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CA-41 Jerry Lewis’ Lobbyist Friends

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UPDATE: Repaired a link -Brian

Time is just out with an article on the relationship between Representative Jerry Lewis (CA-41) and Jeffrey Shockley. Shockley’s lobbying firm is none other than Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez. The San Diego Union Tribune highlighted the intimate relationship between Lewis and Bill Lowery back in December.

Before Jeffrey Shockey worked for one of the most powerful committees in Congress, he was a lobbyist at one of the more successful boutique lobbying firms in Washington. Before that, you guessed it, he worked for one of the most powerful committees in Congress. In fact, Shockey, 40, has breezed so smoothly through the revolving door between Congress and the lobbying world that, critics say, it’s hard to tell where one job begins and the other ends.

Shockley’s career is a series of moves between jobs in Congressman Lewis’ office and jobs lobbying Congressman Lewis’ office.

Shockey’s career is a case study in how the game works. When he left Capitol Hill for the lobbying world in 1999 — after spending more than eight years working for Rep. Jerry Lewis, a Republican from California who had chaired key subcommittees — many of his new clients, including muncipalities, hospitals and lesser-known universities, were from Lewis’s district. After years of getting paid to represent them on the Hill, he was now getting paid a lot more to represent them on the Hill.

Shockley’s record as a lobbyist is staggering. Though his efforts, he was able to direct over $150 million in pork barrel projects to his clients, earning himself $1.5 million in his first year as a lobbyist. And, Shockley was able to insure that his grateful clients directed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Representative Lewis and his political action committee.

Last year, Lewis’ largess within the party, thanks to the efforts of lobbyists like Shockley helped Lewis achieve the chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee. Lewis asked Shockey to work for the committee. Shockley accepted the job despite a 10 fold reduction in salary. But, the Shockley family won’t go hungry.

Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez — where Lewis’s close friend Bill Lowery, a former California congressman, is a partner — gave Shockey a $600,000 going-away buyout, according to Shockey’s financial disclosure form. He was to receive his buyout in three $200,000 payments scheduled for February, May and August 2005 — even as he was in his committee post. The firm would also keep Shockey in the family by hiring his wife, Alexandra — another former Lewis aide — as a consulting lobbyist.

What a sweet deal this is for Lewis. No matter where Shockey works, he ends up helping raise funds for Lewis. From Shockley’s perspective, no matter where he works, his take home pay is going to be substantial. It’s a win, win, win situation. Well, except for the taxpayers who are covering the cost of all of Lewis’ earmarks to companies that Shockley used to represent, but which are now represented by someone else, who also used to work for Lewis.

With the help of another former Lewis aide who took over some Shockey accounts at his lobbying firm, many of Shockey’s more than 50 former clients have continued to land tens of millions of dollars in earmarks, courtesy of the panel Shockey now helps Lewis run.

Jerry Lewis sure knows how to rig the game in his favor.

Words Have Power.

San Diego

Kaloogian Alert – Toxic – Full Protective Gear Required

Down With Tyranny holds its nose and links to Howard Kaloogian’s most recent fund raising appeal in his campaign for Randy Cunningham’s vacated congressional seat in CA-50.

I won’t link directly to Kaloogian’s document for fear of contamination.

Kaloogian is a puzzle to me. He is either a right wing nut case with little conception of the real issues in this country; OR his is a tool of right wing puppet masters who want to make sure that the real issues in this country are kept hidden from its citizens.

Frankly, I don’t care into which of the two categories Kaloogian falls.  In either case he is a dangerous politician.

Kaloogian tars anyone who disagrees with his position, any position held by the extreme neo-con right or King George Bush as a “liberal.” That is the worst criticism that members of Kaloogian’s cult can come up with to use against an opponent. And, it is the one word that so scares the far right-wingers who support politicians like Kaloogian that they will immediately write a check to his campaign.

The fact that more than 60% of Americans disagree with President Bush’s policies and direction for the country means nothing to Kaloogian. All those people are either “liberals” or the victim of “liberal media lies.”

