Today's Seattle Times provides a "smoking gun" letter from the strong-arm GOP lobbying organization, Building Industry Association of Washington, to U.S. Rep. "Doc" Hastings, one of the most powerful GOP House members and the ranking Republican on the House Ethics Committee. Furious about the victory of Democratic governor Christine Gregoire over the GOP's Dino Rossi, the Association's Executive Vice President Tom McCabe wrote a "demand letter" to Hastings:
[John McKay, U.S. Attorney, Seattle office] has been given evidence showing that forgeries likely occurred; that thousands of voters voted illegally; and that King County election officials broke the law. Yet, Mr. McKay has done nothing,
The letter concludes:
Please ask the White House to replace Mr. McKay. If you declde not to do this, let me know why.
Read the 2005 letter to the then Chair of the House Ethics Committee in full via PDF format.
Yesterday, you saw former U.S. Attorney John McKay testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. McKay, a solid Republican, had declined to discuss what he speculated were the reasons for his firing by the U.S. Department of Justice, but yesterday, under sworn testimony, he gave a far clearer reason.
John McKay not only lost his position, he was also denied the federal judgeship his long service warranted. For his POLITICAL COURAGE he has paid a heavy price.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's story today is far better -- less ambiguous -- than the Seattle Times's (the Seattle Times is owned by a staunch Republican, but I do give them credit for publishing the letter to Hastings today).
This entire portion, written by the Seattle P.I.'s Washington bureau correspondent Charles Pope, is a must-read:
WASHINGTON -- With the 2004 governor's race still in doubt and political passions super-heated, the chief of staff to Washington state's senior congressional Republican called U.S. Attorney John McKay to inquire about federal investigations into the bitterly contested election, McKay told congressional committees Tuesday.
McKay, who appeared alongside five other federal prosecutors fired last year by the Bush administration, said he cut off the call before Ed Cassidy, chief of staff to Rep. Doc Hastings, could venture into inappropriate -- and possibly illegal -- territory.
"I thought it was a very unusual and serious call coming from him in the aftermath of the certification of the election. I knew immediately what he was calling about when I took the call and all my antennae went up," McKay said of the call, which he said came in late 2004 or early 2005.
McKay said Tuesday that if he had not acted, he was "certain" Cassidy would have entered into "dangerous territory."
"I said, 'I'm sure you're not about to say the following to me.' Then I said, you wouldn't do that, I certainly wouldn't expect a chief of staff to a congressman to do that and you're not about to do that. I recall the conversation was ended by him very expeditiously."
"I had no reason to believe Mr. Cassidy did not get the message from me loud and clear," McKay said, adding that he was convinced that Cassidy was calling "at the behest" of Hastings.
Ultimately McKay decided not to pursue a voter fraud case in the 2004 election, narrowly won by Democrat Chris Gregoire over Republican Dino Rossi, saying there was not sufficient evidence to support bringing something to a grand jury.
His decision upset many Republicans. Four days after he was fired as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, the White House told him that his application to be nominated as a federal judge was denied.
McKay would not directly comment on why he was denied, but he said that in a meeting at the White House last August or September to discuss his potential judgeship, senior administration officials "indicated to me there were concerns about my allegedly mishandling the 2004 governor's election.
"My own knowledge is the White House asked me in connection with my unsuccessful application to be a United States district judge to explain criticism that I had mishandled the 2004 governor's election."
(Read all.)
Who are those who pressured McKay?
[Ed Cassidy, Rep. Hastings' then-chief of staff] is now a senior adviser to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and, among other things, advises Boehner on congressional ethics.
Hastings chaired the House Ethics Committee from February 2005 until Democrats took control of the House earlier this year. He's now the ranking Republican on the committee.
(Read more in the Seattle Times story today.)
It's also quite stunning that the Building Industry Association accuses McKay, a known Republican, of being a Democrat because he simply refused to involve his U.S. Attorney's office in the Republican party's bitter fight to overturn Gov. Gregoire's election:
I presume Mr. McKay has adamantly refused to investigate because he's a Democrat, and any investigation he conducts may harm his future political aspirations.
I thought the process by which Mr. McKay, a Democrat, was appointed was reprehensible (i.e. his 'brother's connections with Jennifer Dunn). But now it's time for the [Bush] Administation to admit its mistake and replace Mr. McKay with someone (a Repubtican?) who will conduct an invustigation of election improprieties.
As our new favorite diarist here, Jesselyn Radack, noted in her diary:
Iglesias wasn't the only one to receive inappropriate phone calls. Ousted U.S. Attorney John McKay received a call from the Representative Doc Hastings' chief of staff, Ed Cassidy, asking about an inquiry into vote-fraud charges in Washington state's contested gubernatorial election in 2004. (Hastings is a Republican.) McKay cut the phone call short. White House officials, including failed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, also asked him to explain why he had "mishandled" the governor's race during an interview for the federal bench. Needless to say, McKay did not become a finalist for the judgeship.
It is also HIGHLY IMPORTANT to know that the Republicans plan to run Dino Rossi against incumbent governor Christine Gregoire in 2008. We Washingtonian Democrats will have the fight of our lives because of groups like the Building Industry Association of Washington, which will stop at nothing to buy influence in Washington, D.C. with the still-in-office Bush administration. God knows what the Association will try to get the White House to do in '08 to defeat Gov. Gregoire.
There ARE some great Republicans in our country.
There ARE public servants -- like John McKay -- who put service above partisanship.
Yesterday, we all saw the critical importance of independent U.S. Attorney offices in the verdict against Scooter Libby. As I wrote over at No Quarter yesterday:
A commentary by SusanUnPC: Look at the story on today's Senate Judiciary Hearing just below this one. Today's verdict proved the critical importance of politically-independent prosecutors. We had eight politically-independent prosecutors who were fired by the Attorney General of the United States. This must not be allowed to stand. And I have to wonder, had Patrick Fitzgerald not been on the Libby case, if he would have been the ninth U.S. Attorney fired. And if, instead of today standing victorious before media cameras, an out-of-work Patrick Fitzgerald would have been testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Update [2007-3-7 13:59:15 by SusanHu]: Alert reader JPol noticed that one of the "cc's" on that letter was none other than John Fund. Inquiring minds .... ?
[editor's note, by SusanHu] I misstyped McKay's first name as Mike. It is John. I think I've corrected all instances. There are two prominent McKays in Washington state, and I had a brain blip. I apologize!