Last February, Mitchell Wade, the former head of defense contractor MZM, pleaded guilty to paying California Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes in exchange for government contracts. Cunningham is currently serving eight years in prison for his part in the scandal and on Monday, August 21, Wade appeared in Federal Court where the judge agreed to delay sentencing proceedings until next March so that Wade, who has been cooperating with federal prosecutors, can continue to aid in the bribery investigation, which still has several unresolved pieces.
One of those unresolved pieces, at least as far as Virginia voters are concerned, is the involvement of Republican Congressman Virgil Goode, who Wade identified as one of two other members of Congress to whom he fed illegal contributions (the other was beleaguered Florida Representative Katherine Harris). Wade testified that he gave Goode, whose Virginia district includes Charlottesville, $46,000 in disguised contributions in 2003 and 2005, part of about $90,000 MZM eventually contributed to Goode. Goode subsequently used his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to seek $3.6 million for a Foreign Supplier Assessment Center that went to MZM, and was soon thereafter established in Martinsville. Once Wade’s involvement was announced, Goode donated the $90,000 to charity.
In his plea, Wade stated that he never informed Goode that the contributions were illegal and the five-term incumbent, proclaiming innocence, has maintained that his motivation in dealing with MZM was to bring jobs to an economically deprived region. Last month, Richard Berglund, the man who ran the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center in Martinsville, also pleaded guilty to feeding Goode illegal contributions.
While Goode was mum on Wade’s sentence delay, Curt Gleeson, communications director for Al Weed, Goode’s Democratic challenger in November, was not. “I’m sure the sentencing was delayed because Wade has a lot to say, and I’m sure when it all comes out Virgil will have a lot to answer for,” Gleeson says. “Look at the list of people involved in this,” he says, calling attention to Wade, Berglund and Harris. “Every one else is a mess. It’s the company you keep.”—Jayson Whitehead
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