Kaloogian wants to make sure that the ultra-rich and big corporations avoid paying taxes. He has no problems with “earmarks” as a form of corporate welfare or as a means of rewarding campaign contributors. Kaloogian has no real coherent political position. He can only define himself by what he is against, not by any policies or positions that he advocates.

He has no interest in the issues that are important to the people living in California’s 50th Congressional District. He has no position on education. He has no position on lobbyist reform. He has no position on the environment. He has no position on transportation policy. He has no position on senior drug benefits. He has no position on support for military veterans.

Kaloogian’s most recent political positions have been against the United Nations, against national politicians who disagree with George Bush and against the concept of a free press telling the truth to Americans.

As I said, Kaloogian is either the willing tool of the American hating extremist on the right wing fringe of our society or he is one of the leaders of these fringe extremists. Take your pick.

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10 Years Isn’t Enough For Cunningham

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(The sorry details of Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s betrayal of the public trust. He is sleazy even by Republican standards. – promoted by Words Have Power)

Federal prosecutors presented a San Diego court with a recommended sentence for former congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham. You can read the entire sentencing memorandum here or check out the San Diego Union Tribune’s shorter version here.

Having admitted unparalleled corruption, defendant Randall H. Cunningham now comes before the Count to be sentenced for his stunning betrayal of the public trust. Cunningham used his status as a war hero to get into Congress, and then he used his Congressional office to get rich. In doing so, Cunningham reneged on his obligation to execute his office with conscientious, loyal, faithful, disinterested, and unbiased service. The length, breadth, and depth of Cunningham’s crimes against the people of the United States are unprecedented for a sitting Member of Congress. So too, should be his sentence.

With that as an introduction, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Cunningham to the maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

What the details in the sentencing memorandum make abundantly clear is that Randy Cunningham sold his influence and used his office to make himself rich. Cunningham was not caught up in the schemes of others, he was the prime instigator of this criminal endeavor. A copy of a bribe payment schedule (bribe menu) was included in documents filed by the prosecution.

In this “bribe menu,” the left column represented the millions in government contracts that could be “ordered” from Cunningham. The right column was the amount of the bribes that the contractor giving up his title to a boat (“BY) for which Coconspirator No. 2 had initially paid $140,000 (“140″). The next four rows indicate that an additional million dollars in funding was “for sale” in exchange for every additional $50,000 that Coconspirator No. 2 was willing to pay Cunningham. Once Coconspirator No. 2 had paid Cunningham $340,000 in bribes, the rates dropped; and, as the final five rows reflect, Cunningham would charge only $25,000 for each additional million dollars that was awarded in Congressman was demanding in exchange for the contracts.

The federal documents lay out an incredibly damning case. Cunningham was literally selling government business to his co-conspirators. No wink and nudge stuff, but tit for tat – you give me money and I’ll give you government contracts for a specific amount. It is breathtaking.

In order to completely pay off his Rancho Santa Fe home, Cunningham turned to Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade.

…Cunningham demanded that Co-conspirator No. 1 (Brent Wilkes) give him $525,000. Coconspirator No. 1 agreed, but on condition that he receive an additional $6,000,000 in government funds. Shortly after receiving this money (through a DoD subcontract), Coconspirator No. 1 wired the $525,000 (thinly disguised as an “investment”) to Coconspirator No. 3’s financial services company. Cunningham never made another payment on his second mortgage.

…Cunningham demanded that Coconspirator No. 2 (Mitchell Wade) pay him $500,000, to eliminate the remaining mortgage burdens for his Rancho Santa Fe mansion. In return, Cunningham promised to support a specific defense appropriations request. Coconspirator No. 2 agreed. To disguise this bribe, Coconspirator No. 2 divided the $500,000 into two unequal checks (one for $329.000 and one for $171,000), both made out to Top Gun Enterprises. Although both checks were made out at the same time, Coconspirator No. 2 sought to further disguise the illegal activity by utilizing different dates and non-consecutive check numbers. He added false notations on both checks that suggested a legitimate purpose.

