I guess the feds think they’ve got a pretty good case against our man Duke Cunningham. The San Diego Union-Tribune has just reported this morning that they’ve filed a suit to force Duke to hand over the mansion in Rancho Santa Fe because it was bought with illegally obtained money.
The Post, meanwhile, has some more detail on what we suspected about the relationship between Duke, Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade. Says the Post: “Wade is a former consultant to ADCS who met Cunningham through his work for the San Diego company…”
And there was an earlier IG investigation into Wilkes, a Bush Pioneer, and Duke, reports the Post …
The Pentagon’s inspector general previously investigated several ADCS contracts because of complaints “alleging favoritism and inappropriate actions,” and he concluded in 1999 that they were awarded as the result of irregular procedures. Louis A. Kratz, an assistant deputy undersecretary of defense, said in a recent interview that he had requested the IG probe. Both Cunningham and Wilkes had called him seeking the release of funds for ADCS, he said.
Kratz said he had never before experienced anything close to their “meddling” and “arrogance.” Wilkes “implied that it was his money,” Kratz said, though the funding was earmarked for a program, not a company. The document conversion program was later killed, Kratz said.
“I can’t address the specifics of this report,” said K. Lee Blalack II, Cunningham’s attorney, “but there is nothing inappropriate nor unusual about a member of Congress calling the Pentagon on behalf of a constituent regarding the use of appropriated funds.”
And a note for anyone covering this story. Chalmers Johnson has been hip to Duke’s games for years, though I doubt he knew the sheer audaciousness and criminality of the man’s corruption. Look up Duke’s name in Sorrows of Empire or get in touch with Johnson for more of the big picture.
(ed.note: I haven’t been in touch with Johnson since the Duke story broke, though I’ve interviewed him once or twice for different stories in the past. My recollection is from the above-noted book or perhaps from his earlier book, Blowback.)
