Tag Archives: Cunningham

California, San Diego

Wilkes, Foggo Plead Not Guilty

Answering charges of conspiracy, money laundering, defrauding the public of the honest services of a public official, and in Wilkes’ case, bribing a public official, both Brent Wilkes and Kyle “Dusty” Foggo entered pleas of not guilty today.

Both men were free on bond ($2 million for Wilkes, $200,000 for Foggo), and Wilkes’ attorney said

that after 18 months of an “unrelenting campaign of leaks,” that he and his client were looking forward to answering formal charges.

“We do welcome the opportunity now to be in the courtroom,” he said.

Wilkes is up against gifts to Duke Cunningham as well as Foggo and, one would assume, more folks as time goes on.  “The gifts included cash, vacations, computers, meals, tickets to a Super Bowl game and prostitutes” to Cunningham and “gifts, expensive dinners and trips” and the promise of a job to Foggo.

Both men face up to 20 years in prison.  The government is looking for more than $12 million in restitution.

With US Attorney Carol Lam leaving her post tomorrow, still more great news from an unfortunately short term rooting out white collar crime and political corruption.  Here’s hoping her legacy at the US Attorney’s office will carry on after her departure.

Update: Or at least more information.  From a complimentary article today:

Cunningham admitted accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors Brent Wilkes, the Poway businessman indicted yesterday, and Mitchell Wade.

When he pleaded guilty Nov. 28, 2005, Cunningham pledged to work with investigators looking into other aspects of the case, an investigation that led to this week’s court action.

Diaries & Misc.

More Republican chicanery

One thing that we did really well with the anti-Pombo campaign was to coordinate between bloggers, share information and also feed a few selected members of main stream media.

I think that it is time to continue this mode of operation with particular emphasis on Duncan Hunter, Jerry Lewis & John Doolittle.  In particular, there is an obvious connection between the investigations into their actions and the forced resignation of Carol Lam, the US Attorney who prosecuted Duke Cunningham.

downwithtyranny has posted on this recently, as have I at California Greening.

In particular, we should pay attention to the news of progress in this case, as Lam has only until February 15 to finish what she started.

 

Uncategorized

CA-50 Turnout Is Key For Busby

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(Bumped for visibility – promoted by SFBrianCL)

The most recent SurveyUSA poll in the 50th CD race isn’t good news for the Busby campaign. In a poll of 448 “likely voters,” 47% indicated that they would prefer Republican lobbyist Brian Bilbray, while 45% indicated a preference for Democrat Francine Busby. Here is the SurveyUSA summary:

In a special election in California‘s 50th Congressional District today, 6/2/06, 96 hours till polls open, Republican Brian Bilbray and Democrat Francine Busby are locked in a fierce firefight that could go either way, according to a SurveyUSA poll of 448 Likely Voters, conducted exclusively for KGTV-TV San Diego. 4 days until the 6/6/06 Special Election, Republican Bilbray gets 47%, Democrat Busby gets 45%. Bilbray’s 2-point advantage is within the poll’s margin of sampling error. Voter turnout will decide whether this critical House seat remains in Republican hands, or becomes a Democrat pick-up. Since an identical SurveyUSA KGTV-TV poll released 5/10/06, Bilbray is up 2 points, from 45% to 47%; Busby is unchanged. Bilbray wins 6:1 among Republicans. Busby wins 9:1 among Democrats. Among Independents, Busby had led by 35 points, now leads by 25 points. Bilbray’s support among Independents is up from 19% to 31% in past 3 weeks. SurveyUSA’s turnout model assumes 49% of Likely Voters are Republican, 34% of likely voters are Democrat, and 17% are Independent.

Can Busby Win?  Check the rest.

Bilbray’s 2% advantage is not statistically significant, but what is significant is the fact that Busby’s numbers remain the same in poll after poll. And, the poll numbers are consistent with her 44% actual vote count in the April special election. Busby’s performance in this heavily Republican district is nothing short of phenomenal, but as polling and voting seem to indicate, somewhere around 45% is the peak level of voter support she can enjoy.


