Republican moral family values. Yes, that’s what must explain Republican Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s decision, while a member of Congress, to not just accept bribes, get a defense contractor to buy his house ridiculously above price, and live on a corporate hack’s yacht, but also let two defense contractors put him up in fancy hotels, party into the late hours, and deliver him prostitutes for kicks. Yeah, that’s what I think of when someone says “family values.” Yep, that’s exactly what I think of.
And do you know what really brings home the fact that this whole yacht-sailing, swanky-hotel-staying, prostitute-buying fraudulence business is really about Republican family values? Why, the news that the FBI is investigating other powerful Republican politicians on suspicion of taking part in the whole Bachanalian hooker family values fest!
Ken Silverstein, reporter for the excellent Harper’s Magazine, has
learned from a well-connected source that those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence comittees—including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post.
Oh, dearie dear dear. Mr. Silverstein is such a big hinter, and yet such a big tease, isn’t he? Wherever could he be going with this? Who is the individual who now holds a powerful intelligence post? Well, thanks to Mr. Silverstein we know that the two executives involved in the scandal are Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade, heads of ADCS, Inc. and MZM, Inc. respectively (curiously, Wade used to be part of ADCS).
The members of the House Select Intelligence Committee who have received campaign contributions from Brent Wilkes, Mitchell Wade, ADCS and/or MZM are Michigan Republican Peter Hoekstra, New Mexico Republican Heather Wilson, Arizona Republican Rick Renzi, and California Republican Darrell Issa. We do not know whether these Representatives (Republicans all) are connected to bribery or prostitution, but we do know they are connected to Wilkes, Wade, ADCS and MZM, all of which have an interest in intelligence contracts. Will Hoekstra, Wilson, Renzi and Issa come clean and tell all? Will they at least return the contributions of dirty money that they have received?
Let’s let the news take another turn. Poking around, I see Newsweek reports:
After Porter Goss took over as CIA director, many agency veterans were astonished when the former House intel chair chose [Kyle "Dusty"] Foggo, a midranking bureaucrat, to become CIA executive director, the agency’s third-ranking official, responsible for day-to-day operations. Insiders attributed his rise to his mastery of office politics. But Foggo’s glad-handing has raised awkward questions. Federal prosecutors have accused (as an unindicted co-conspirator) one of Foggo’s closest friends, San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes, of participating in a scheme to bribe Randall (Duke) Cunningham, the GOP congressman from San Diego who resigned his seat after pleading guilty to federal corruption and tax charges.
Wilkes ran a network of companies that did business with defense and intel agencies, and according to two sources familiar with the investigation, who requested anonymity because the probe is ongoing, Foggo’s name has surfaced in the federal inquiry. At the same time, NEWSWEEK has learned, the CIA inspector general’s office has opened its own investigation into Foggo’s relationship with Wilkes. This inquiry is sufficiently serious that Congress was notified about it in writing.
Foggo and Wilkes are old buddies. Pals in San Diego say that between assignments overseas, the genial, hefty Foggo was a conspicuous presence at Wilkes’s parties.
The San Diego Union Tribune adds:
One of Wilkes’ companies, Archer Logistics, won a contract to provide bottled water, first-aid kits and other supplies to CIA agents in Afghanistan and Iraq. The company had no previous experience with such work, having been founded a few months before the contract was granted.
Critics familiar with the contract, valued at $2 million to $3 million, say the CIA overpaid for the work. The contract was approved by the CIA office in Frankfurt, Germany, where Foggo oversaw acquisitions. Foggo did not personally sign the contract, however, said unnamed CIA officials who spoke with Newsweek.
Connect the dots: the “genial, hefty Foggo,” who was at Brent Wilkes’ parties, was mysteriously promoted by CIA chief Porter Goss, who is a recent Republican chair of the House Select Intelligence Committee.
Oh, the twisty-turny weavings of Republican family values! What will we tell the children?
And now Porter Goss has resigned… hm…