Letters to the Editor
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What's wrong with this picture
Where did Wilkes get the money to pay for his attorney, Mark Geragos? (Michael Jackson, Whitewater, etc, etc). If this was a high profile drug profiling case the US Attorneys would prevent Wilkes from using any of his illegal profits, (the man is technically bankrupt) to pay for legal fees. Wilkes deserves the same treatment as the Media Cartel. Questions are also raised about the current U.S. Attorneys office, formerly represented by Carol Lam, who almost didn't prosecute the Cunningham case in the first place, and who was fired for pursuing a Republican Congressman, rather than chasing a few illegals around the back country with warrants?
Evidently Wilkes and Cunningham will not testify at their own trial. The Wilkes defense is, "Everybody does it, this is business as usual in Washington." It should be interesting to see if a jury can be convinced of their innocence, but San Diego is a Republican sanctuary. Lam prosecuted a City Councilman on bribery charges using an FBI wiretap, and the judge threw out the juries conviction, summarily. The US Attorney's office under Lam promised to retry the case, and I think her replacement Karen Hewitt, also pledged to pursue it, but the councilmen launched counter suits, and will likely prevail. The case was a travesty of justice. Lam later went to work for Qualcom, a San Diego company. Her replacement is a member of the Federalist Society.
The deeper question remains, how many black contracts were steered through Cunningham? Duncan Hunter, former Chair of the Armed Services Comm, and a friend of Cunningham, declined to run for office again, and his son will try for his seat, same name. It's likely Hunter is up to his ears in this too, but this trial promises to be a white wash. If this is business as usual it deserves a lot more attention.