For Busby to win on Tuesday, she needs a real reversal in turnout numbers from the traditional voting pattern. According to SurveyUSA, Busby’s chances depend upon getting the under 35 demographic out, while Bilbray needs to get the over 65 crowd to cast their ballots. Busby’s success depends on a consistently underperforming group of voters, while Bilbray’s depends on getting the most reliable group of voters to do their jobs. That does not bode well for Busby.

Bilbray leads by 14 points among voters age 65 plus; Busby leads by 20 points among voters younger than 35. The two candidates are effectively tied among voters 35 to 64. Should younger voters, historically unreliable, vote in unexpectedly large numbers: advantage Busby. Should older voters vote in disproportionately large numbers: advantage Bilbray.


There is one final notation in this equation. Busby’s support has been very consistent from the special election through every poll and survey. Busby’s supporters voted in the special election and will, most likely vote on Tuesday, if they haven’t already sent in an absentee ballot. Bilbray on the other hand has to depend on a turnout of voters, who despite the contentious nature of the April special election, were too busy to cast a ballot then.

By SurveyUSA’s calculation, 20% of “today’s” Likely Voters did not vote in the 4/11/06 Primary. Among these “new” voters, Bilbray leads by 11 points, 49% to 38%.


It comes down to this for Busby, she needs a big turnout of younger voters, while seniors stay home. She needs the potential voters who sat out the special election to stay on the sidelines.

Ultimately, she needs every registered Republican and independent voter to pause before casting their vote and reflect upon the message that they will send to the nation if they ultimately choose Brian Bilbray, a career political hack turned lobbyist, who has never lived in the 50th CD and whose permanent residence is in the state of Virginia, to replace convicted Republican felon Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

California

“Republicans are running scared”

Check out this editorial from the North County Times about Dick Cheney’s visit to California 50 District the upcoming June 6th special election. Visit www.californiawomenvote.org and www.myspace.com/cawomenvote for more information.

When Dick Cheney came to town

By: JOHN VAN DOORN – Staff Writer

Imagine that: Vice President Dick Cheney came to town to (1) endorse Brian Bilbray, and (2) to say that the eyes of the nation were on the 50th Congressional District, which is where Bilbray is running.

This was news. Voters in the 50th, much of which lies in North County, cannot be expected to check the eyes of the nation, not without years of ophthalmological instruction. If the vice president can, and did, more power to him. All those eyes. We’d best stand up straight and try not to stammer.
Cheney was an especially big gun to visit San Diego for the purpose of endorsement, even if the significance of the race in the national scheme of things had been obvious for months. Cheney’s timeline was a trifle askew: More eyes of the nation will be focused on the 50th during and after a vice president’s visit than before.

More to the point: Republicans are running scared, even if very few will say it out loud. So Cheney’s visit was no surprise.

The fall of the house of Cunningham is a very serious part of the fear. While in Congress as the representative for the 50th district, Randy Cunningham took bribes in cash, cars, houses, yachts and antiques to do what he could for defense contractors.

And went to jail, said to be the worst offender in the history of Congress, noted for offenders of every stripe.

There is fear elsewhere among Republicans because corruption on their side of the aisle in Washington has tainted others and engulfed a few, such as Tom DeLay. Almost certainly there are more storms to come —- all sides agree on that, the Democrats gleefully —- and this creates a certain edginess among politicians and their handlers.

(To be fair, or at least balanced, the Democrats have a few bad apples, too, but the scale seems less imposing. The Republicans for the moment have the market cornered.)

You throw in a deceitful war, the bumbles of Katrina, the grotesqueries of immigration policy, and the fatness of Fat Oil and you’d run scared, too.

Mind you, Bilbray is no prize. As a congressman once before, and as a lobbyist after that, he had certain connections in Washington and involvements with oil companies that appear, at least to his critics, unsavory.

Thus, Cheney came to town. Once an oil man himself, he spoke to the faithful about the campaign in the 50th District, and said the nation needs Brian Bilbray. Cheney also spoke to military groups and raced about the region doing what he could for George and country.

The 50th race has been ugly, at least in terms of television advertising. The assaults by the Republican machine in Washington on the Democratic aspirant, Francine Busby, have ranged in tone from vicious to scurrilous, with several stops in between.

Busby’s people have gone negative, as well, but they say they’re only defending their candidate.