More unanswered questions from the Cunningham affair

[question everything]

According to the San Diego Union Tribune that broke the case, Cunningham's office pressured the Pentagon to give $16 million to these specific individual:

Cunningham was very specific as to how the money was to be dispersed, according to prosecutors.

On the morning of Dec. 10, 2003, one of his staffers asked the Pentagon to give the money directly to Wilkes' company. But an hour later – after a change of strategy on Cunningham's part – the staffer called back to say the money should go to Wade as a prime contractor, who would then pay Wilkes as a subcontractor.

“The staffer apologized and said she knows she just made everyone in the Pentagon angry at her,” wrote a Pentagon official overseeing the program. “She owes us one.”

For the next six weeks, Wade and Wilkes waited for the money to come down the federal pipeline. In late January, Cunningham lost patience and began pressuring Pentagon officials to speed up the funding. “We are trying to expedite this one,” one official assured him.

On Feb. 20, the Pentagon released the $16.5 million. Wade, who prosecutors said kept a supply of Cunningham's official congressional stationery in his office, took out a sheet and typed a thank-you letter to CIFA Director David Burtt.

From http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060304-9999-1n4anatomy.html


Can any Congressman, or a Senator, as powerful as s/he may be, tell the Pentagon with whom to do business? If so, then some major overhauls are needed.

This, in addition to watching who is living beyond their means. We always hear about the net worth of people in Congress. Are these releases mandatory or voluntary? And is there any watch group that is figuring our how, say, a Cunningham, can afford a rolls, a yacht, and a million dollars home?