Suburban Guerrilla » A Finger In Every Pie : Brent Wilkes

Go for a bit of a trip on this one... Follow the links... starting with Susie...

This Brent Wilkes character sure does get his fingers in a lot of pies.

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At Schwarzenegger’s behest, Brent Wilkes, founder of the government contractor ADCS Inc., resigned Nov. 29 from the Del Mar Fair Board and from another panel that oversees the leasing of state land for racetracks, said Margita Thompson, the governor’s press secretary. ...more
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We'd like to believe the connections between Tom DeLay and Randy Cunningham are modest. BUT, when Cunningham also knows Brent Wilkes, who also donates $70,000 to Schwarzenegger's Campaign to Reform/Deform California. We find that things run deeper.


From the American Prospect...by Laura Rozen
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According to the Center for Responsive Politics, an organization that tracks political donations, Combs himself has, like Wilkes, given a sizeable amount of money over the years to politicians. (In 2004, he gave more than $12,000 to Cunningham, Representative Duncan Hunter, George W. Bush, ADCS's PAC, and the PAC of Representative John Doolittle, of the House Appropriations committee. A San Diego Reader article from 2000 estimates that Combs had given $25,000 to various politicians by the year 2000.)

What does it all mean? This investigation sheds light on another of the rabbit holes through which Wilkes may have improperly received US government contracts. Yet the issue also speaks to the layers of companies and multiple channels by which Wilkes penetrated deep into the secret contracting world of the US government –- and the many avenues by which he did so -– not only through the help of Cunningham. Yet questions remain: what is the status of the four individuals described as co-conspirators in the Cunningham indictment? Are any of them cooperating with the investigation? Is Wilkes cooperating? (In an interview a couple of weeks ago, his lawyer Michael Lipman wouldn't comment on whether Wilkes was cooperating or not.) If so, to whom else might Wilkes lead investigators? Many signs indicate that Cunningham may not be the big fish in this case at all.
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I felt sick to my stomache to hear about the corruption... Now, I'm just ill knowing how deep it runs and how far we have yet to go...


USAToday explains...
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Wilkes' ties to Hunter and Cunningham go beyond campaign contributions. In 2003, the businessman's foundation hosted a "Salute to Heroes" gala to give Hunter an award, just as it did for Cunningham a year earlier. The Wilkes Foundation gave $1,000 in 2003 to a charity run by two of Hunter's staffers, records show.

Wilkes also provided a jet that Cunningham and other Republicans used for more than a dozen flights to campaign fundraising events since 2001, records show.

Providing flights gives donors a chance for hours of one-on-one contact with the lawmaker they want to influence, said Keith Ashdown of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

"Most other lobbyists would give up their second lung to get that kind of access," Ashdown said. "It's not always illegal, but it's definitely a strategy of influence that's unparalleled."
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