TPM: "Big Shoe Drops; Wilkes Decides to Bring the Big Gang Down

[chill_wind]

with him."

"NYT: WILKES SPEAKS -- Earmarks System "Little More Than a Shakedown"
By Justin Rood - August 5, 2006, 1:07 PM

Brent Wilkes, a.k.a. "Co-conspirator #1" -- who allegedly bribed Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham -- has been silent since the Cunningham scandal broke. Now, he has given his first on-the-record interview to the New York Times:

see http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001278.php

Deal Maker Details the Art of Greasing the Palm
By DAVID JOHNSTON and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: August 6, 2006
(...)
Last November, Mr. Wilkes was described as “co-conspirator No. 1” in a plea agreement signed by Representative Randy Cunningham, a California Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. In the plea deal, Mr. Cunningham admitted accepting more than $2.4 million in cash and gifts from Mr. Wilkes and other contractors. Another defense contractor, Mitchell J. Wade, pleaded guilty to paying some of the bribes.

Mr. Wilkes could also figure in a related federal investigation into the House Appropriations Committee. The inquiry has focused on ties between Mr. Lowery, who left Congress and became a lobbyist, and Representative Jerry Lewis, a California Republican who is the chairman of the committee and the former chairman of its Defense Subcommittee.


(see NYT article- 4 pages)

Sitting in his office recently, the shelves lined with photographs of himself with President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the presidential adviser Karl Rove, Mr. Wilkes reflected on his plight.

“I’m a dead man. I wouldn’t be able to get a meeting. I wouldn’t be able to get a phone call returned,” he said. “There’s no way I could get a deal.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/washington/06wilkes.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=b811f7519279d9b2&hp&ex=1154836800&partner=homepage

[chill_wind]

1. Is John Murtha going to be caught up in this also?

"Mr. Wilkes said Mr. Lowery set up meetings for him with a handful of House Defense Subcommittee members, including Representative John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who was the chairman at the time, and Mr. Lewis. Mr. Lowery instructed Mr. Wilkes to go to the sessions prepared."

I hope not.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Will hold off on celebrating big shoe droping

we have had way too many other shoes drop that quite never make it to the ground