Business as Usual

 

Pogoblog posted a quick piece today on the Brent Wilkes and Cunningham scandal.  Just another string along the corruption link, only this one doesn’t just include greasing palms, it apparently includes women-for-hire.  And this story seems to not be of interest to many media outlets, but I am outraged by it. Here’s what Pogo had to say:

"Here are a few more details related to Shirlington Limo and Transportation Services–Brent Wilkes' alleged carrier of choice for hookers and congressmen to his hospitality suites at the Watergate and other fine DC hotels–we think should be brought to your attention.        

In a late update to an earlier post that we had missed until now, Laura Rozen has an anonymous source that tells her that "Chris Baker of Shirlington Limo was Wilkes' driver from way back when…. he would pick up documents and stuff around town for Wilkes." (ellipses in the original)  This answers one question we had: How did Wilkes come to pick Shirlington as his limo service?  However, we still wonder how the two originally met "way back when."

Secondly, and bear with us for a moment, Jerome Foster, a former Shirlington director, is a San Diego-area contractor whose Pentech Energy Services employed the services of former Congressman-turned lobbyist Bill Lowery's lobby shop (hat tip: Josh Marshall).  Lowery has also lobbied extensively for Wilkes' company ADCS, Inc.  And Lowery is joined to the hip with Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), who chaired until last year the same House defense appropriations committee that the disgraced Rep. "Duke" Cunningham sat on and from which he directed his earmarks.  Now Lewis chairs the full appropriations committee.  Lewis and Lowery have turned the defense appropriations subcommittee into an earmarking machine for Lowery's clients who have benefitted from their close relationship.  Uncovered in a seminal San Diego Union Tribune piece on L'Affaire Cunningham, back in the 80's, Lowery and Wilkes went on trips to Central America to visit the likes of the Contras and CIA officer and Wilkes' childhood friend K. Dusty Foggo.  Wilkes has also contributed heavily to Lewis.

Small world ain't it.

It seems that the corruption scandals in DC continue to get more complicated and more repulsive.  The San Diego Union Tribune article mentioned above uncovered millions of dollars wasted on useless Defense contracts.  And who really suffered from the waste?  Our soldiers because funding for healthcare, training exercises, and machinery maintenance were cut so that the contracts could be given.  What were the contracts used for?  $20 million for a “document conversion system.”  Reportedly, we have service men and women living on foodstamps, but some of our elected politician are having their yachts paid for.  If only Bartlet and Vinick were real.