July 14, 2005
15 Jul 2005 // Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has prepared a complaint against Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, which it released today.
Following Rep. Cunningham’s announcement last night that he will not seek re-election, CREW urged the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to launch its own investigation into Cunningham’s activities. Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, said “the House should not wait to see if Cunningham is indicted to take action against him. We expect Members to adhere to a standard of conduct higher than merely avoiding indictment. Rep. Cunningham’s conduct clearly violates the rules of the House, which should compel the ethics committee to act.”
Rep. Cunningham is now the subject of a grand jury investigation into whether he took bribes from Mitchell Wade and Wade’s defense contracting firm, MZM, Inc. Cunningham sold his San Diego home to Wade for approximately $700,000 over market value and in Washington, Cunningham has been living rent-free aboard Wade’s yacht, the Duke Stir. In exchange for Wade’s largesse, Cunningham has assisted MZM in securing tens of millions of dollars in defense contracts.
In addition to the charges regarding Wade and MZM, CREW’s complaint also requests that the ethics committee investigate Cunningham’s relationship with convicted felon Thomas Kontogiannis, who allegedly purchased, refitted and returned another boat to Cunningham, the Kelly C. At Kontogiannis’s request, a mortgage company owned by his daughter and nephew also provided Cunningham with discount mortgages on his San Diego home and a Virginia condominium. CREW also asked the Committee to investigate whether Cunningham broke federal law by using the congressional seal on knives he sold through a web site.
CREW, which as an outside group cannot file a complaint directly with the ethics committee, is releasing the complaint in the hopes of finding a Member of the House of Representatives willing to certify that the allegations are made in good faith and to forward the complaint to the Ethics Committee for consideration. CREW drafted the complaint, filed by then Congressman Chris Bell (D-TX), for which Tom DeLay was admonished last year.
CREW has been involved in exposing Rep. Cunningham’s activities since the first allegations appeared last month. CREW filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on June 20, 2005 with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and with the Department of Defense to garner any communications between Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA), Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), or any other Member of Congress regarding defense contractor MZM, Inc. and the company’s president, Mitchell Wade, from January 1, 2001, to the present.
CREW also filed a complaint on June 20, 2005 with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging serious violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) by MZM and Wade. The FEC complaint alleges that MZM and Wade violated the FECA by 1) forcing them to contribute to MZM’s PAC and to specific candidates; 2) by making illegal corporate conduit contributions to the PAC and to candidates.
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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit, progressive legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.
For more information, or a copy of the complaint, please visit www.citizensforethics.org or contact Naomi Seligman at 202.588.5565/press@citizensforethics.org.
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