MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE GOP: RANDY DUKE CUNNINGHAM SPILLING HIS GUTS OUT TO THE FEDS

This comes from an FBI report based on an extensive interview with Republican ex-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham in his prison home near Tucson:

“Cunningham stated that, by 2000, he had already been receiving numerous benefits from Wilkes that included such things as vacation trips, liquor, cash/maintenance money . According to Cunningham, in return for these benefits, he had been helping Wilkes/ADCS in their efforts to secure government contracts.”

Aside from GOP lobbyist/contractor-turned wheeler-dealer Brent Wilkes, Cunningham has also implicated Mitchell Wade (who could easily bring down Republican Congressman Virgil Goode, Jr of Virginia) and Thomas Kontogiannis, the Republican rainmaker who paid off Cunningham to the tune of $400,000 to help him get a presidential pardon. (Note: Thomas Kontogiannis may be a crook but he isn't a complete moron and he was aware that Cunningham was not the president and that $400,000 in cash is a lot of money.)

According to the FBI summary, Cunningham admits to being provided with prostitutes, misleading congressional ethics officials, making others buy gifts for his daughters, personally devising the schemes to launder his bribes, lying to his staff, and putting unrelenting pressure on government officials who thought the defense contracts he pushed with congressional earmarks were wasteful.

About those prostitutes, since there is so much in the news lately about Republican members of Congress and prostitutes, Cunningham said "Wilkes hired prostitutes for him during a Hawaii vacation. Cunningham was miffed that Wilkes got the 'younger and cuter' prostitute and said he was 'somewhat embarrassed on this occasion because he had some difficulty in completing intercourse.'" Perhaps Cunningham should have consulted Robert Dole, an expert in erectile dysfunction in old Republicans. But he didn't and "on the next night, Cunningham again had a prostitute but said he 'did not have sex' with her 'because he felt guilty about his behavior.'" Looks like not all Republicans are the same; David Vitter didn't feel guilty until he was caught. Although Vitter's and Lieberman's diaper fetish might not be the same as actual "sex" that normal people perform.

Cunningham was well placed to steer military intelligence contracts to Wilkes and Wade because he was on the House defense appropriations subcommittee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

He also told investigators he demanded regular cash payments-- he called them “maintenance money”-- once even summoning one of his bribers to his office at the U.S. Capitol to give him $3,000 in cash.

This morning's San Diego Union-Tribune has a long list of FBI findings that shines a bright and unwelcome light on the Republican Culture of Corruption that utterly dominated Washington during the entire Bush reign. It has long been the contention of DWT that Bush agreed that the federal government would look the other way-- ergo, the firings of many U.S. Attorneys who dared to investigate crooks Republican congressmen like Cunningham and Jerry Lewis-- so long as Congress would leave the governing to his regime and not bother with things like oversight. The days of wine and roses were also the days of blatant rubber stampism, practices that are still far from over. Some of the FBI's more colorful findings:

*More than $1 million in bribes were laundered by being sent to Kontogiannis instead of going directly to Cunningham. Investigators identified at least 70 separate bank accounts maintained by Kontogiannis at only one bank.

*Despite all his many businesses, Kontogiannis has not filed a tax return since 2001.

*For the first time, investigators shed light on what Kontogiannis expected to get from Cunningham-– help on a potential sale of fighter jets to his native Greece. [Note: Is the FBI cooperating in a cover-up that would implicate Bush in the pardon scheme?]

*The Rolls Royce that drew so much attention early in the investigation was not the only car that Cunningham made the contractors buy for him. In only two days in early 2002, the congressman bought a $43,000 Thunderbird and a $41,000 BMW from Bob Baker Ford in San Diego with $63,000 of his payment coming from bribes. That was three months before Wade gave him $10,000 toward the used Rolls Royce.

*In mid-2004 when Cunningham needed to make repairs to his boat, he called Wade and demanded $6,500 cash. Wade took the money out of his petty cash, stuffed the cash into a bulging envelope and rushed it over to a Cunningham fundraiser at a Washington restaurant, giving it to a Cunningham staffer.

*Openly “recalled exerting pressure on government officials” to reward his bribers.

*Said Wilkes told him he was “hiding money in a bank account in Panama” to pay him bribes.

*Made either Wilkes or Wade pay his way to the 2003 Super Bowl, Jimmy Buffet concerts in Chula Vista, and several Washington Wizards and Redskins games.

The last 11 pages (a summary) of the 125 page FBI documents are available online and they implicate Katherine Harris (R-FL), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), and Tom DeLay (R-TX) in Wilkes' schemes. The FBI doesn't seem to have pressed Cunningham on his knowledge of criminal activities of other members of Congress, nor did they follow up on his mention of the bribe for the presidential pardon.