Culture of Corruption Scandal Vomits Up More Members Of Congress

A DWT oldie but goodie

Seth Hettena has been more on top of the Mitch Wade corruption case than anyone else and today he revealed who the 5 members of Congress are that Wade ratted out. Last week we speculated that they were the two obvious ones, Virgil Goode (R-VA) and Katherine Harris (R-FL) plus some combination of Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Tom Delay (R-TX), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). We were on target with Goode, Harris and Lewis, all of whom should have been rotting in prison cells by now, but the other two were Democrats, Senator Dan Inouye (HI) and Congressman Alan Mollohan (WV).

The Inouye and Lewis connections involve Wade’s former employer, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, who introduced Wade to Cunningham.

During his trial, Wilkes testified that it was a “total misrepresentation” to say he relied on the Congressman Cunningham to do everything for him; Jerry Lewis, along with Rep. John Porter of Ill., were far more important, Wilkes said. (There’s excellent background on Lewis’ lobbying operation here.) The U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles reportedly opened an investigation into Lewis back in 2006.

By contrast, Inouye, the Senate’s third-most senior Democrat, hasn’t yet been linked to an investigation of “corruption similar to Mr. Cunningham.” Wilkes was seeking the veteran Senate  appropriator’s help in lining up military and government contracts for his Honolulu document conversion subsidiary, Akamai Info Tech. Inouye was also one of more than a dozen members of Congress Wilkes unsuccessfully attempted to subpoena for his trial last year.

Mollohan’s ties to Wade are more direct. He received $23,000 in campaign contributions and gifts to a family foundation from Wade’s company, MZM Inc., and another firm that did business with MZM. In October 2002, MZM gave $20,000 to Mollohan’s Summit PAC.

No wonder Inouye was so adamant about defending Alaska's crooked senator, Ted Stevens. Maybe they can be cellies. Let's hope Inouye resigns as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee this evening-- although I'll happily cover any and all bets on that one.