Watchdog group files FEC complaint against defense contractor link By SETH HETTENA, Associated Press Writer Tuesday, June 21, 2005 (06-21) 15:54 PDT SAN DIEGO, (AP) -- A congressional watchdog group filed a complaint Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission against a defense contractor whose dealings with Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham are the subject of a federal investigation. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, called for the commission to investigate MZM Inc., MZM President Mitchell Wade and the company's political action committee over possible illegal campaign contributions. A message left at MZM's main offices in Washington, D.C., wasn't returned. CREW accused MZM and Wade of forcing company employees to donate money to the company PAC in 2002, citing a report Tuesday in The San Diego Union-Tribune. One employee described being told to write a check in the company's Washington headquarters while the unnamed recipient stood nearby, according to the newspaper report. Campaign finance laws prohibit employers from compelling workers to contribute to a company's PAC. CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, said Cunningham and others who received money from MZM's PAC should have to relinquish it. MZM's PAC donated $17,000 to Cunningham, a San Diego-area Republican, and the congressman's own political action committee during the 2002 and 2004 election cycles. Cunningham spokesman Mark Olson declined comment. The company PAC also gave Reps. Katherine Harris, R-Fla., and Virgil Goode, R-Va., $10,000 each during the 2004 election cycle. MZM runs a screening center in Martinsville, Va., for defense contractors based outside in the United States. The screening center is in Goode's district. A federal grand jury has reportedly convened in San Diego to look into the November 2003 sale of Cunningham's home in Del Mar to Wade. Wade put the house back on the market shortly after buying it for $1.7 million, and took a $700,000 loss on it last year. About the same time, little-known MZM Inc., which is based in Washington, began receiving large government contracts. Bob Biersack, an FEC spokesman, said he could not comment on the complaint, but noted that, in general, the FEC can impose civil penalties in such cases. The largest FEC fine was $849,000 imposed on 2003 on Audiovox, Inc., a New York-based wireless products company. Audivox employees and some of its suppliers were asked to make political contributions and were reimbursed with corporate funds.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051128/pl_nm/crime_cunningham_dc LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican, resigned on Monday after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for help in securing Defense Department contracts. ADVERTISEMENT [-78160] Cunningham, 63, an eight-term congressman and decorated Vietnam War veteran, had been under federal investigation for his ties to Washington-based defense contractor MZM Inc. since the summer. "I am resigning from the House of Representatives because I've compromised the trust of my constituents," Cunningham said after the court hearing. He entered guilty pleas in San Diego federal court on Monday to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. The last charge stemmed from the underreporting of his income in 2004. Cunningham, who in July had denied any wrongdoing, said he was deeply sorry. "I broke the law, concealed my conduct and disgraced my office. I know that I will forfeit my freedom, my reputation, my worldly possessions, most importantly, the trust of my friends and family," he said. Cunningham had already said he would not seek reelection in 2006. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 27 when he could be ordered to spend 10 years in prison and pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Cunningham's guilty plea followed several months of investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, the criminal investigative arm of the Pentagon, the FBI and federal prosecutors. "Yes, your honor," Cunningham said when Judge Larry Burns asked him if he had accepted bribes. The investigation into the former Vietnam War fighter pilot stemmed from his $1.6 million sale of his Del Mar, California, home in 2003 to Mitchell Wade, until recently the chief executive of MZM, Inc. Wade quickly sold the home for a $700,000 loss in the midst of San Diego's booming housing market. Prosecutors alleged that Cunningham demanded and received an inflated price for his home from Wade in return for official favors. Cunningham and his wife then used the inflated proceeds to buy another house in the San Diego area. Cunningham is a member of the House intelligence committee and the appropriations sub-committee that controls defense spending.
Ha! Indubitable proof that you are using your account to let in banned members and terrorists and poopyheads I generally don't like!! A gross violation of the rules and lack of respect towards your superiors !!!! I'm going to tell my daddy!!!!
Major it is disheartening to see you gradually enter the slippery slope to becoming a communist. Never forget that one of the grand old men of Houston, Jessie Jones, said that zoning was communism.
It would be legal in a dictatorship too. But clearly, the source of the problem here are the twin evils of DEMOCRACY and MARKETS. I truly hope wnes embarks on a crusade to show the evils of such systems. Maybe even the Democrats can run on a platform praising the benefits of alternative systems such as socialism and kingdoms.
BTW the whole defense industry is an affront to the idea that the American economy is always "free" enterprise. Much of the $400 billion/yr (off the top of my head. Can TJ or Bigtexx do some fact checking. It would be good experience for them) consists of things like missiles and weapon systems in which there are one or two suppliers, often with cost plus contracts ,or as we see will Halliburton, no bid contracts. Not only is there only one or two suppliers, but of course, just one buyer the gvoernment. Maybe TJ or Bigtexx can explain why this is capitalism and/ or consistent with micro economic theory.
I don't think we should blame democracy and capitalism for this. Rather - it seems to be a perversion of what democracy and capitalism should stand for. That's why we have laws prohibiting such behavior. This time - the laws worked. The defense industry is hardly what I would call an example of free-market economics. I can't speak for them - but I don't think TraderJorge or BigTexx feel that way either.
When Dwight Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex, he spoke of exactly what we have today. Not only do we have no bid or two bid contracts on major weapons programs, but we have programs that are just irrelevant that are still being funded. When a member of the Defense Department a couple of years ago admitted that she intentionally gave contracts to Boeing at inflated prices, it was only the tip of the iceberg. Today we're still funding the Crusader Weapons System which was designed to destroy Soviet tanks, not exactly the weapon of choice for terrorists today. We're still paying for age old planes and helicopters that we don't use and we're still paying for small arms that aren't even used in modern combat anymore. (in some cases US law bans these very weapons) Our funding and payment of military weaponry is a joke but it in no way proves that capitalism or democracy is a failure. Rather it just highlights that certain administrations can pervert democracy and openness in order to hand out a little extra money to those that lobbied the hardest.
given that the republicans are so damn good with cliche phrases and beating it down until everyone agrees (compassionate conservative, flip flop etc) lets start using our own phrases. culture of corruption for one.
Our anti-tank weaponry is already way above the rest of the world and there's no reason to fund a project that's been going on for 20 years without any finish in sight. The Crusader project has become a symbol of what many fiscal conservative think tanks have described in terms of military spending. Also, last I checked we were in a war on terrorism and terrorists generally arent driving tanks around. The Cold War ended in 1991 yet we still fund projects that were started because of the Soviet Union.
