"I probably said something close to 'Hallelujah,'" said Weh.
This chain of events troubles McKay who wrote in a Seattle University law review article in January that former Attorney General Gonzales ultimately approved Iglesias's termination with the full knowledge that it was based on partisan politics.
For his part, McKay believes his firing was due to the fact that Republicans were angry that he did not convene a federal grand jury to pursue allegations of voter fraud related to the 2004 governor's election in the state, in which Democrat Christine Gregoire defeated Republican Dino Rossi by a margin of 129 votes.
In an interview, McKay said there were some Republicans in his district with close ties to the White House who demanded he launch an investigation into the election and bring charges against individuals--Democrats--for vote-rigging. He believes his refusal to haul "innocent people before a grand jury" was the reason he was not selected for a federal judgeship by local Republicans in Washington state in 2006.
McKay said that, at the time, he felt he was not being treated fairly, and requested a meeting with then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers to discuss the issue, as well as his application for US district judge in his home state.
"I asked for a meeting with Harriet Miers, whom I had known since work I had been involved in with the American Bar Association, and she immediately agreed to see me in August of 2006," McKay said. He added that when he met with Miers and her deputy William Kelley at the White House, the first thing they asked him was, "Why would Republicans in the state of Washington be angry with you?"
That was "a clear reference to the 2004 governor's election," McKay said in characterizing Miers and her deputy's comments. "Some believed I should convene a federal grand jury and bring innocent people before the grand jury."
"All of my actions as United States attorney had been coordinated with the Department of Justice," McKay told me. He said he explained that to Miers and Kelley, and informed them that there was no evidence of voter fraud to support launching a federal inquiry into the election.
McKay said he believes the meeting he had with Miers and Kelley directly led to his name being placed on a list of US attorneys selected for dismissal in December 2006.
Jason Leopold is editor of the online investigative news magazine The Public Record, http://www.pubrecord.org, and the author of the National Bestseller, "News Junkie," a memoir. Visit www.newsjunkiebook.com for a preview. He is also a two-time winner of the Project Censored award, most recently, in 2007, for an investigative story related to Halliburton's work in Iran. He was recently named the recipient of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's Thomas Jefferson Award for a series of stories he wrote that exposed how soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been pressured to accept fundamentalist Christianity.
Re: ""Myth" of Voter Fraud Focus of Senate Hearing;
Thank you Mr. Leopold for your steadfast reporting on the (contrived) firings of the nine federal prosecutors, and especially your poignant interview with US attorney John McKay. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061207J.shtml
Let us hope Senator Dianne Feinstein and her peers can see their way through this veneer of deceit and malice?
The best of luck to David Iglesias during Wednesday's hearing.
by
Munich (0 articles, 52 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 726 comments)
on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 10:44:58 PM
Actually, vote fraud is real, but it is not due to individuals who are not registered to vote but do, or due to people voting twice. It surprises me that with all that is known about Rove's alleged involvement in caging (which is illegal when carried out selectively) and efforts to suppress voter registration to influence the election he remains out and about writing editorials for major newspapers. Is there still not enough evidence to charge Rove with a crime? Or, is it better to wait until Bush can't pardon him?
My concern is the Senate will carry out hearings and then pass another bill (as was done with water boarding) saying from this time forward these activities are illegal. Bush will veto the bill and then claim, see it isn't illegal and I vetoed it thus stopping it from being illegal. I would have more confidence in Congress if their investigations led to charges brought against some of the individuals involved in these activities. Thus far it seems they have been harsher with Roger Clemen's and Countrywide's CEO than appointee's in the Bush Administration.
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Peter Wedlund (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 153 comments)
on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 8:07:24 AM
Does it never end? This hearing will be on Cspan and I urge those that can, to watch it. With Feinstein a bit on the wobbling side of the constitution these days, I hope the other committee members get into this hearing with some teeth.
I've heard Iglesias' testmony before and when nothing was done, I simply went "huhuh?", like Scooby Doo. How stupid do our elected officials really think we are? Have another one of those chocolates, as we just never know what we will get, eh?
by
shirley reese (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 255 comments)
on Monday, March 10, 2008 at 11:23:57 AM