It’s all here in the government documents. The big bribes, the little bribes, the furniture, the cars, all of it laid out in stunning detail.

What is clear from this evidence is that Randy Cunningham is a crook and a liar. He broke his oaths and he betrayed his office. Randy Cunningham is a disgrace and deserves to go to jail for the rest of his life.

Also posted at Words Have Power

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Is Dick Pombo a Liar? You Decide.

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Dick Pombo (CA-11) is the most anti-environment legislator to pass through the United States Congress in a generation. His legislative iniatitives include gutting the Endangered Special Act, proposing the sale to private interests of millions of acres of public land – including several national parks and providing unbridled access to public land and resources to timber and mining interests.

Pombo claims that his anti-environmental positions are driven by a highly developed sense of property rights, the need for American energy independence and an acute empathy for farmers and ranchers who have their land usage dictated by the federal government.

Pombo’s story plays well in the rural sections of his district. His family has owned vast tracts of property in and around the city of Tracy for a century. His extended family lives on a 500 acre ranch on the outskirts of Tracy. And, Pombo uses his cowboy image to garner agricultural votes and support.

More untruths in the extended.

What Pombo isn’t so forthcoming in sharing with his neighbors at the feed store is the source of most of his campaign funds. The Los Angeles Times isn’t so reticent.

Text According to data compiled by the Campaign Finance Analysis Project, Pombo has, during his congressional career, collected more than $800,000 from agriculture, timber and fishing interests. The building industry has given him $205,000; oil and gas, $169,000; mining, $55,000; and casinos and gambling, $147,000.

Virtually none of these big campaign donors reside in the CA-11. But, Dick Pombo has certainly done a lot for the big corporate interests that want more access to public land and to see environmental laws relaxed or repealed.

Dick Pombo, the friend of the small rancher and famer, is also one of the chief architects of turning Tracy into a bedroom community for Silicon Valley. And, turning Tracy into a developer’s paradise has been very good for the Pombo family.

During Pombo’s two years as a local councilman before heading to Congress in 1992, he worked on a general plan that set the stage for Tracy’s explosive growth. Today much of the farmland for sale on the town fringes is staked with the red and white signs of Pombo Real Estate, founded in the 1960s by his late uncle Ernie and carried on by relatives.

Now pretending to be one of the boys down at the 4H Club and at FFA meetings isn’t lying, it just hypocracy. Running around in a cowboy hat isn’t them same as being supportive of family farming, especially when you are developing plans to rezone the land those farms sit on and in the process insuring that members of your family make millions.

But, let’s look at another case the Times lays out regarding Pombo.

The family lands figure prominently in Pombo lore. It was the government riding roughshod over the family’s property rights, he says, that spurred him to get involved in national politics.

In 1994 he told a Senate subcommittee that he ran for Congress after the ranch was declared critical habitat for the endangered San Joaquin kit fox, stripping his land of its value and forcing his family to run the ranch “with an unwanted, unneeded, un-silent partner — the federal government.”

The tale turns out to have been embroidered. Pombo’s ranch is a corridor for the kit fox, the smallest fox in North America. But it is not critical habitat, which the government has never designated anywhere for the tiny fox. Pombo paid $5,137 into a regional habitat conservation plan to compensate for houses he and relatives were building on the ranch. But that was years after his congressional testimony.

Today, Pombo concedes his characterization was “mistaken” and says having kit fox habitat on his land “didn’t prevent me from doing anything.”

Hummm…. The intrusive federal government “stripped” Pombo’s land of its value and forced itself upon Pombo as “unwanted, unneeded” partner in his business. Except, the whole story is a fabrication. It didn’t happen. It allows Pombo to create a strawman – the evil Endangered Species Act – and tell first hand of the damage the act caused him and his family. A hypocritical act and an outright lie.

