How strange is the political world right now? We find one alleged Democrat complaining about “cut and run” policies in Iraq, and we find Bush complaining about the “culture of corruption.”
“For too long, the culture of corruption has undercut development and good governance and bred criminality and mistrust around the world. High-level corruption by senior government officials, or kleptocracy, is a grave and corrosive abuse of power and represents the most invidious type of public corruption. It threatens our national interest and violates our values.”
The president was referring to international corruption, but as Jesse Lee noted, his timing was impeccable. A new memo that suggests the Duke Cunningham scandal on the Hill might soon expand in ways the GOP would find uncomfortable.
An internal congressional investigation has found that “major breakdowns” in legislative controls enabled former Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to use his position on the House Intelligence Committee to steer classified government contracts to political cronies, according to a memo distributed this week to Democrats on the panel.
The memo accuses Republicans of backing out of an agreement to subpoena Cunningham, and calls for the public release of a 20-page unclassified report documenting the findings of the investigation.
[Rep. Jane Harman’s (D)] description suggests that the seven-month probe by the House intelligence panel could significantly broaden the scope of the scandal surrounding Cunningham, the Rancho Santa Fe lawmaker who pleaded guilty last year to bribery and tax evasion and is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
While the initial investigation focused exclusively on Cunningham’s contracts — the ones he “influenced” — while on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, the LAT noted that the internal probe also found “a similar pattern of abuses in contracts involving U.S. intelligence agencies.” The result was an environment in which committee staff and Republican committee leaders went along with Cunningham’s criminal demands because they didn’t want to “offend him or make him upset.”
What’s that Bush was saying this morning? High-level corruption “threatens our national interest and violates our values”?
Update: I neglected to mention that a couple of top Pentagon officials resigned this week stemming from their roles in securing MZM contracts as well.
David A. Burtt II, director of the Counterintelligence Field Activity, the Defense Department’s newest intelligence agency whose contracts based on congressional earmarks are under investigation by the Pentagon and federal prosecutors, told his staff yesterday that he and his deputy director will resign at the end of the month.
In an internal message, Burtt said, “I do not make this decision without trepidation, but the time is right to move on to the next phase of my career.” He said he had been privileged to serve as CIFA director and was “especially proud of all of you and what you have accomplished for the CI [counterintelligence] community and for the overall CI mission.”
Joseph Hefferon “has also decided to retire, after over 31 years of federal service,” according to Burtt’s message. A Pentagon spokesman yesterday confirmed they were leaving and said it was “a personal decision that they both made together.” […]
Last March, as a result of the continuing federal investigations arising out of charges against former congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.), prosecutors said they were reviewing CIFA contracts that went to MZM Inc., a company run by Mitchell J. Wade, who had pleaded guilty in February to conspiring to bribe Cunningham.