Duke's Friends or Government for Sale
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One of the contractors, Brent Wilkes, provided private jet flights for Reps. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., DeLay's stand-in as majority leader while DeLay fights money-laundering charges in Texas
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Among the top beneficiaries, according to federal campaign records:
_ DeLay, who got about $70,000 from Wilkes and his associates.
_ House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., who got about $50,000 from Wilkes, Wade and their associates.
_ Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., a member of the Appropriations Committee, who got about $46,000 from Wilkes and his associates.
In addition, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., got about $46,000 from Wilkes, Wade and their associates, his campaign treasurer said.
Wilkes' and Wade's political activity came as they landed valuable government contracts, drawing the attention of campaign finance watchdog groups.
"There's no question that both Wilkes and Wade were expert at greasing the wheels of the legislative machine," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "They knew who and when to give money to, and it really gave them free rein over taxpayer-funded defense contractors."
The list of other lawmakers who took money includes Reps. Katherine Harris, R-Fla.; Virgil Goode, R-Va.; Alan Mollohan, D-Va., top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra; and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Wyo.
Craig, Mollohan, DeLay and Doolittle have said they'll hang on to the money. As of Thursday, Goode hadn't decided what to do with the money, his press secretary said.
Meanwhile, more than half-a-dozen of the lawmakers who took their money — including Hunter, Lewis, Hoekstra and Harris — have announced plans to give it to charities, seeking to distance themselves from the contractors.
"I just think it was the appropriate thing to do," said Hunter, who is giving the money to help injured Marines.
He also released two letters Thursday that he wrote to Pentagon officials in 1997 and 2000 urging them to use their own judgment on pursuing projects to convert paper documents to digital form — the specialty of Wilkes' company ADCS Inc., headquartered in Hunter's San Diego-area district.
Published reports have said Cunningham and Hunter promoted such programs in the face of Pentagon opposition.
Wilkes and his associates increased their political donations to the tens-of-thousands-per-year level around 1996. In 1996, 1997 and 1998 lawmakers earmarked money for document conversion programs even though none was requested in the president's budget. ADCS got a major contract to digitize documents in the Panama Canal Zone around the time of the canal handover in 1999.
Neither Wilkes nor Wade is named in Cunningham's plea agreement, in which he admits taking cash and gifts including antiques and a Rolls-Royce.
[...]
One of the contractors, Brent Wilkes, provided private jet flights for Reps. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Roy Blunt, R-Mo., DeLay's stand-in as majority leader while DeLay fights money-laundering charges in Texas
[...]
Among the top beneficiaries, according to federal campaign records:
_ DeLay, who got about $70,000 from Wilkes and his associates.
_ House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., who got about $50,000 from Wilkes, Wade and their associates.
_ Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif., a member of the Appropriations Committee, who got about $46,000 from Wilkes and his associates.
In addition, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., got about $46,000 from Wilkes, Wade and their associates, his campaign treasurer said.
Wilkes' and Wade's political activity came as they landed valuable government contracts, drawing the attention of campaign finance watchdog groups.
"There's no question that both Wilkes and Wade were expert at greasing the wheels of the legislative machine," said Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "They knew who and when to give money to, and it really gave them free rein over taxpayer-funded defense contractors."
The list of other lawmakers who took money includes Reps. Katherine Harris, R-Fla.; Virgil Goode, R-Va.; Alan Mollohan, D-Va., top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Pete Hoekstra; and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Wyo.
Craig, Mollohan, DeLay and Doolittle have said they'll hang on to the money. As of Thursday, Goode hadn't decided what to do with the money, his press secretary said.
Meanwhile, more than half-a-dozen of the lawmakers who took their money — including Hunter, Lewis, Hoekstra and Harris — have announced plans to give it to charities, seeking to distance themselves from the contractors.
"I just think it was the appropriate thing to do," said Hunter, who is giving the money to help injured Marines.
He also released two letters Thursday that he wrote to Pentagon officials in 1997 and 2000 urging them to use their own judgment on pursuing projects to convert paper documents to digital form — the specialty of Wilkes' company ADCS Inc., headquartered in Hunter's San Diego-area district.
Published reports have said Cunningham and Hunter promoted such programs in the face of Pentagon opposition.
Wilkes and his associates increased their political donations to the tens-of-thousands-per-year level around 1996. In 1996, 1997 and 1998 lawmakers earmarked money for document conversion programs even though none was requested in the president's budget. ADCS got a major contract to digitize documents in the Panama Canal Zone around the time of the canal handover in 1999.
Neither Wilkes nor Wade is named in Cunningham's plea agreement, in which he admits taking cash and gifts including antiques and a Rolls-Royce.
[...]
posted by TheFuriousGourmet | 4:16 PM
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