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The
Randy Cunningham "Hookergate" Scandal is not the first
prostitution scandal involving close relatives of
indicted defense contractor Brent Wilkes, The
MadCowMorningNews
has learned.
Brent Wilkes brother, Gregory Wilkes, managed the
finances of
The Wilkes Foundation, which was suspended
by the State of California after failing to file
financial statements for three years in a row.
(NOTE: The Wilkes Foundation link above, to the Wayback
machine archived page on Gregory Wilkes, was removed
less than 24 hours after this story was published. If
only they worked this fast taking care of soldiers with
traumatic brain injuries. DH)
When Greg Wilkes wasn't busy failing to file required
documents with the state on his brother's charitable
foundation,
he was the Controller for an unfortunate "Bush Pioneer"
named R.D. Hubbard, busted
flying almost a dozen hookers by private jet
in June of 2001 to a casino he owned
to service men government documents have only identified
as “48 wealthy guests.”
Back in the '80's Hubbard was involved
in a number of Michael Milken-financed "greenmail" takeover
attempts, partnered with
Midland, Texas oilmen Wagner
and Brown Ltd.
Strangely,
in 2001
Wagner and Brown became the last known registered owner
of the Lear jet which belonged to terror flight school
owner Wally Hilliard until it
was
seized
by DEA agents in Orlando who found 43 lbs.
of heroin onboard.
Small world.
The woman who knew too much?
It is the latest in
an odd
series of links between the Cunningham
Scandal and international drug trafficking.
Nonetheless this
seemingly incidental detail may provide the
context from which a better explanation might emerge for
why Carol Lam, the U.S. attorney in San
Diego who successfully prosecuted former Republican Rep.
Randy "Duke" Cunningham, was just fired.
The nonsensical reason cited this week by a Bush
Administration official was that “her prosecution
rate for border violations was insufficient.”
Any
suggestion that “border violations” have
become a priority of the Bush Administration has
slightly less credibility than a press release
from the Raelian Society announcing the
imminent
return of the “space brothers” from an extended tour of
Sirius.
Since
a close reading of the Cunningham Scandal’s dramatis
personae reveals that its cast includes gambling
czars, race-track boys, hookers, and more nephews
than a years' worth of reruns on The Soprano’s, the discovery that hooker scandals run in
Brent Wilkes family comes as no great surprise.
One plausible explanation why San Diego US Atty. Carol
Lam was fired might be that, in a rapidly spreading
scandal which could quickly grow too large to contain,
she already knows too much.
Especially since the “Hookergate” Scandal already boasts that staple of
major political scandals in America, the
“statement later rendered inoperative.”
CIA spokesmodel Tells Really
Big Fib

In this case it came from the CIA itself last May, when
a spokesperson lied in a Wall Street Journal report
headlined: “Foggo Partied, But Hooker Charges
"False, Irresponsible,' CIA Says”
"The CIA confirmed...what we knew already from
multiple eyewitness accounts: Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the
CIA's #3 official, attended Wilkes' poker parties at
hotel suites around Washington, D.C. where prostitutes
allegedly entertained.
“But that's it, the agency says. He never saw any
hookers -- at least not while they were playing
cards.
"'If he attended occasional card games with
friends over the years, Mr. Foggo insists they were
that and nothing more,' CIA spokeswoman Jennifer
Millerwise-Dyck told the WSJ.”
“Mr. Foggo says he never witnessed any prostitutes at
the games,” she said, and any allegation to the
contrary would be 'false outrageous and
irresponsible.'"
What struck us about this statement is not its
mendacity. That’s what spooks do. They
lie.
No, we
were struck by, well, Ms. Millerwise-Dyck
herself, whose bio, as recounted in a story in
Daily Kos revealed that
while she'd previously been Dick Cheney’s spokesperson,
and Porter Goss’ press secretary,
she was known as Jennifer Millerwise.
Apparently she
only became a “Dyck” after going to work
at the CIA.
No names, just "48 wealthy
guests"
While
Brent Wilkes motivation for hooking
Cunningham and his cronies up with ladies of the night
was knocking down defense contracts, whatever R.D. Hubbard
was using prostitutes to troll for is a mystery.
On his Belterra gambling boat on the Ohio
River, Hubbard used what government documents called
“eight to 12 prostitutes brought in from California and
Louisville” to entertain his “48 wealthy guests.
Hubbard
not only employed Brent Wilke’s brother; he
was also a major contributor to The Wilkes Foundation as
well as its Tribute to Heroes gala.
Of course, the Wilkes Foundation is not the only
Republican-run "charity" raising eyebrows. The Sure
Foundation, started by defense contractor Mitchell Wade,
a former employee of Brent Wilkes, listed its address as
Wade's defense contracting firm, MZM Inc.
And who can forget Jack Abramoff’s Capital Foundation,
with gifts to children they never received? Or his
American International Centre, grandly promoted as
"bringing great minds together from all over the globe"
under the "high-power directorship" of David Grosh,
an Abramoff crony who turned out to be an under-powered
lifeguard.
Everybody's gotta launder
somewhere
Despite
the fact that the
Wilkes Foundation hadn’t
filed a financial statement since November of 2002, the
State of California didn’t get around to suspending the
charity until December of 2005.
When we asked a spokesman in the California Secretary of
State’s Office whether a three-year grace period was the
state norm regarding financial filings...the spokesman
politely demurred, raising further suspicions about the philanthropic
activities of this close-knit group of Republican movers
and shakers.
Might they have been being used for money
laundering?

