"DUKE" SCANDAL LOOKING WORSE & WORSE EVERYDAY-- FOR "DUKE" AND KATHERINE HARRIS!!!

Powerful Republicrook California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham screamed like a stuck pig when FBI agents showed up at his ill-gotten San Diego suburban mansion with search warrants this week. His sleazy lawyers, K. Lee Blalack II and Mark Holscher, issued a statement calling the search of Cunningham's home in Rancho Santa Fe "an appalling abuse of government power" because the congressman agreed Monday to cooperate with a federal grand jury subpoena seeking essentially the same documents. "They will apparently not take yes for an answer and have instead opted to use strong arm tactics that were designed to generate headlines," the lawyers said. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that reams of evidence that would land Cunningham in prison have already been shredded. I wonder if the sleazy lawyers knew. I wonder if the sleazy lawyers recommended it.

"Duke's" partner in crime, GOP contributor/Cunningham briber/owner of defense-contracting firm MZM, Mitchell Wade, has been letting ole "Duke" use his luxurious 42 foot yacht as the corrupt right-wing congressman's DC home. Don't you wish someone would let you live rent-free? Well they won't-- unless, like ole "Duke" did, you can deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in military contracts without competitive bidding. Who does Randy Cunningham think he is? Dick Cheney? George Bush? Anyway, in 2002 Wade bought the fancy yacht, renamed it "Duke-Stir," and has been letting Cunningham live in it rent-free ever since (or until 2 weeks ago when Cunningham abandoned ship like the rat he is as the Feds started closing in on his nefarious schemes).

Meanwhile MZM is pulling the old right-wing trick of hiding behind the U.S. flag these kinds of crooks always use. After the FBI took over MZM's DC offices Friday, a statement was issued saying "The search warrant process will not impede the ability of MZM's more than four hundred employees to continue to carry out critical national security support missions for our government." (Last week the Pentagon canceled a major contract with MZM but apparently Cunningham has been helping them quite a bit and there are still other contracts they've illegally obtained.)

According to the Washington Post two sources have confirmed that as the Cunningham bribe scandal started breaking one of Wade's flunkies "shredded a large stack of documents on the third floor of MZM's Washington headquarters." Wade snuck into the building when he wasn't supposed to be there and personally oversaw the shredding to protect his and Cunningham's asses. Later the same day Wade was allowed to leave the office with more documents.

The Post did some research on Wade and MZM and it shows that Wade's company was floundering until he started paying bribes to Cunningham, who is a powerful and influential member of the House Armed Service Appropriations Subcommittee and the House Intelligence Committee, in 2002. From 1993 until 2002 MZM was a complete failure. In 2002 he purchased "Duke-Ster" (the yacht) and "Duke" (the congressman) and everything suddenly turned around for him. And the millions and millions of taxpayer dollars started rolling in. In fact, one of the first big jobs MZM got was a sweetheart deal to provide $140,000 worth of furniture to Bush's Executive Office of President. Meanwhile, MZM employees have gone to the Feds with complaints that they were pressured into kicking back part of their salaries as contributions to extreme right-wing politicians and allies of Bush and Cunningham (like to Katherine Harris, who was given $50,000 after she helped steal Florida for Bush in the 2000 presidential election when she was his state campaign chairperson AND Secretary of State).