Seattle Times: McKay [one of the fired US Attorneys] goes down fighting

[Bumblebee]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003605090_mckay07m.html

WASHINGTON — John McKay insists he did not want to talk publicly about his abrupt dismissal as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington in December.

But when he testified before two congressional committees on Tuesday, McKay delivered a vigorous defense of his work and the performance of his office. He challenged the Justice Department's shifting explanations about why he was asked to resign.

He revealed that soon after the hotly contested 2004 governor's race in Washington state, the chief of staff to Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, called him to ask about the status of any federal investigations into voter fraud.

He even suggested after Tuesday's hearings that bitterness over his refusal to pursue the fraud allegations played a part in his failure to win a federal judgeship.