From the front page of the San Diego local fishwrap this morning -- a few columns about how Brent Wilkes operated. Cuban cigars for the poker players!
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Swirling with liquor, cigar smoke, bawdy jokes and spirited hands of poker, the gatherings were like an all-American night out with the boys.
But the parties – held for more than a decade in posh suites at the luxurious Watergate and Grand Westin hotels in Washington, D.C. – were anything but small-town Americana.
Participants included CIA agents, lobbyists, defense contractors and, occasionally, staffers and members of Congress. The cigars included the best that could be bought from Fidel Castro's Cuba. Some of the players arrived in Mercedes-Benz limousines hired by the host, Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes.
The poker games provide a window into the way Wilkes befriended powerful people, including former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who could help him get millions of dollars in federal contracts. Because of published reports that the hotel suites were sometimes visited by prostitutes – which Wilkes heatedly denies – the bribery scandal is now known in some circles as “Hookergate.”
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More at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20060528-9999-1n28poker.htmlI hope Duncan Hunter is in the investigator's gunsights now.