Thursday, April 27, 2006

Goss The John?

Harper's Magazine's blog is reporting some very interesting things about the ongoing revelations of the Cunningham network of corruption.

The Wall Street Journal today revealed that former Republican congressman Randall "Duke" Cunningham was provided with "free limousine service, free stays at hotel suites at the Watergate and the Westin Grand, and free prostitutes". Two of the defense contractors footing the bill were "Brent Wilkes, the founder of ADCS Inc., and Mitchell Wade, the founder of MZM Inc.; both firms profited greatly from their connections with Cunningham". Now Harper's has the name of the limo company - Shirlington Limousine and Transportation of Arlington, Virginia. Ken Silverstein of Harper's writes:
It gets even more interesting: the man who has been identified as the CEO of Shirlington has a 62-page rap sheet (I recently obtained a copy) that runs from at least 1979 through 1989 and lists charges of petit larceny, robbery, receiving stolen goods, assault, and more. Curiously—or perhaps not so curiously given the company's connections — Shirlington Limousine is also a Department of Homeland Security contractor; according to the Washington Post, last fall it won a $21.2 million contract for shuttle services and transportation support. (I tried to contact Shirlington but was unable to get past their answering service.)

As to the festivities themselves, I hear that party nights began early with poker games and degenerated into what the source described as a "frat party" scene—real bacchanals. Apparently photographs were taken, and investigators are anxiously procuring copies. My heart beats faster in fevered anticipation. [Emphasis Mine - C]
Not only that but according to Silverstein:
those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence comittees—including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post.
TPM Muckraker speculates that the person involved there is none other than Porter Goss, Director of the CIA.:
Remember that Goss is the one who plucked one of Wilkes' old San Diego friends, the unusual and colorful Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, out of CIA middle-management obscurity to be his #3 at the agency. At the time of Foggo's appointment, no one could figure out where he came from, or how Goss knew him.

But if Goss was at the "parties," I wonder, was Foggo there too? Did they see each other? Is this where Goss had an opportunity to gauge Foggo's abilities, and determine he was qualified for the CIA executive director post?
This isn't the first time that a connection between Cunningham and Goss has been alleged. Back on March 3rd, Steve Soto had reported that "Dusty" Foggo was already under investigation for his involvements with Wilkes and speculated that Goss might well be hip deep in the corruption.

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