Was U.S. Attorney in Seattle Fired Because He Pushed for Murder Investigation of Pro-Gun Control Prosecutor

John McKay was one of eight U.S. Attorneys ordered to resign their positions with the Justice Department. Previously he was first thought to be on the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired in September of 2006. It has come out during hearings on the firing of the U.S. Attorneys, however, that his name was on a list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired in March of 2005. Now here is where it gets very interesting.

According to this story in the Seattle Times, McKay was pushing for the U.S. Department of Justice to devote more resources to investigating the murder of one of his assistants, Tom Wales. Wales was murdered in October 0f 2001, shortly before McKay assumed office. Wales was known as a person who was in favor of strong gun control. Because Wales worked as an attorney in the Seattle office, that office was recused from any involvement in the investigation of his death.

At a hearing on this scandal in Washington, Representative Mel Watt, (D-NC), raised the possibility that McKay's pushing for action on the Wales investigation led to his firing. This quote is from the Times article: "It was suggested that Mr. Sampson had concerns or that concerns had been raised ... relating to the murder of an assistant U.S. attorney named Thomas Wales, in which Mr. McKay had requested some action by the department."

So here's where we are with McKay: In March of 2005, he was pushing for this investigation and he was also in trouble with the White House because he didn't push for a bogus voter fraud investigation in the Washington state elections of 2004. So which is it? Was he put on the list because he thought that the murder of a pro-gun control Assistant U.S. Attorney should be investigated or because he wouldn't investigate bogus claims of voter fraud? Either way, it is another example of the perversion of the Justice Department under Gonzales.