House of Ethics

House of Ethics

March 6, 2006

On Friday, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham was sentenced to 8 years, 4 months in federal prison for, among other crimes, taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for lucrative defense contracts. While we won’t hear from Cunningham for a while, the larger details of the scandal are beginning to unfold. From fellow Congressmen to the CIA, the Cunningham scandal is shaping up to possibly be a bigger scandal than the Abramoff scandal.

• The CIA is investigating a connection between one of their top officials and Cunningham. The CIA is looking into "the connection between the agency's No. 3 official and a co-conspirator in the bribery case of Cunningham. CIA's #3 official, executive director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, "is a lifelong friend of Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes," the federal contractor who, according to court documents, "gave Cunningham $630,000 in bribes in exchange for federal contracts." Wilkes and Foggo were so close that Wilkes had "set aside an office next to his executive suite where Foggo could work when he leaves the CIA."
  
  
• Cunningham’s cohorts are tied to Katherine Harris and Duncan Hunter. Defense contractor Mitchell Wade has admitted "to lavishing more than $1 million in cash, cars, a boat, antiques and other bribes on convicted Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham." He also funneled $32,000 in illegal donations to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL). House Armed Service Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) – "perhaps Cunningham's closest friend in Congress" – is also tied to the scandal. He helped two companies, ADCS Inc.and Audre Inc., secure over $190 million for a system to "convert printed documents to computer files" that the Department of Defense said they didn't need. ADCS executive Brent Wilkes allegedly was bribing Cunningham."
  
  
• Cunningham’s sentencing and web of corruption underscores the need for real ethics reform in congress. Congress has an opportunity to pass real ethics reform – reform that would help restore the faith of the American people in their government. Congressmen David Obey (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA), David Price (D-NC) and Tom Allen (D-ME) put forth a comprehensive reform plan (PDF) that would end many of the ethics violations that have been plaguing congress.