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The Progress Report, March 6, 2006
http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=1331575&ct=2032801
On Friday, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in federal prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for lucrative defense contracts, among other crimes. It was the longest sentence ever meted out to a congressman.While it's the last we'll hear from Cunningham for some time, the larger scandal is just beginning to unfold. The same defense contractors who were playing Cunningham with cash and favors were working other members of Congress and top administration officials.
Once all the facts are on the table, the Abramoff scandal may pale in comparison.
THE CIA CONNECTION:The CIA is investigating "the connection between the agency's No. 3 official and a co-conspirator in the bribery case of former Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham." That official, Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, "is a lifelong friend of Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes," the federal contractor who "gave Cunningham $630,000 in bribes in exchange for federal contracts," according to court documents. (According to the American Prospect, the pair "named their sons after each other and share a private wine locker at Washington’s Capital Grille restaurant.") The CIA "is investigating whether Foggo helped Wilkes gain CIA contracts." According to several CIA officials, "Wilkes has several CIA contracts, ranging from providing CIA agents with bottled water and first-aid kits to performing unspecified work in Iraq." (The CIA budget is secret, so it's impossible to know precisely how much business Wilkes is doing with the agency.) Wilkes has even "set aside an office next to his executive suite where Foggo could work when he leaves the CIA."
THE KATHERINE HARRIS CONNECTION:Defense contractor Mitchell Wade has admitted "to lavishing more than $1 million in cash, cars, a boat, antiques and other bribes on convicted Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham." He also funneled $32,000 in illegal donations to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL). Harris initially told Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter Tom Lyons, along with other journalists, that "she didn't have any idea" why employees from Wade's company, MZM, donated the money. She insisted "all those MZM-connected people -- who didn't live in Florida and whose $2,000 checks arrived in bundles -- just liked her stands on the issues and wanted to see her re-elected." But Wade's plea agreement revealed that he took Harris "to dinner at a Washington, D.C., restaurant, Citronelle, and asked her to help the company get a defense contract." (Talking Points Memo notes "the restaurant's prix-fixe menu starts at $85, well over the Congressional $50 gift limit.") A source told the Washington Post that "Harris made such a request for funding, but it was not granted." Lyons' take: "Let's not make this fuzzy: U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris lied." (More on the Harris connection here.)
THE JOHN DOOLITTLE CONNECTION:Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) has acknowledged that he "helped steer defense funding, totaling $37 million" to PerfectWave, a company run by Brent Wilkes. PerfectWave "officials and lobbyists helped raise at least $85,000 for Doolittle and his leadership political action committee from 2002 to 2005." Doolittle has "written to U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales asking to be investigated." He claims that the criticism is being generated by a conspiracy of [liberals --] "labor union bosses, radical feminists, and extreme environmentalists."
THE DUNCAN HUNTER CONNECTION:House Armed Service Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), "perhaps Cunningham's closest friend in Congress," helped companies that have employed Wilkes -- ADCS Inc.and Audre Inc. -- secure over $190 million for a system to "convert printed documents to computer files" that the Department of Defense (DoD) said it didn't need. (This included "a $9.7 million contract for ADCS to digitize historical documents from the Panama Canal Zone that the Pentagon considered insignificant.") A 1994 report from the General Accounting Office noted that the DoD "already had the tools for such work." The San Diego Tribune notes, "Cunningham, Hunter and their House allies didn’t care. Audre and ADCS were generous with contributions – and ADCS executive Brent Wilkes allegedly was bribing Cunningham." The Tribune concludes, "This isn't governance. This is looting." (Hunter has also "faulted federal prosecutors" for being too tough on Cunningham.)
THE JERRY LEWIS CONNECTION:Wilkes also employed a lobbyist named Bill Lowery, paying him about $200,000 between 1998-2000. What did all that money buy? Access to House Appropriations Committee chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA). According to a three month investigation by Copley News Service, Lewis "has greenlighted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal project for clients" of Bill Lowrey. Meanwhile, "Lowery, the partners at his firm and their clients have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis' political action committee received in the past six years." Copley reports, "[T]he essential ingredient in the Lew-Lowery relationship is earmarking, the congressional practice in which special projects, sometimes derided as 'pork,' are slipped quietly into the federal budget without public review." Virtually every client who has signed up with Lowery in recent years "cashed in with earmarks." Lowery was also tight with Cunningham, paying the staff's $1,800 bill for its 2001 Christmas party at a fancy Washington, D.C. restaurant.
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