Behind the Cunningham Scandal

The San Diego Union-Tribune ran an excellent profile Sunday on military contractor Brent Wilkes, identified as "Co-conspirator No. 1" in the indictment against former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham (63, CA-R, 50th district). Three others have been identified as co-conspirators -- defense contractor Mitchell Wade, businessman Thomas Kontogiannis and financier John T. Michael -- but only Cunningham has been charged to date. According to the Union-Tribune, Wilkes, a suburban San Diego businessman, and associates have spent

... at least $600,000 on political contributions and $1.1 million on lobbying beyond the gifts mentioned in the Cunningham plea agreement, as they cultivated such politicians as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis. And since 1996, he has received at least $95 million in government contracts for the small family of firms based in his $11 million headquarters in Poway (map), including ADCS Inc. and Group W.

But what did Wilkes and his firms do with that $95 million? Reports sugggest that could be the $64,000 question.

The short answer is this: in part, provide controversial electronic document conversion services/software that the Pentagon never requested. Who knew that Congressional earmarks were the behind-the-scenes reward of choice for projects other than transportation?

Earmarks come from connections, and Wilkes is clearly connected. This, from the Union-Tribune:

[H]is "best friend [is] Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo, currently third-in-command at the Central Intelligence Agency...Wilkes' career in political relations dates to the early 1980s, shortly after Foggo joined the CIA. Foggo was sent to Honduras to work with the Contra rebels who were trying to topple the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, according to sources within the CIA.

The Union-Tribune also reports that in the '80s, one of his jobs was "to accompany congressmen ... to Central America to meet with Foggo and Contra leaders." Based on that connection, there is speculation about a possible connection with the Iran-Contra scandal.

The more curious part is this. On Tuesday, The Hill reported that:

Group W Advisors stands out because it does not exist in the virtual universe. Attempts to load the lobbying group’s website result in a message: “This virtual directory does not allow contents to be listed.”

But that message was not always there. Just weeks ago, the website was up and running, boasting that the company has been instrumental in introducing digital-document technology to the Department of Defense. The website also said Congress doled out $500 million for a congressionally generated pilot program for document automation, according to an article published by the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this year.

However, it's not just Group W that is trying on the cloak of invisibility. According to Joseph Cannon at CannonFire, all of the Wilkes enterprises (and there are more than a handful) are invisible. And, at least one defense contract address

Not content to schmooze inside the Beltway, Wilkes has been active in California politics as well. He and his wife donated $42,400 to Gov. Schwarzenegger (the maximum allowed) during the 2003 recall campaign and also coordinated San Diego County campaign finance activities. He donated office space for the Governor's 2004 workers' compensation initiative campaign. In 2004, Schwarzenegger appointed Wilkes to the Del Mar Race Track Board; in 2005, to the State Race Track Leasing Commission. Quid pro quo is a lovely thing.

Other blogs covering this story: Project on Government Oversight

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