Senator wonders why attorney forced out

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, February 14, 2007

SEATTLE – Sen. Patty Murray said after sitting in on a closed-door Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday she heard nothing to suggest that John McKay deserved to be fired as U.S. attorney.

“I heard nothing from Department of Justice officials that changed my mind about John McKay’s performance,” Murray, D-Wash., said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C.

She said she was not at liberty to comment further.

McKay, a Republican appointed by President Bush in 2001, was forced to resign as Western Washington’s top federal prosecutor last month. He was one of seven U.S. attorneys fired around the country.

Earlier this month, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty told the committee that most of the seven had been fired for “performance-related” reasons, and that one in Arkansas had been cleared out to make way for a former aide to White House adviser Karl Rove.

But McKay and others had received glowing performance reviews and were not told of performance issues before they were fired, prompting further investigation by the committee.

McNulty briefed the committee privately Wednesday.

Lawyers, judges and public officials – Republican and Democratic – have objected to McKay’s firing, speculating that it was done because he was not conservative enough for the Bush administration.

U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle said McKay was a “superb U.S. attorney. For the Justice Department to suggest otherwise is just not fair.”

A 90-page review of McKay’s office, completed by Justice Department staff last April, found him to be “an effective, well-regarded and capable leader.” Though overwhelmingly complimentary, the report raised a few areas of concern, such as making sure prosecutors in the office document all of their overtime and keep records of any cases where they seek sentences below guideline ranges.

U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and can be fired at any time. A provision in the reauthorization of the Patriot Act allows the attorney general to appoint U.S. attorneys indefinitely without Senate confirmation; several senators are seeking to revoke that provision.