Fired U.S. Attorney John McKay will be a featured speaker next month at the annual conference of the Mainstream Republicans of Washington. And some conservative Republicans who were unhappy with McKay as U.S. attorney and celebrated his controversial firing, are upset that Republicans — even moderate ones — would invite McKay to speak.

Bob Williams, president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, and Tom McCabe, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, have both complained about McKay's scheduled appearance. State GOP Chairman Luke Esser, who will also speak at the mainstreamers' conference, said that's the only criticism he has heard so far. Esser said he had no beef with McKay being included, though he didn't know McKay was coming when he agreed to speak.

Williams told the mainstream group that the invitation was a slap at the Bush administration, said Alex Hays, executive director of the moderate GOP group. Hays told me:

"If you talk to McKay himself, he is very careful not to attack the president of the United States, which I think shows a great deal of loyalty. It should be possible for a Republican to admit that this administration has not handled this situation very well. ... The administration has badly handled these things and even someone who worked diligently to re-election the president, I have to be intellectually honest enough to admit that."

I called McCabe and Williams but haven't heard back yet.

McKay is scheduled to speak Sunday morning at the Cascade Conference,the group's annual event, which this year is being held in Wenatchee.

Hays hopes that McKay talks about the firings as well as "what motivates him to be a moderate Republican."

"He has a very interesting story to tell. I'm sure there are people in our organization who wish he had done more to investigate the governor's election and I'm sure there are people who believe he did a stand up job. We expect to hear a very interesting story."

McCabe and Williams were the most vocal critics of how McKay handled the 2004 governor's election. Sharing the bill with McKay will be the man who lost that election, Dino Rossi.

UPDATE: McCabe says he didn't complain, and says the Mainstreamers are just trying to get attention:

"What the Mainstream Republicans are doing in my opinion is irrelevant."