Fired prosecutor says he was forced out by Gonzales for no reason

Over the last few months, a number of federal prosecutors were suddenly fired, and then new Bush-friendly prosecutors were appointed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.  A loophole in the Patriot Act allows the Attorney General to hand-nominate new prosecutors and have them appointed without Senate approval.  Until now, this controversy had been somewhat of a mystery.  Now a former prosecutor is speaking out:

"I was ordered to resign as U.S. attorney on Dec. 7 by the JusticeDepartment," McKay, who had led the department's Western Washingtonoffice, said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. "I wasgiven no explanation. I certainly was told of no performance issues."

McKaypreviously had said only that he was resigning because it was time forhim to move on. His comments came one day after Deputy Attorney GeneralPaul McNulty acknowledged to the Senate Judiciary Committee that theJustice Department has fired seven U.S. attorneys in the West in thepast year, most of them for "performance-related" reasons he would notdivulge.

In related news, a former Karl Rove aide was appointed by Gonzales this week following the firing of a federal prosecutor in Arkansas.

Thankfully, the Senate Judiciary Committee is paving the way for legislation that would prevent Gonzales from making anymore appointments without Senate approval, as it has always been.

If the Democratic Congress had some spine, they would have censured Gonzales by now.