06/27/2007

By GENE JOHNSON  / Associated Press

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales met with federal prosecutors here Wednesday, where he caused an uproar by firing U.S. Attorney John McKay last December.

He also met with relatives of longtime Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales, who was shot to death at his Seattle home in October 2001. The murder remains unsolved, and Gonzales' now-former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, suggested in a congressional interview that the reason McKay was targeted for firing might have been that he was too aggressive in asking for additional resources to investigate the crime.

"Bringing those involved in his killing to justice is of the utmost importance to the (Justice) Department," Gonzales said in a statement issued Wednesday morning. "Together, we will work as long and hard as it takes to solve this crime and prosecute those responsible."

Gonzales has testified that he was not aware of DOJ officials using the Wales case as a reason to fire McKay, whose former office remains recused from the investigation. McKay has suggested that Sampson made up that explanation to disguise what might have been the real reason for McKay's firing: His decision not to bring election fraud charges in the extremely close 2004 governor's election in Washington state, won by Democrat Chris Gregoire after two recounts.

It was in early 2005, during the height of the election controversy, that McKay was first placed on Sampson's list of U.S. attorneys to be fired.

In his visit to the Seattle U.S. Attorney's Office on Wednesday, Gonzales planned to address the prosecutors as a group before posing for pictures with each, said Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse. The meeting, closed to the press, followed a speech he gave to 60 technology executives and others at the Westin hotel about the Justice Department's efforts to combat intellectual property theft and cyber-crime.

A small group of protesters waved signs saying "Worst Attorney General Ever" and "Fire the Liar" outside the hotel. Others wore Bush administration masks and mock prison garb. In Boise, Idaho, on Tuesday, about 100 demonstrators opposed to the Bush administration and the Iraq war forced Gonzales to move an open-air news conference he had scheduled.

Inside, Gonzales made no mention of the firings of McKay or eight other U.S. attorneys around the country, a controversy that prompted an ongoing investigation by the Democratic-led Congress over whether the terminations were improperly motivated.

In the audience were the three publicly identified candidates to replace McKay: Acting U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan, Seattle attorney Mike Vaska and former U.S. Rep. Rick White. McKay did not attend; he jokingly suggested to The Associated Press that his invitation must have been lost in the mail.

Gonzales focused his remarks on intellectual property and cyber-crimes, saying they aren't just a matter of teenagers downloading songs off the Internet. There are serious economic repercussions, and counterfeiting is an especially serious issue when health or safety is at hand, such as with prescription drugs, he said.

Gonzales said the Justice Department is devoting more resources to protecting intellectual property rights, and asked members of TechNet Northwest, the industry group which hosted his speech, to continue to help the department identify and prosecute counterfeiting and other intellectual property crimes.

He also said he was concerned that proceeds from intellectual property crimes could be used to finance terrorism.

"Just as that technology revolution has made our lives different ... it's also created tremendous new opportunities for criminal who mean us harm," Gonzales said.

After the Seattle appearance, Gonzales was scheduled to make a speech in Spokane about gang enforcement.