Contractor, caught in bribery scandal, reveals that Republican congressman taught him how to bribe

QUOTE

NYT: Contractor caught in bribery scandal claims lawmaker taught him how to
'grease palms'

RAW STORY
Published: Saturday August 5, 2006


A defense contractor implicated in a bribery scandal claims his hometown
congressman taught him how to "grease palms," according to an article slated
for Sunday's edition of The New York Times.

"In 1992, Brent R. Wilkes rented a suite at the Hyatt Hotel a few blocks
from the Capitol," write David Johnston and David D. Kirkpatrick for The
Times. "In his briefcase was a stack of envelopes for a half-dozen
congressmen, each packet containing up to $10,000 in checks."

"Mr. Wilkes had set up separate meetings with the lawmakers hoping to win a
government contract, and he planned to punctuate each pitch with a campaign
donation," the article continues. "But his hometown congressman,
Representative Bill Lowery of San Diego, a Republican, told him that
presenting the checks during the sessions was not how things were done, Mr.
Wilkes recalled."

"Instead, Mr. Wilkes said, Mr. Lowery taught him the right way to do it:
hand over the envelope in the hallway outside the suite, at least a few feet
away," The Times reports. "That was the beginning of a career built on what
Mr. Wilkes calls "transactional lobbying," which made him a rich man but
also landed him in the middle of a criminal investigation."

Excerpts from the Times article:

Last November, Mr. Wilkes was described as "co-conspirator No. 1" in a plea
agreement signed by Representative Randy Cunningham, a California Republican
on the House Appropriations Committee. In the plea deal, Mr. Cunningham
admitted accepting more than $2.4 million in cash and gifts from Mr. Wilkes
and other contractors. A former Wilkes associate, Mitchell J. Wade, pleaded
guilty to paying some of the bribes.

.....

Speaking publicly for the first time since Mr. Cunningham's plea agreement,
Mr. Wilkes said in recent interviews that he had done nothing wrong and did
not believe that Mr. Lewis and Mr. Lowery had broken the law. Mr. Wilkes,
who has not been charged in the Cunningham case, has refused prosecutors'
appeals to plead guilty.

But Mr. Wilkes acknowledged that he was a willing participant in what he
characterized as a "cutthroat" system in which campaign contributions were a
prerequisite for federal contracts. "I attempted to get help and advice from
people who could show me the way to do it right," Mr. Wilkes said. "I played
by their rules, and I played to win."

http://tinyurl.com/hncfq

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The really tragic part of this story is that nothing in here is
surprising -- if a Republican is involved, it's got to be criminal.


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