Another Of Roy Blunt's Sleazy Friends Is Headed To Prison

A close friend of Rep. Roy Blunt, defense contractor Mitchell Wade, is expected to enter a guilty plea today in Washington for his role in the Rep. Duke Cunningham bribery scandal.

Wade and Brent Wilkes, another defense contractor who bribed Cunningham, have extremely close ties to Rep. Tom DeLay and Rep. Roy Blunt. In fact, the duo of Congressman have been ferried around on private planes owned by Wilkes.

In fairness to Wilkes, he has yet to be formally charged, though his friends at the Justice Department like to refer to him by his nickname, Unindicted co-conspirator #1.

According to a January 25, 2005 AP story, Texas prosecutors have
subpoenaed records of communication between Cunningham, DeLay, Blunt
and Wilkes over federal legislation that may have benefitted firms with
ties to Wilkes.

Wade and Wilkes paid bribes to Cunningham, and perhaps others, to obtain earmarks for defense contracts for their firms.

They used the part of the proceeds from their ill-gotten gain to pay bribes to some members of Congress, and political contributions to others.

But Roy Blunt says he has no plans to return the contributions from Wade or Wilkes. As recently as December 9, 2005, long after Wade and Wilkes role in the Cunningham scandal became clear, Blunt said he saw no reason to give back this dirty money, though several other Members of Congress has the integrity to do so.

According to a Post-Dispatch story, Burson Taylor, Blunt's spokeswoman:

"All contributions were completely legal and were disclosed in compliance with the law and will not be returned," said Blunt spokeswoman Burson Taylor.

Contrast Blunt's attitude with that of Rep. Jerry Lewis of California:

"He's concerned that Cunningham's conviction has cast a cloud over any program that was involved in this and he believes that his it's best for him to divest himself of those funds," Lewis spokesman Jim Specht said.

So Blunt refused to give the money back when it was merely the right thing to do. Now that Wade is going to prison, expect Blunt to scramble to give back the money, because now, it's the politically beneficial thing to do.

For more background on the schemes by Wade and Wilkes, check out this amazing story by the San Diego Union Tribune.