On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:33:15 -0600, Denys Beauchemin 
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Randy Cunningham was a Navy pilot who shot down 5 enemy aircraft in combat,
>3 of them in one day.  He received the Navy Cross for that feat.  The Navy
>Cross is the second highest award in the US, IIRC, second only to the Medal
>of Honor.  He was the first US fighter ace of the Vietnam war.
>
>It is sad to find out about his corruption in later years, I hope they 
throw
>the book at him.
>
>I also remember the Keating five (the savings and loans scandal,) where 
five
>Democratic senators: Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, John Glenn, John
>McCain and Don Riegle were heavily involved in corruption.  Later, John
>Glenn was bought off by Bill Clinton in return for a ride in the Space
>Shuttle.
>
>Corruption and bribery have been happening in government for a long time; 
we
>seem to have forgotten about it because there has been so little of it in
>the last several years.  I remember the 1990s with the house banking
>scandal, the numerous Clinton administration scandals and convictions (Ron
>Brown, Henri Cisneros, Bruce Babbit, Mike Espy and other too numerous to
>list here,) Travelgate, Whitewater, Dan Rostenkowsky, Teamstergate, and
>let's not forget Robert Torriceli and James Traficant.
>
>Before that Abscam, Lancegate, Koreagate and on and on.
>
>But all this is nothing compared to the UN or Canada.
>
>Denys

Denys,

lets not forget Tom Delay and his friend Abramoff as well as this.
Seems the members of Congres are very cheap and easy to buy.

Contractor spends big on key lawmakers 
By Matt Kelley and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY Wed Nov 30, 7:03 AM ET

A San Diego businessman under investigation in the bribery case of former 
congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham is a well-known GOP fundraiser whose 
generosity to key members of Congress came at the same time his company saw 
large increases in its government contracts, public records show.

Brent Wilkes, the founder of defense contractor ADCS Inc., gave more than 
$840,000 in contributions to 32 House members or candidates, campaign-
finance records show. He flew Republican lawmakers on his private jet and 
hired lobbyists with close ties to those lawmakers.

Wilkes' charitable foundation, which aids sick children and military 
families, honored congressmen at black-tie banquets and donated to their 
favorite causes. Wilkes was also a "Pioneer" for 
President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, meaning he raised at least 
$100,000.

With help from two committee chairmen, ADCS got more than $90 million in 
government contracts since its founding in 1995, helping propel Wilkes from 
an obscure businessman to a millionaire prominent in Republican circles.

Neither Wilkes nor any other congressmen have been charged with crimes, and 
the donations and contributions are legal so long as they weren't intended 
to influence official actions. The links illustrate the connections between 
lawmakers who oversee defense spending and a contractor seeking some of 
that money.

Cunningham resigned Monday after pleading guilty to tax evasion and 
conspiracy to accept bribes. He admitted accepting $2.4 million in bribes 
from two defense contractors and two other businessmen in exchange for 
helping those companies get contracts.

Wilkes, whose home and company headquarters were searched by federal agents 
this year during the Cunningham investigation, wasn't named in the plea 
documents. The documents say "co-conspirator No. 1" spent more than 
$636,000 on Cunningham. Wilkes' attorney, Michael Lipman, acknowledged that 
his client is "co-conspirator No. 1." He declined to comment further about 
the case.

Since 1994, Wilkes and ADCS gave $40,700 in campaign contributions to Rep. 
Duncan Hunter, a San Diego Republican who now chairs the House Armed 
Services Committee. Hunter has acknowledged that he joined with Cunningham 
in 1999 to contact 
    
Pentagon officials who reversed a decision and gave ADCS one of its first 
big contracts, for nearly $10 million. Hunter's spokesman, Joe Kasper, said 
the congressman was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Another California Republican, Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry 
Lewis, led panels that ordered the Pentagon to continue programs that aided 
ADCS when Pentagon officials wanted to cut them. Lewis got $71,253 from 
Wilkes and his employees in donations since 1993. Wilkes gave Lewis 
donations and met him at various events, Lewis spokesman Jim Specht said, 
but "he never talked with him about a defense project."

Before becoming the Appropriations chairman this year, Lewis led the 
subcommittee that oversees defense spending. In the late 1990s, that panel 
directed the Pentagon to continue converting paper documents to computer 
records, the work that ADCS does. Pentagon officials had tried to end the 
program's funding.

The 1999 defense budget, for example, directed $45 million be spent on 
document conversion. Wilkes and his employees gave Lewis $7,000 in campaign 
contributions the day after his subcommittee's first hearing on the bill.

After the Pentagon declined to give ADCS a contract, it awarded the company 
a $9.8 million deal in mid-1999 after "inquiries from two members of 
Congress," a Defense investigation found. Hunter and Cunningham have said 
they asked Pentagon officials about the program.

The money went to ADCS instead of projects for the Army's UH-60 Black Hawk 
helicopter, Air Force bases, and a parts center in Oklahoma, according to 
the report by the Pentagon inspector general, prompted by a request from a 
Defense official.

Wilkes' ties to Hunter and Cunningham go beyond campaign contributions. In 
2003, the businessman's foundation hosted a "Salute to Heroes" gala to give 
Hunter an award, just as it did for Cunningham a year earlier. The Wilkes 
Foundation gave $1,000 in 2003 to a charity run by two of Hunter's 
staffers, records show. 

Wilkes also provided a jet that Cunningham and other Republicans used for 
more than a dozen flights to campaign fundraising events since 2001, 
records show. 

Providing flights gives donors a chance for hours of one-on-one contact 
with the lawmaker they want to influence, said Keith Ashdown of the 
watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

"Most other lobbyists would give up their second lung to get that kind of 
access," Ashdown said. "It's not always illegal, but it's definitely a 
strategy of influence that's unparalleled."

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