BREAKING STORY: IS WILKES POINTING THE FINGER AT POMBO, DOOLITTLE, HUNTER & LEWIS?

I hate writing about unsubstantiated rumors about the law closing in on Republicrooks because then everybody-- especially me-- gets disappointed if they turn out to be untrue. But today Carla at Preemptive Karma has one that is just too obvious to pass up. OK, so everyone knows the Feds grabbed Cunningham who fingered Wade and Wilkes as two of the big Republican bribers among the sleazy defense contractors stealing billions of taxpayer dollars and kicking back hefty chunks to GOP congressmen in return. And then Wade fingered Katherine Harris (see this editorial in yesterday's ST PETERSBURG TIMES for how this is playing out for her back home) and Virgil Goode (and un-named "others"). But no one seems to have heard a peep from Wilkes lately.

Until today. "A DC political operative" has directly told Carla that Wilkes has struck a deal with prosecutors to testify in criminal cases against Duncan Hunter, Jerry Lewis and John Doolittle-- 3 California right-wing extremists who are well known to have been on the take from defense contractors-- plus Richard Pombo. The Pombo part of the story is what has me wondering a little. It isn't that he's not as corrupt as the other three; he may be more corrupt, although at this level of corruption, it gets hard to measure. I mean we are talking about 4 of the most venal and avaricious men to ever stalk the halls of power in our country, 4 guys who make Cunningham look like the novice and twerp he always was. However, Pombo gets his payoffs and kickbacks from natural resources related industries and in all the searching I've done involving the corrupt defense contractors, I'm not finding a criminal case against Pombo building a head of steam.

Be that as it is, the degree of corruption inside the Republican California congressional caucus is nothing short of mind-boggling and I know it's just a matter of time before these crooks will be sharing yard time in the pen with their pal-- and former partner-in-crime-- Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Anyone see that great new "life-and-times-of" Duke Cunningham feature John King did on CNN this weekend? I sure hope Francine Busby's campaign can use it to help educate brainwashed Republican supporters down in North San Diego County. It's not a "But they all do it" kind of story.