June 21, 2005, 7:30 A.M.
Ethics Overboard: It seems that Tom DeLay is not the only member of the U.S. House of Representatives who is taking full advantage of the House’s inability to police its own ethics violations. Add Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R) of California to the list. According to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Mr. Cunningham sold his former home to a defense contractor, Mitchell Wade, head of MZM, Inc., for about a million dollars more than it was worth.
The Washington Post reported last Friday that Cunningham also lives on a 42 foot yacht owned by Wade, and that Wade’s company got Cunningham’s support for government contracts. Cunningham serves on a House subcommittee that appropriates money for defense contracts. Wade bought Cunningham’s California home and immediately put it on the market for resale. After languishing on the market for several months, Wade sold the home for a $700,000 loss.
For his part, Cunningham admits that he supported government contracts for Wade’s company, but he maintains that he has done nothing wrong. Wade founded MZM in 1993 and according to the Post, in the last fiscal year, the company had about $65 million in Pentagon contracts, ranking it among the 100 largest federal information technology contractors.
Of course, MZM and Wade contributed to Cunningham’s recent re-election effort and the company and its affiliates contributed nearly $20,000 in “soft money” to his “American Prosperity” PAC between 2000 and 2002. Last year, Cunningham was a keynote speaker at a Christmas party for 385 MZM employees and guests. The links go even deeper, as Cunningham and his family are linked to various other charities and events with Wade and his family.
While living in Washington, Cunningham lives on the 42 foot yacht “Duke Stir,” which is currently berthed at the Capital Yacht Club. Interesting name, it probably has nothing to do with the Congressman’s nickname, though! We may find out more, however, since the FBI has opened a preliminary investigation into Duke’s activities and his relationship with Wade, Cunningham claims to be getting together all of his proof of rental information regarding the yacht.
Apparently and according to reports in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Cunningham also used his position on the defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees the District of Columbia budget, to earmark $3 million to refurbish the waterfront that he calls home. Cunningham previously lived in the same slip on the DC waterfront at the time of the appropriation in a 65 foot yacht that he actually owned.
In November 2003, Mitchell Wade paid $1,675,000 for Cunningham’s Del Mar, California home. The price was set by Elizabeth Todd, a realtor who took no commission on the deal and who had no experience in transactions at that time. Her first transaction occurred when she was hired to help Cunningham purchase a $255 million estate in Rancho Santa Fe. Todd and her husband are longtime political contributors to Cunningham’s campaigns.
Of course, all of this reinforces my belief that campaign finance reform is essential to cleaning up the influence of big money in politics. What scares me, however, is that the likes of DeLay, Cunningham and Cheney can continue to hold office in the fact of this sort of corruption. I guess what scares me more is that people like Cunningham keep getting elected and keep getting caught, yet the House under the leadership of DeLay seems to have completely abandoned all sense of ethics or accountability.
There seems to be little doubt that Duke is in trouble and his “rental” records should provide some interesting reading, provided that they didn’t fall overboard.