Posted on 10/17/2006 9:48:08 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham parlayed his seat on the Intelligence Committee into winning at least $70 million in authorizations that benefited two contractors who — in turn — paid him millions in bribes.
That was a key finding, released Tuesday, in a declassified summary of a report by the panel's independent investigator. It confirms what has long been suspected: The intelligence committee was one more venue that the California Republican exploited to help his associates.
The report finds that Cunningham secured the cooperation — or at least the noninterference — of many people. That included Congress members who handled bills that govern the spending of contracts, Pentagon officials who awarded the contracts and officials at agencies where the contracting work was actually done.
"This was a lot of people to persuade, cajole, deceive, pressure, intimidate, bribe or otherwise influence to do what they wanted," the executive summary says.
California Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record), the committee's top Democrat, released the five-page document after months of disagreement with the committee's chairman, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (news, bio, voting record), R-Mich.
"In light of this report, our committee must examine why 'red flags' did not trigger greater scrutiny of Cunningham's activities, and what can be done to prevent this type of abuse in the future," Harman said in a statement.
Cunningham, now in jail, pleaded guilty in November to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes from his coconspirators — government contractors Mitch Wade and Brent Wilkes.
"This was a lot of people to persuade, cajole, deceive, pressure, intimidate, bribe or otherwise influence to do what they wanted," the executive summary says.
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Page-ing Harry Reid, Page-ing Harry Reid.. White courtesy phone. There is likely even more corruption in Washington waiting to be unearthed and mined, Senator. Got shovel? Oh, sorry , That's right, You were busy,, re-filing forms and such..
The media isn't even a "government watchdog" anymore, they're more into "Republican witch hunts".
Lets throw in a page for Jack Murtha also, I can't help but believe he was part of that good ole boy network in the House.
Yup. It sure is strange how so many dems get a pass these days... and so many Republicans fall on the sword and move on rather than hang on as a disgraced puppy.
The DOJ folks must be working overtime with all the cases pending, including and involving many dems , btw. ;-)
More than passing strange. While Duke Cunningham has long since resigned his seat and faced consequences in a court of law, Dingy Harry still keeps on steaming along, with a LOT more existing and potential "conflict of interest" and "personal gain" issues than Cunningham EVER had.
And yet, and yet.
Being a Democrat means never having to say you're sorry.
Here is the Harman/Hoekstra report. Sounds like they still have lose ends to clean up on this one.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/images/061017commiteereport.pdf
All the thieves need to be ousted from D.C. (Harry Reid's time is past due!)
--Cunningham is bad but there are lots of Demagogues who are also bad..... let's start with Harry Reid and John al-Murtha.--
It's almost impossible to comprehend what happened to Randy "Duke" Cunningham. The man was a fighter ace. A fighter ace is the very epitome of honor and integrity, as important to him as air and water. The fact that a man like Cunningham was corrupted by his time in DC shows that there is something pernicious, if not downright poisonous about the environment in DC if someone as noble as Cunningham can be turned into a crook. Maybe the lesson of this sad saga is "Mama, don't let your kids grow up to be congresscritters."
"John al-Murtha"
Sticking the "al" in there is just silly.
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