A few years ago, Pombo lent his expertise to a report critical of the Forest Services’ handling of a fire in the Pacific Northwest. According to Pombo, four firefighters died because a fire fighting helicopter was denied access to river water because of regulations protecting fish in the river.

Again, a great story.  Foolish, excessive enviromental laws caused a tragic loss of life.

Guess what?  Another Pombo story that turns out to be …. untrue.

“Highly inaccurate…. The whole thing was a bunch of baloney,” Jim Furnish, a former deputy chief of the U.S. Forest Service who headed an investigation of the deaths, said in an interview. The probe found that although there was some confusion about whether a helicopter could draw from the river, endangered species regulations did not forbid it and most of the delay in using the chopper was unrelated. Moreover, investigators concluded the four died because of command misjudgments and because the fire crew disregarded standard safety procedures.

Dick Pombo is a tool of special interests. He has found a perfect niche from which he can work to destroy generations of conservation and enviromental progess. The money pours in from corporations whose interests Pombo serves. In his district. he can wear a cowboy hat, spit and load feed bags into the pick-up, but when he goes to Washington, Dick Pombo serves the special interests that fill his campaign coffers to overflowing.

To justify his support of these major corporate interests, Dick Pombo cultivates the image of a small town rancher fighting the intrusive federal government.  That image is just that, an image.  Manufactured to sell to the rubes back in his district so they will send him to Washington to serve the big money interests.

Crossposted at Words Have Power.

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Doolittle’s Little Helper

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(I love me my Doolittle corruption stories. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Night Swimming links to this Sacramento Bee article regarding Representative John Doolittle’s (CA-4) active involvement in support of a Jack Abramoff Indian client. Support that garnered Northern California’s Doolittle a $5,000 campaign contribution from the Iowa tribe.

As with many of Doolittle’s dealing with Abramoff, Doolittle’s former chief of staff, Kevin Ring, was in the middle of things.

When lobbyist Kevin Ring brought dissident members of Iowa’s Meskwaki tribe to Rep. John Doolittle’s office in early June 2003, it was a good bet that the Roseville Republican would be helpful.

Ring was a former staff aide to Doolittle and his employer then, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, was a friend of the congressman and at the pinnacle of his ill-fated power.

The letter Doolittle wrote to Interior Secretary Gale Norton a few days later pressed for elections that would end an escalating tribal dispute – just what Ring’s clients wanted.

In writing it, however, the vehemently anti-gambling congressman was taking a stand on behalf of a tribe fighting to reopen a casino.

Doolittle’s letter was probably of little importance in the case. The Department of the Interior was already working to resolve the tribal conflict, when Doolittle stepped in to help. But, what Doolittle’s involvement did do was allow Abramoff’s firm to demonstrate to its client how it could quickly deliver members of congress in their support.

At the time, Doolittle had nothing to loose when he helped out his former chief of staff and allowed him to show off his influence with a key member of congress. That is the influence that Doolittle was selling to Ring and through Ring to Abramoff. It was the advertising value of Abramoff being able to tell potential clients that he could deliver Republican congressmen to support them any time he need to do so.

When Doolittle says he did nothing unethical, he is lying. Doolittle demonstrated to Abramoff’s clients how the game was played. He allowed himself to be used as part of an elaborate Abramoff con to convince Indian tribes that Abramoff owned the Republican Congress and Administration.

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Another Randy Cunningham Victim?

The Sunday San Diego Union Tribune continues the paper’s excellent coverage of the Randy “Duke” Cunningham saga. Dani Dodge’s article concentrates on Cunningham’s wife, Nancy, leaving it to readers to determine if this woman who spent 32 years was a victim or another of his co-conspirators.

Certainly, when Nancy Cunningham filed for divorce from flying ace, Randy Cunningham just two years into their marriage, she felt victimized.

“He is a very aggressive spontaneously assaultive person,” she wrote in a court declaration, “and I fear for my immediate physical safety and well being.”

