One day after an official swore under oath that the Department of Homeland Security had no record of a letter from Randy “Duke” Cunningham pushing her agency to do business with the scandal-linked Shirlington Limo company, the department reversed course and released the letter.
(Click here for full size image of the letter.)
Republicans on the House Homeland Security committee went ballistic. “The Department of Homeland Security has a lot to explain,” a press release quoted chairman Peter King (R-NY) as saying. “Despite repeated assurances to the contrary, it now turns out that the Department had the Cunningham letter all along. This is yet another example of DHS incompetence-and I think it may have been more than just bad record-keeping.”
“This letter certainly puts the Department’s credibility on the line, and raises further questions about political manipulation in the contracting process,” the release quotes Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) as saying.
Duke Cunningham, of course, is serving out an eight year-plus prison sentence for taking bribes. Federal investigators have been told that Shirlington ferried Duke around town, as well as prostitutes which serviced him.
“[Shirlington owner Christopher Baker] has been of service to me and other Members of Congress over the years,” Cunningham wrote in the letter, dated January 16, 2004. “Please be advised of my full support of his wish to provide transportation services for the Department of Homeland Security.”
