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Archive for February 13th, 2007

RandyGate Part 2: Spy Story

Posted by s.z. on February 13th, 2007

Now that Melissa has also resigned (and, per Michelle Malkin, candidates have decided that bloggers are to be avoided, since only people like Bill “I like children” Donohue read them), I guess I won’t be getting that job as wingnut advisor to Mitt or Rudy.  So, I no longer need to try to be responsible and/or fair, and have no reason to blog except for the fun of it.  Therefore, here is my completely idiosyncratic post on the grand jury charges against ”Dusty” Foggo, the former #3 official at the CIA.  (Foggo, was, of course, appointed by former CIA Director Porter Goss, who was appointed by George W Bush as an act of aggression against an intelligence agency which refused to respect his intelligence.)

First, here are the interesting bits from the AP story:

The CIA’s former No. 3 official was charged Tuesday with accepting lavish vacations, private jet flights and a job offer from his best friend, a defense contractor who in return got inside information that helped him win agency contracts.

A federal grand jury returned 11 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering against Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, executive director of the CIA until he resigned in May, and contractor Brent Wilkes. The charges grew from the bribery scandal that landed former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in prison.

[...]

Wilkes allegedly paid for Foggo and his family to join him on a family vacation in Scotland in August 2003, paying $12,000 for private jet flights, $4,000 for a helicopter ride to play golf and $44,000 for a stay at a posh estate. Wilkes allegedly paid $32,000 for Foggo to join him on a New Year’s trip to Hawaii in 2004.

In the fall of 2003, Foggo allegedly arranged for one of Wilkes’ companies to be a middleman in selling bottled water to the CIA.

Okay, so Wilkes shelled out almost $100,000 to show his best friend Foggo a good time, and in return for that he got the CIA bottled water contract.  In order for this to make good business sense, that has to be some pretty expensive bottled water!

In a separate indictment, Wilkes was charged with 25 counts of conspiracy, bribery, money laundering and unlawful monetary transactions to Cunningham in return for government contracts.

The indictment included three counts of money laundering totaling more than $12 million. Wilkes also allegedly spent more than $1,600 on prostitutes for himself and Cunningham during an August 2003 trip to a high-end Hawaiian resort.

The question on everyone’s minds now is: how many prostitutes $1600 will buy at a high-end Hawaiian resort?  (Did they get two, at $800 each, or get 16 of the economy models bussed in from the Motel 6 down the road, or what?)

Here are a few more interesting details about Wilkes and Foggo from a 2004 San Diego Union-Tribune story:

Poway military contractor Brent Wilkes has long been active in local political circles, serving as the San Diego County finance co-chairman of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign and the state finance co-chairman for President Bush. [...]

Wilkes’ career in political relations dates to the early 1980s, shortly after Foggo joined the CIA. Foggo was sent to Honduras to work with the Contra rebels who were trying to topple the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, according to sources within the CIA.

Wilkes had moved to Washington, D.C., and opened a business named World Finance Corp. about three blocks away from the White House. One of his chief activities, sources say, was to accompany congressmen – including then-Rep. Bill Lowery of San Diego, whom Wilkes met during his participation in the SDSU Young Republicans organization – to Central America to meet with Foggo and Contra leaders.

So, the roots of this scandal go back to Iran Contral and the Young Republicans.  It figures.

Wilkes spread his taxpayer-provided funds throughout his company, taking executives on periodic retreats to Hawaii and Idaho.

In Honolulu, Wilkes stayed at suites at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel or rented the beachfront mansion of the late hairstyling mogul Paul Mitchell, which typically goes for $50,000 a week.

I’m guessing those $1.600 prostitutes were Paul Mitchell’s, but I could be wrong. 

But there’s more to the story, as we learn from the Washington Post:

Wilkes was said to have hosted poker games at the Watergate and other upscale Washington hotels, including one 1999 party attended by Foggo, Cunningham and a former CIA official nicknamed “Nine Fingers.”

Those were apparently the poker parties Michelle Malkin was referring to when she wrote about a shady transportation company getting a government contract to drive prostitutes “to longstanding poker parties held at the Watergate and Westin Grand hotels” — parties hosted by Wilkes, and attended by Randy Cunningham, in addition to Foggo and “Nine Fingers.”  I can hardly wait for somebody at the White House to link the identify of “Nine Fingers.”  While the most likely candidate is Porter Goss himself, I’m hoping that it’s former CIA official George HW Bush.

Anyway, while there’s undoubtedly a whole lot more to this story, I think we need to follow Deep Throat’s advice, and ”follow the hookers and the Young Republicans.”  Developing … 

 
P.S.  In light of Melissa’s resignation, I think the following info might be on interest to any foul-mouthed bigots out there:

Members of the Catholic League’s board of advisers include conservative author and media analyst L. Brent Bozell III; conservative radio host and syndicated columnist Linda Chavez; right-wing pundit and author Dinesh D’Souza; former Republican presidential and senatorial candidate Alan Keyes; and National Review Washington editor Kate O’Beirne.

If anybody knows of anything offensive that any of THEM has written, it might be in the interests of justice to make it public.