But, the Cunningham’s reconciled and Nancy worked diligently to smooth Duke’s rough edges and restrain his spontaneously assaultive personality.

Nancy also wouldn’t accept Duke’s tactless behavior, sticking close to her husband at military parties.

“When she was around, Duke wouldn’t say boo,” Criss said. “Randy was a guy who talked first and thought second, and when he would do that, she would correct him and roll her eyes.”

Duke stopped going to bars with others in his unit and turned to sports, hunting and riding off-road motorcycles.”

Nancy Cunningham worked to create her own identity and to build a stellar career in public school administration. While Duke moved to Washington and attempted to reprise his “top gun” days, complete with boorish behavior and copious quantities of alcohol, Nancy stayed in San Diego and stuck with her family and career.

Through the years, Nancy advanced in the Encinitas school district and was promoted to principal, first at Flora Vista Elementary School in 1989 and later at Paul Ecke Central/Pacific View Schools.

Nancy was named the school district’s 1998 principal of the year. She was promoted to director of administrative support services later that year and a state school administrators group recognized her as administrator of the year in 1999.

The Cunningham’s are now separated. She is fighting the federal government to retain her half of the proceeds from the sale of their Rancho Santa Fe home and other assets of the couple. The Rancho Santa Fe home was purchased and financed by bribes from Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade to Cunningham. Much of the homes elaborate furnishings were also given to Duke Cunningham for illegal services rendered.

The problem Nancy Cunningham faces is to convince federal prosecutors and the IRS that she was unaware of the sources of the couple’s vastly expanding wealth. Many of the largest bribes to Duke Cunningham were laundered through Cunningham’s Top Gun Enterprises, a company he started to exploit his fighter pilot reputation. Nancy Cunningham served as treasurer of Top Gun Enterprises while huge bribes were being passed through the company to Cunningham.

State corporate filings show that Nancy was the secretary/treasurer of Top Gun Enterprises Inc. until May, when she changed her title to secretary. The company’s Web site had listed Nancy’s father, Richard W. Jones, as operating the company.

Her attorneys, James Macy and Doug Brown, said: “For all practical purposes, Mr. Cunningham was handling all aspects of Top Gun.” The company’s Web site is no longer functioning.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes Duke collected were in the form of checks made out to Top Gun Enterprises, which sold his autobiography, Navy fighter pilot baseball caps and Buck knives emblazoned with congressional seals.

While money was flowing through Top Gun Enterprises, expensive furnishings were being delivered to the Cunningham’s newly acquired Rancho Santa Fe mansion that Nancy shared with Duke. While all this money and antiques were flowing by, Nancy Cunningham’s signature managed to end up on the couple’s tax returns.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is continuing its investigation, and Duke’s plea deal didn’t grant her immunity. Although it’s rare for spouses of elected officials to be prosecuted in bribery cases, it’s not as unusual for prosecutors to go after them for tax evasion.

Also, if she can’t negotiate a settlement about the money the couple made selling their Del Mar Heights home, she may have to testify in court. That would be a dicey step because it could further expose her to criminal prosecution.

Nancy Cunningham stuck with her husband during the early trials of their marriage. She helped him get elected to congress and created a career of her own. Now, thanks to Duke Cunningham’s greed, she faces potential prosecution, humiliation and financial uncertainty.

Do you think she ever looks at her husband – war hero, congressman, and once respected member of the community – and asks him why he destroyed everything of value in his life for a small pile of money and some antique furniture?

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Doolittle and Abramoff

Not long ago, Representative John Doolittle (CA-4) demanded that he be investigated for his connections to Jack Abramoff. Doolittle apparently wanted the Department of Justice to start to lock down the continually drip, drip, drip of media and blog aligations of links between Doolittle and, convicted felon, Abramoff.

I’m pretty certain that Doolittle’s name has come up in the federal investigatory plans regarding Abramoff’s cooperative testimony. And, Doolittle’s approach of demanding an investigation, when one was probably already in place is much like his refusal to return any Abramoff tainted campaign money. Doolittle has developed a strategy that allows him to be the victim of the “vast leftwing media conspiracy.”