Consider: Brent Wilkes was pimping in Hawaii to win
defense contracts at roughly the same time his brother
Greg can be presumed to have been
juggling the books of Texas wheeler-dealer
and Bush “Pioneer” Hubbard to remove the embarrassment
of having a line item that read, "Private jet to fly
hookers cross-country."
This sort of pattern of activity is occasionally known as a continuing criminal enterprise.
What's missing, at least so far, is any sense of whether
Cunningham, Wilkes, Foggo, and Wade were conspiring to
defraud the U.S. government of tens of millions of
dollars just to satisfy their own selfish greed...
If not, then their efforts would have benefited a
shadowy organization whose presence was being hidden
from public view.
Rogue agents & a "few bad
apples"

Are there examples of this sort of "Enterprise"
in America's recent history?
We
think most would agree that the answer is "yes." So why
are "the boys from San Diego" being written off
as
“rogue agents” and
“a few bad apples?”
One place to look for evidence of a larger “Enterprise”
is with the people and companies where family members
like Brent Wilke's brother Greg were at least ostensibly employed.
There we find people whose names have not
surfaced in the Cunningham scandal.
People
like R.D. Hubbard.
Who is R.D. Hubbard, and what does his
background tell us about the San Diego cabal?
Remember the '80's? Greenmail?
Drexel Burnham Lambert?
Michael Milken...junk bonds... The Predators Ball?
R.D.
Hubbard got
really
rich in takeovers and greenmail, usually with the
backing
of
Drexel Burnham Lambert.
He and his Midland Texas oil buddies were players
in the LBO takeover game.
Bush "Pioneers" score big
In
his greenmail quests Hubbard
often partnered with prominent Midland Texas independent
oil operators Cyril Wagner Jr. and Jack E. Brown of
Wagner & Brown.
Gencorp filed suit against Hubbard and Wagner and Brown,
charging they were financing their proposed takeovers with
illegal junk
bonds.
When Hubbard and his oilmen buddies took his own firm
AFG private, he moved the profitable
specialty glass-maker's base of
operations to his native Texas. Amid protest from
share-holders, lawsuits accused the men of masterminding a scheme "to
enrich themselves at the expense of the stockholders."
Hubbard’s takeover forays netted him big bucks: $25 million for
his share of the "investment" in
GenCorp stock and a similar stake in aerospace
contractor Lear Siegler.
So when he attempted a takeover of Hollywood Park Race Track, board
members had reason to doubt the motives behind Hubbard's commitment.
"Just look at his record. It speaks for itself," said
one. "He ran down the value of AFG Industries and then
took it private.”
In an uncharacteristically snide aside, The
Orange County Register described him as
“R.D. Hubbard, the Orange County businessman who has a
knack for making money on losing takeover bids.”
Where are "Wilkes' Wenches?"

