

That should be emphasized. He rejected a job that he was imminently qualified for because of the taint of politicization and because his name had already been dragged into the whole mess.

As for the current issues, I have not yet spoken to Pat personally in this matter, even though I am heavily involved in the fight (as always) against New Mexico GOP attempts at disenfranchisement. Pat, by contrast, only attended a press conference. While the statements of that press conference have now proven to be almost universally false, Pat was not the one who made them.

Pat Rogers and I disagree on many things; indeed, aside from our position on open government, we disagree on almost everything. But I consider him an honest man and a good friend, and I will readily stand between him and any attempts by my own party to discredit him.