Clearly, Doolittle can’t return Abramoff’s money as that would highlight all the work Doolittle did at Abramoff’s bidding. Clearly, Doolittle can’t attempt to refute all of his links to Abramoff in the “liberal press,” because doing so will highlight the fact the Doolittle’s wife worked for Abramoff. Talking about those links will highlight the fact that Doolittle’s former chief of staff, Kevin Ring, moved from Doolittle’s office to Abramoff’s.

Doolittle’s strategy is to keep his constituents in the dark as much as possible. Vilify the messengers and pretend to be the honest public servant under siege by the evil “left wing media.”

The problem with this strategy is that his constituents actually have access to the news media and the Internet. And, every day brings new evidence of the depths of the Doolittle-Abramoff connection.

In the last 48 hours two new links between Doolittle and Abramoff have been exposed.  Over at TPM, Doolittle’s constituents can read about a 1999 trip their congressman made to the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) on Jack Abramoff’s dime.

The former Marshall Islands government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told TPMmuckraker.com that after Abramoff was hired, he told RMI officials: “You need Congress to come out to the Marshall Islands. Let me see what I can do about that.”

And Abramoff delivered. At least three Members of Congress and three non-voting delegates accompanied Young on the February 1999 trip.

According to Congressional travel records filed by the House Committee on Resources, these included John Doolittle (R-CA) and Ken Calvert (R-CA), as well as Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa), Bob Underwood (D-Guam), and Donna Christenson (D-Virgin Islands). Eight congressional staffers came along too. (The records do not show the cost of the taxpayer-funded trip.) Though not mentioned in congressional travel records, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was also part of the delegation, according to the former RMI official. (Rohrabacher’s attendence was later confirmed by his spokesperson Rebecca Rudman.)

Yesterday also brought this revelation regarding a visit to Puerto Rico in 2001 by Doolittle’s chief of staff. This trip was paid for by Abramoff at the behest of another of his clients. The Sacramento Bee has the story.

Rep. John Doolittle’s former chief of staff took a trip to Puerto Rico paid for by the firm where disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked.


Members of Congress and aides aren’t allowed to accept gifts of travel from registered lobbyists, according to House gift and travel rules.


David Lopez reported that he took a “fact-finding” trip to Puerto Rico in July 2001 paid for by the firm Greenberg Traurig.


[…]

Lopez is no longer on Doolittle’s congressional staff, but he is still paid for fundraising consulting by the lawmaker’s campaign committee. In the last quarter of 2005, Lopez got payments of $9,711 on Oct. 17, $4,600 on Nov. 2, and $3,077 on Nov. 10, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The point here isn’t that a member of congress or his chief of staff went on a trip. That happens all the time. The point is that at every turn in the road, there are links between John Doolittle’s office and Jack Abramoff’s office. Where Jack Abramoff’s interests intersect with public policy, John Doolittle’s personal actions and the actions of his staff are directly linked to Abramoff’s interests. That is not coincidence.

Doolittle can play the role of besieged innocent, but it is just an act and even in the hinterlands of CA-4 his constituents are going to begin to see through the act and come to understand that John Doolittle was in Jack Abramoff’s pocket.

Side Note: Doolittle’s former chiefs of staff certainly do find ways to milk their association with Doolittle into a nice income stream. Former COS, Ring is now a registered lobbyist for two cities in Doolittle’s district to the tune of over $150K per year. If, Lopez’s 4th quarter 2005 results are indicative of his annual take from fundraising for Doolittle his has a nice five figure supplemental income.

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Abramoff Lite – Brent Wilkes

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(You smell that stench? it’s coming from Doolittle’s direction… – promoted by SFBrianCL)

San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes once boasted to a potential business partner that for a $1.5 million dollar investment in lobbying, he could achieve a nearly 1000% return in profits. Sunday’s San Diego Union Tribune continues its fine reporting on Brent Wilkes and the various members of the Republican Congress on his payroll.

