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  •  Speaking of VA-05.... (4.00 / 2)

    ... check out the stuff Josh Marshall has dug up on Virgil Goode -- he was apparently the "Representative A" mentioned in Mitchell Wade's plea agreement.  He's received illegal campaign contributions in return for steering contracts to Wade's company, MZM, for services the Pentagon didn't even want.

    VA-05 has tilted pretty Republican in the past, but Al Weed may just have a chance this time.

    •  Thanks Greg (none / 0)

      for the kind words. It is trying out here in rural Virginia, and we may just have a chance this year.
      •  our chances (none / 0)

        the only way we'll be able to take this seat is to let everyone know in our district just how tied up Goode is with this MZM/Wade/Dukestir mess.

        Waldo is a great resource on this, and I also came across this bit from USAToday from November:

        A USA TODAY analysis of MZM-related campaign contributions shows how the company's growth and its political activities became intertwined at key moments. In more than 30 instances, donations from MZM's political action committee or company employees went to two members of the House Appropriations Committee -- Cunningham and Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va. -- in the days surrounding key votes or contract awards that helped MZM grow.
        For example, MZM's political action committee gave Cunningham $5,000 in 2003 the day before his appointment to a congressional panel negotiating the final version of the defense budget. Ten days later, the day after the House passed the final Pentagon spending bill, Wade gave Cunningham $2,000.
        Both lawmakers sit on the subcommittee overseeing the Pentagon's spending and have acknowledged putting language in bills that created or expanded contracts that went to MZM.
        Larry Noble, an independent ethics expert with the Center for Responsive Politics, says the timing of the contributions creates the appearance that the company's political giving helped it get taxpayer-funded business from the Pentagon.
        It is not illegal for defense industry political action committees or defense industry workers to make campaign donations, unless they are given with the intent of influencing Pentagon contract awards.
        Political donations from military contractors are quite common, but timing those donations around contract decisions is not, said Noble, a former chief counsel for the Federal Election Commission.

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