For some time now, we’ve been following the unethical wranglings of Virginia Representative Virgil Goode. It’s been known for some time now that Virgil Goode arranged for shadowy defense contractor M.Z.M. to receive an incentives package of nearly a million dollars, a package put together by local politicians in his district. We’ve known that MZM was the top contributor to Virgil Goode’s campaign in 2004. We’ve known that MZM was the ONLY contributor to Virgil Goode’s re-election campaign in the first quarter of 2005. We heard tell that MZM head Mitchell Wade was referring to Virgil Goode (and his cohorts in GOP ethical lapses, Duke Cunningham and Katherine Harris) when he said “I own them”.

Oh, we knew all that. But here’s something new. The Washington Post reported yesterday that MZM chief Mitchell Wade has arranged a guilty plea to charges that he bribed Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham and … other legislative and executive branch officials. Who exactly all of these bribed officials are is, as yet, unknown. But prosecutors revealed one of the legislators involved is Virgil Goode.

Guilty pleas don’t come out of nowhere. Usually, there’s a deal involved, a deal that requires the guilty party to fess up, name names, describe his actions thoroughly, and indicate where other illegalities lie. What might those illegalities be?

Well, to start with, Goode is accused of receiving $90,000 in illegal campaign contributions. Campaign contributions to Goode are said to have been faked so that it would appear that they came from multiple individuals. Really, prosecutors say, they all came from Wade. That’s a big no-no.

In addition, it’s not just the nearly-million-dollar local goodie package that Goode is revealed to have arranged for MZM. Oh, no. It gets bigger than that. According to yesterday’s Washington Post piece, Virgil Goode arranged for a $9,000,000 package to MZM at the federal level as well.

What else is Mitchell Wade singing about? What will we hear next? And just how long do you think it will be before Virgil Goode decides to resign “in order to spend more time with his family”?

Stay tuned.