From 1995 to 2005, as Wilkes got federal funding for his family of small defense companies, he steered more than $600,000 in contributions to lawmakers and their political action committees.

The biggest beneficiary was House Appropriations Committee member John Doolittle from the Sacramento suburb of Granite Bay, who received at least $82,000 from Wilkes, his close relatives, employees and business partners. Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis of Redlands received $60,000. Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, got $39,200.

See who’s next for Wilkes in the extended.

These are Wilkes’ “legal” political contributions. During the same time frame, Wilkes was paying former congressman, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, $630,000 in bribes.

Wilkes had a profound understanding of the procurement process and the roll that members of congress such as Doolittle, Lewis, Hunter and Cunningham could play in insuring that his ventures got public money without the distractions of competitive bidding or even without evidence of demand for their products from the Department of Defense.

The UT article chronicles the growth of Wilkes’s flagship company, ADCS, during the same period of time in which Wilkes and his associates were throwing money at the members of congress who could do the most to help insure that ADCS got millions in earmarked funds. It didn’t bother Wilkes or his allies in Congress that no one needed or wanted ADCS’s product.

The military never asked for the ADCS projects. In fact, in 2000 the Pentagon’s inspector general blasted the company’s biggest project, a $9.7 million contract to convert documents in Panama. The report said the program was created under pressure from two congressmen, whom Pentagon procurement officials have identified as Cunningham and Hunter.

After the report was released, federal funding for ADCS’s document conversion work dropped from more than $22.8 million in fiscal 2001 to $10.4 million in fiscal 2002.

With the Department of Defense resisting addition wasted tax dollars on ADCS, Wilkes looked for another means of prying some tax dollars loose. He continued to use his California connection of Doolittle, Lewis, Cunningham and Hunter, but he realized that for his next round of earmarks, a heavier hitter would be required.

As ADCS lost steam, Wilkes began looking for a new product to win federal contracts. What he found in early 2002 was a sound wave technology being developed by scientists associated with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla.

The technology, which was being prepared for commercial use, already had drawn the attention of Poway businessman Max Gelwix. At the time, Gelwix was president of Eco-Soil Systems, a company that developed soil treatments for farms and golf greens.

Gelwix had met with some of the scientists and thought their discovery could be used to weed out background noises from electronic communications on the battlefield, in tanks or on aircraft carriers.

Wilkes, who lived in the same Poway neighborhood as Gelwix, offered to use his contacts in Congress to help Gelwix get military contracts.

Wilkes soon introduced Gelwix to Tom DeLay.

On March 24, 2002, the two businessmen and several of their associates joined DeLay for a three-day golf tour that hopped from Torrey Pines to Bighorn Country Club in Palm Desert to the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.

Within two weeks, Wilkes and his wife, Regina, Wilkes’ lobbyist and nephew, Joel Combs, along with Gelwix and Eco-Soil Chairman William Bain Adams Jr. donated a total of $25,000 to DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee, or ARMPAC.”

[…]

On June 14, 2002, Gelwix founded PerfectWave to develop the sound wave technology. The joint venture gave Wilkes 51 percent of the company.

That same day, the DeLay campaign cashed a $1,000 check from lobbyist Combs. Less than a month later, Wilkes hired the Alexander Strategy Group – a lobbying firm with close ties to DeLay – to help win appropriations from defense and intelligence agencies. Between 2002 and 2005, Wilkes paid the firm $630,000.

The lobbyists assigned to Wilkes’ account included Ed Buckham, DeLay’s former chief of staff, who founded the firm; Tony Rudy, DeLay’s former deputy chief of staff; and Karl Gallant, the head of ARMPAC.”

[…]

On Oct. 10, 2002, the House passed a budget containing the first PerfectWave earmark, totaling $1 million. The funding was to go to Wilkes’ flagship company, ADCS, as the prime contractor, with PerfectWave as a subcontractor.

