Unanswered questions in McKay firing remain

KOMO posts an AP story with the headline "Political whodunit: John McKay's curious downfall." Mostly it traces the chronology of known events. McKay's lightning-quick fall from favor within the Justice Department certainly seems striking.

But the best part of the article is at the end, where some of the unanswered questions are posed:

Some questions remain. Namely: If Vander Stoep kept McKay off the bench for inexperience, where did the White House counsel's office get the idea that it was the 2004 election? It could have come from McKay's own camp: The e-mail chain suggests Sampson heard McKay had gotten "screwed" on the judgeship from Debra Yang, the former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles and a friend of McKay. Sampson then passed that information to Hoyt.

Also unanswered: Who was the White House's "political lead" in Washington state, to be notified of McKay's firing? State Attorney General Rob McKenna, Hastings, Rep. Dave Reichert, Vander Stoep, then-state GOP chairwoman Diane Tebelius, and Mike McKay have all denied knowing who it was. Rossi did not return calls for this story.

Leaving aside for a moment the bit about the "e-mail chain," which could presumably be cleared up when Sampson testifies, it is going to be very interesting to see who the "political lead" in Washington state was. It's not fair to read anything into Rossi not commenting, of course, and realistically Rossi is smarter than that.

The truly intriguing question is whether someone in the Washington GOP establishment decided to carry their failed attempt to prove fraud in the 2004 gubernatorial election past the ludicrous point that ended before a hand-picked judge in Chelan County in 2005. Or more accurately, if a quest for revenge against McKay for refusing to participate in their cock-eyed scheme to prove non-existent fraud can be shown beyond all doubt.

We'll see.