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Pious Perverts See other Pious Perverts Articles Title: GOING TO BABYLON BY CADILLAC San Diego U.S. Atty fired for knowing too much? 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. At the same time he also worked for a "Bush Pioneer" named R.D. Hubbard, who was caught in June of 2001 flying almost a dozen hookers by private jet 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. It is the latest in an odd series of links between the Cunningham Scandal and international drug trafficking. The woman who knew too much? This seemingly incidental detail may nonetheless provide a context from which may emerge a better explanation 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.” The 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 the Sirius star cluster. The discovery that hooker scandals run in Wilkes’ family comes as no great surprise: 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. So a more plausible explanation for 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, Ms. Lam may already know too much. The “Hookergate” Scandal already boast that staple of major political scandals in America, the “statement that has later been 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... After all, 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 was known just as Jennifer Millerwise she'd been Dick Cheney’s spokesperson, and Porter Goss’ press secretary. 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 enough defense contracts, what Hubbard was trolling for remains something of 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 a group of men who have so far been identified only as “48 wealthy guests. R.D. Hubbard employed Brent Wilke’s brother and was also a major contributor to The Wilkes Foundation as well as its Tribute to Heroes gala. 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. Everybody's gotta launder somewhere 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. The suspicion is growing that the philanthropic activities of this close-knit group of Republican movers and shakers were being used as a front for money laundering. Brent Wilkes was pimping in Hawaii to win defense contracts at roughly the same time his brother Greg was juggling the books of Texas wheeler-dealer and Bush “Pioneer” Hubbard to hide line items like private jets flying hookers cross-country. It's known as a continuing criminal enterprise. All that’s missing is a 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? Or... Were their efforts being directed by a shadowy organization whose presence is being hidden from view? Rogue agents & a "few bad apples" One argument against writing off the boys from San Diego as just “rogue agents” and “a few bad apples” is the use the “Enterprise” made of family members who were supposedly employed by people and companies whose names have not yet surfaced in the scandal. People like R.D. Hubbard. Who is R.D. Hubbard, and what does his background tell us about the San Diego cabal? The short answer: They've been at this a long time... Remember the '80's? Greenmail? Drexel Burnham Lambert? Michael Milken...junk bonds... The Predators Ball? R.D. Hubbard grew rich while being backed by Drexel Burnham Lambert. He was a player in the LBO takeover game. Bush "Pioneers" score big 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 for financing their proposed takeovers with illegal junk bonds. When he took AFG, his own firm, private in 1986, Hubbard was accused in lawsuits of masterminding a scheme "to enrich themselves at the expense of the stockholders." Amid protest from share-holders, he took the profitable specialty glass-maker private and moved its base of operations to his native Texas. In takeover forays Hubbard’s AFG was paid roughly $ 25 million in “greenmail” for its share of an investment in GenCorp stock and a similar stake in aerospace contractor Lear Siegler. When he took over Hollywood Park Race Track, board members doubted 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.” Orange County Snarky 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.” Since public attention in the Cunningham Scandal remains riveted on its seamier side, we’ll begin with the hookers. The first big question we haven’t heard asked yet about “Wilkes’ Wenches” is simple. Where the hell are they? Why haven’t they talked? Why no National Enquirer headlines reading “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 arriving from all over in private jets? Was spending the weekend playing in the R.D. Hubbard Invitational golf tournament the reason they were there? Hubbard's transgression only came to light after two female employees of the casino, Gwen Perry and Logan Anne Sabline, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit. According to the suit, the prostitutes openly groped and fondled the male guests during Tournament functions, and allowed the male guests to grope and fondle them. One removed her top during the party in Belterra's Celebrity Room. The suit said the women were ordered to kiss and pat male gamblers as well as lure rich Arab men to the gambling facility. 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.’” Interact more closely with this 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 in the lawsuit that she had been told to attend the Keeneland horse sale in Lexington, Ky. While there, she was told, “she should go to popular bars to pick up rich Arab men to bring them to the casino.” After they made sexual harassment complaints, said the lawsuit, one of the women was demoted and the other was fired. An AP story on August 5, 2002 headlined “Indiana Gaming Commission flexes its muscles” revealed that commission documents indicated 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. As if to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, the Commission wrote: "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.” Deal? No Deal? Howie needs to know 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." After being fingered by state gaming officials for entertaining casino guests with prostitutes and improperly providing them money for gambling, Hubbard's Pinnacle Entertainment paid three million dollars in fines. “After an investigation by State Police, the commission entered into separate settlement agreements with Hubbard and Pinnacle,” the AP story reported. It was the toughest sanction ever imposed by Indiana gaming regulators, reported the Sept 15 2002 Albuquerque Journal, and a far bigger penalty than any ever handed down in Nevada. Hubbard was also forced to resign as chairman of the corporation and agree to sell his stock, and Pinnacle agreed that none of its directors, officers or property general managers would have any business relationship with Hubbard. Bribes, Booze, Booty...Busted. In a case that exposed a world of bribery, booze, and broads that reaches into the Pentagon, the CIA, and Congress, California Republican congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham traded military contracts for $2.4 million in antiques, cash, and “booty.” He's called, in the title of two new books about the scandal “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 that the Randy “Duke” Cunningham story is bigger than the way some would wish to see it portrayed, as just another crooked congressman taking bribes from another crooked contractor. America’s top lawmakers, including one running for President of the United States, awarded their cronies with tens of millions of dollars of defense contracts that did nothing to make the nation any 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 America’s national defense has been rotted away from within is not something any GE-sponsored network is about to confront anytime soon. 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 these revelations provide is a window into Babylon or the last stages of Rome," explained a source in a recent article in Vanity Fair. “What you're looking at is a world where money, secrecy, sex, and indulgence were all in play. Where everyone is guilty of something." “A window into Babylon.” This may be a little strong; in all fairness, Duke Cunningham does not appear an obvious choice for “Elected official most likely to be Packing a Party in his Pants.” Still, there is a growing sense that 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, we’ve been headed the other way, as a society, and that our boats are beating against the current, back into the past.
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