The next week, Wilkes and his associates gave $7,000 to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Fresno, on the Ways and Means Committee; $6,000 to House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the third-highest ranking member of Congress; $3,000 to Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Riverside, on the Appropriations Committee, and $2,000 to Doolittle, a key backer of the PerfectWave earmark.

The day after President Bush signed the budget, Wilkes gave $10,000 to one of Doolittle’s political action committees.

This is the Republican Party at work. Men like Doolittle, Lewis, Hunter, Cunningham and DeLay have no problems cutting programs for the poor, the elderly, veterans, etc.; but when a Republican rainmaker appears and offers them campaign contributions in exchange for slopping some taxpayers dollars his way, they fall all over themselves to make it happen.

Republican apologists will tell us that the campaign system is to blame, not the candidates. To get elected these men needed money and they had to work with men like Brent Wilkes to get it.

Guess what? That’s a load of crap. Doolittle, Lewis, Hunter, Cunningham and DeLay went out of their way to find men like Brent Wilkes. Republican businessmen, who are as ethically challenged as are they. Men who understood that a “quid pro quo” arrangement didn’t have to be formalized in a contract to take place.

Men who enjoyed the opportunities and life style that pay-to-play politics afforded them.

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Mud in the Water – CA-50

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Today’s North County Times takes a look at what might be the beginning of a nasty turn in the crowded race for Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s vacated seat in the CA-50.

For the last few months, Republican political consultants, campaign managers and others have been predicting the 50th Congressional District race to replace former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham would turn into a mudslinging free-for-all.

It appears the pundits may have been right. 

In recent days, two so-called hit pieces —- campaign fliers or e-mails that portray a candidate in the worst possible light and often contain half-truths —- have surfaced. One was an e-mail containing a memorandum that cast former Congressman and Republican candidate Brian Bilbray as a liberal with questionable ethics.

Another scathing piece attacked congressional candidate and state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, as an alleged supporter of embryonic stem cell research. Morrow vigorously denies that allegation. Many conservatives strongly oppose the scientific research, saying it supports abortion. Defenders say it holds the promise of an eventual cure to many diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

See extended for more mud.

It’s hard to keep track of all the Republican candidates in the CA-50 race. Last week, there were 11, 12 if you count, Chris Young, who claims to be a Democrat, but who has the same political platform as her neighbor, Bill Morrow.

Are any of the Republican candidates behind these hit pieces? Assuming that no candidate receives a simple majority (50% +1) in the April primary, then only one Republican will go forward to run against Democrat Francine Busby in the June run-off elections. So, it would seem that the critical thing that members of the crowded Republican field can do to get to a potential run-off would be to knock down the front-runners in their own party first. Certainly, one of the Republican front-runners, Brian Bilbray thinks that he is taking fire from his own side.

“This is a calculated dirty-tricks campaign against me,” Bilbray said last week.

Bilbray, who served in Congress from 1996 to 2000, said he believes the anonymous e-mail was sent to the newspaper by a Republican, not a Democrat.

“The one way to attack without being blamed for it is to do it anonymously through the Internet. I am used to the Democratic machine doing so, but it’s sad to see Republicans doing the same stuff,” he said.

Bilbray and Morrow are the Republican front runners. They are being attacked for not being conservative enough. Most of the other Republicans in the race are moderates. What do they gain by portraying the front runners as being more like them? The only Republican candidates who stand to gain by painting Bilbray and Morrow as liberals are those less know individuals to the right of Bilbray and Morrow. Actually the number on the far right of Morrow and Bilbray is just one, Howard Kaloogian.

Hard to imagine that the guy behind Move American Forward, an astroturf organization that is out to get the UN out of the US and which routinely attacks free speech as treason, would use his right wing connections to go after his main rivals.

In fairness to little Howard, it could also be Bilbray and Morrow supporters beating up on each other.  For Kaloogian, the result is the same.  His wingnut credentials are unassailable. 

More on the CA-50 at Words Have Power.