Public attention in the Cunningham Scandal remains
riveted on its seamier side. So let's talk about
the hookers... There are a few questions we haven’t heard
asked about “Wilkes’ Wenches.”
Like...where the hell are they? Why haven’t they
talked? Why no National Enquirer headlines:
“Now I Know Why They Call Him the
Duke-ster!”
The hookers in Hawaii, the “escorts” at the Watergate…
Have the party girls all disappeared down the same
rabbit hole which swallowed Mark Foley?
Their invisibility seems more than a little odd.
Baby Sheik a tail feather

In the case of “Hubbard’s Ho’s,” both they
and
their johns have remained anonymous. This includes,
according to documents released later by the Indiana
Gaming Commission,
several "special individuals" among the
group of hand-picked high rollers.
Who might these "special individuals" be at
the
R.D. Hubbard Invitational golf tournament?
Hubbard's
transgression only came to light after two female
employees of the casino filed a sexual harassment
lawsuit. Apparently Hubbard's casino in Indiana had been
transformed into Sodom and Gomorrah...
The prostitutes were openly groping and fondling the
male guests during Tournament functions; they allowed
the male guests to grope and fondle them. One removed
her top during a party in Belterra's Celebrity Room.
The suit said the two women employees were ordered to kiss and pat
male gamblers. They claimed the casino’s security
director urged them to use sex to entice more gambling
from the golfers.
Their complaint said the security director told them
"that he wanted them in the casino kissing men,” and
that he “told them they were to do 'whatever it
takes' to bring more players into the casino.’”
"Whatever it takes."
"Interact more closely with
customers"
The casino responded that the security director “may
have said something to the effect that he wanted (the
two women) to interact more closely with customers."
One of the two women stated she'd been told to attend
the Keeneland horse sale in Lexington. While there, “She
should go to popular bars to pick up rich Arab men to
bring them to the casino.”
An AP story on August 5, 2002 headlined “Indiana
Gaming Commission flexes its muscles” revealed
that commission documents stipulated that about 48 high
rollers from around the country were brought in to play
the resort's new golf course and gamble at the riverboat
casino on the Ohio River, and that eight or more
"hookers" were flown to the Ohio River casino on a jet
leased by Pinnacle.
"The guests and the women attended
parties on two nights in the Celebrity Room, adjacent to
a concert arena, that were so raucous that comedian Howie Mandel had to stop his concert.”
"I did not have sex with
that woman"

Hookers may be one thing, but thwarting Howie
Mandel?
What kind of fiends are
these people?
Asked about the allegations of groping, fondling and
breast-baring, Hubbard stated, "I never saw anything
like that. I never saw anything that was
inappropriate."
State gaming officials found otherwise. Hubbard's
Pinnacle Entertainment was forced to pay three million
dollars in fines.
It was the toughest sanction ever imposed by Indiana
gaming regulators, reported the Sept 15 2002 Albuquerque
Journal. It was a "far bigger penalty than any
ever handed down in Nevada."
Hubbard was forced to resign as chairman of the
corporation and agree to sell his stock. Pinnacle
agreed that none of its directors or officers would have
any business relationship with
Bush Pioneer and friend of Brent Wilkes R.D. Hubbard.
Bribes, Booze,
Booty...Busted.

California Republican Congressman Randy "Duke"
Cunningham traded military contracts for $2.4 million in
antiques, cash, and, er... “booty.”
The title of two new books about the
scandal both call him “History’s most corrupt Congressman.”
While its still not clear how a decorated Navy veteran
in Vietnam became the most corrupt congressman in U.S.
history, what is becoming is increasingly obvious is the
story is bigger than
just
another crooked congressman taking bribes from just another
crooked contractor.
Here's what we know for sure:
America’s top lawmakers, including one running for
President of the United States, awarded their cronies
tens of millions of dollars worth of defense contracts
that did nothing to make this
nation safer.
With a trillion dollar war going badly, Duncan
Hunter and Randy Cunningham made sure Brent Wilkes got
tens of millions of dollars to Xerox old maps of Panama.
Going to Babylon by Cadillac

Journalists have invoked the distant past in an attempt
to describe the epic levels of debauchery, degradation
and moral turpitude “rarely equaled since the
pagan orgies of ancient Rome.”
“What you're looking at is a world where money, secrecy,
sex, and indulgence were all in play. Where everyone is
guilty of something."
"What these revelations provide is a window into
Babylon or the last stages of Rome," explained a source
in a recent article in Vanity Fair.
“A window into Babylon.”
And
Duke
Cunningham is not even an obvious choice for
“Elected official most likely to be "Packing a
Party in his Pants.”
Despite the fact
that we have cameras that can read the make of a golf
ball from outer space, and lasers that can light up the
moon, as a society we seem to be headed the other
way...
"Boats beating against the current, back into the
past.'
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