PURGE-GATE WATCH….The LA Times has a decent rundown today of Purge-gate. Here’s their take on what happened to John McKay:
McKay, the U.S. attorney in Seattle, found himself in the midst of the contested 2004 governor’s race between Republican Dino Rossi and Democrat Chris Gregoire.
While the voting dispute was still in progress, McKay took a phone call from Ed Cassidy, chief of staff for Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), then the head of the House Ethics Committee.
McKay said Cassidy started to ask about what federal prosecutors were doing in the election dispute, but McKay cut him off, saying that going further could constitute obstruction of justice. Later, when McKay was interviewed by then-White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers and her deputy, William Kelly, for a possible judgeship, he said they criticized him for “mishandling” things during the recount.
He never got the judicial robes, and he lost his job as prosecutor as well.
But there was nothing political about it!
Anyway, this is really just an excuse to tell everyone to tell all their friends about this. I had dinner with my sister last night and she had never heard about this story. I take this as a sort of bellwether that it hasn’t really broken into the public consciousness yet, so it could use some help.
