Posted on 06/12/2005 12:14:04 PM PDT by nj26
A defense contractor with ties to Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of the congressman's Del Mar house while the congressman, a member of the influential defense appropriations subcommittee, was supporting the contractor's efforts to get tens of millions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon.
Mitchell Wade bought the San Diego Republican's house for $1,675,000 in November 2003 and put it back on the market almost immediately for roughly the same price. But the Del Mar house languished unsold and vacant for 261 days before selling for $975,000.
Meanwhile, Cunningham used the proceeds of the $1,675,000 sale to buy a $2.55 million house in Rancho Santa Fe. And Wade, who had been suffering through a flat period in winning Pentagon contracts, was on a tear – reeling in tens of millions of dollars in defense and intelligence-related contracts.
In an interview Wednesday, Cunningham conceded that the circumstances surrounding the transaction could raise "fair" questions, but he insisted that the real estate deal was legitimate and independent of his efforts to help Wade win contracts.
"My whole life I've lived aboveboard," Cunningham said. "I've never even smoked a marijuana cigarette. I don't cheat. If a contractor buys me lunch and we meet a second time, I buy the lunch. My whole life has been aboveboard and so this doesn't worry me."
Later, he added, "The last thing I would do is get involved in something that, you know, is wrong. And I feel very confident that I haven't done anything wrong."
Wade was traveling without access to a telephone last week, according to Scotty Brumett, an official of Wade's company, MZM Inc. Brumett said Wade purchased the two-story, four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath residence to raise MZM's corporate profile in San Diego.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
If anybody wants to prove me wrong, I welcome it.
I'm afraid this looks an awful lot like a duck and it's quacking too. I'm surprised the paper didn't lead with "REPUBLICAN".
At any rate, if it was above board, then it should be a simple matter to prove that it wasn't sold above apraised value at the time. Also, why did the contractor turn around and put it on the market so quickly?
I can tell you if a government contracting officer did the same thing, someone would be reading him his rights about now.
"I'm surprised the paper didn't lead with "REPUBLICAN"."
The San Diego Union Tribune is a family-owned paper, and among the more conservative papers in California.
Nothing of the sort. The guy bought some real estate on speculation and took a loss on it. Happens all the time. As for his companyy getting defense contracts, we're in a war. Defense spending goes up in a war.
The MSM focuses on minor stuff like this while turning a blind eye to what the Demorats do, which is 100 times worse. Remember Whitewater? Whatever happened about that? When they start investiagating the Rats, then maybe I'll worry about the minor things Republicans do. Until then, I don't care.
Let's see if this story has 'legs'. I suspect if Bill & Hill did this we'd see an initial report, and then the story would die -- nobody would 'pick it up'. Of course, Cunningham is a conservative & a republican, so the rules are different.
BTW, a 700,000 loss on a home in this area might not be unusual. That is a crazy market.
I think it would be cleared up in a second, whenever the price of the house is compared with the "worth" of the house...
What is strange to me is why is a corporation buying a single family house in Del Mar? And, if you read the entire article, it also seems as if the transaction was structured to reduce transparency (by using dummy corporation names.)
This is a Republican district, but it's not fail-safe. Cunningham got 58% of the vote in 2004. If there is wrongdoing here, we should get another conservative on the ballot so we don't lose the seat to the Democrats.
The comps will help tell the story. If somebody can come up with a zip code then we can check. The value of that house is probably pretty well established.
This sounds like a "cattle gate" type of deal.
Duke went to the Delmar track..and somehow bought only winning tickets..
"Duke went to the Delmar track..and somehow bought only winning tickets.."
I cannot wait until Hillary's first presidential debate in 2008. I'm dying to hear her explanation of her commodities-trading expertise. I just hope we nominate a candidate with the guts to put her on the spot about it.
Wasn't Cunningham making noises about retirement during the last election cycle? This could be a case of 'getting paid for services rendered' just prior to retirement.
LOL! Which isn't saying much!
Don't do the RATS work for them. If FReepers want to focus on scandals, the bad guys have plenty for us to look at.
What did Randy do for them?
Poor choice of words considering his son's a convicted pot smuggler.
Duke is done. He should resign now.
You have got to be kidding me. This wasn't speculation, this was buying a house for $700,000 above its value, then trying to unload it a month later. This was a defense contractor bribing an influential member of the Appropriations Committee and suddenly finding himself getting as many defense contracts as he can handle.
This is a Congressman selling his office to line his own pockets. I don't know what's sadder - when one of our own goes bad or the number of "conservatives" who are willing to overlook such corruption because the crook has an (R) after his name.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.