Comments (11)

Anonymous wrote on February 15, 2007 10:55 AM:

I wonder how he will fare on the other end of the justice system?

The one that can "make people disappear?"

The one that espouses rendition for innocents or possibly those who know too much.

Wilkes has a lot to worry about.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on February 15, 2007 11:28 AM:

Hi-De-Hi-De-Ho! Off to jail you go!

I was disappointed that Lam's indictment did not cover the activities of the Wilkes Foundation. Laura Rozen at WarandPiece.com thinks GTS Inc. (Global Transportation Systems)was the major contractor on the Wilkes's CIA water contract.

GTS along with other government contractors were the main contributors to the Wilkes Foundation between 2002 and 2004. Were GTS and the other contractors shaken down for contributions?

Mark Hosenball of Newsweek reported that Wilkes raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the San Diego Children's Hospital and the Air Warrior Courage Foundation but according to the 990s filed by the Wilkes Foundation, the money never went through the foundation.

In 2002, the Wilkes Foundation held a Tribute To Heroes gala honoring the Dukester. On the Tribute to Heroes website, Wilkes claimed that the gala raised $600k yet the Wilkes Foundation only reported a total of $295K in contributions that year.

Based on the 990s filed by the Wilkes Foundation, Brent Wilkes was not an especially charitable man.

Richard L. Adlof wrote on February 15, 2007 11:30 AM:

Our boy Brent's skin-tones point towards orange not being his color. I hope that he enjoys jumpsuits . . .

While I am thrilled that he will soon be residing in Club Fed (hopeful for at least one day for every illicit dollar), I am worried that he will be lonely. There are hundreds of folk that NEED to be joining his pastey but not so scrawny arse in stir AND he is just small fish when it comes to this game . . . I pray Brent is not just the token poster boy of justice.

Citizen92 wrote on February 15, 2007 11:49 AM:

And they continue to go down.

Can someone please try and find the 2002 link betewen DC Councilman David Catania and Wilkes' sidekick Mitch Wade?

Catania was the only non-national politician to benefit from Wade's PAC -- and Wade went out of his way to make sure they maxed out contributions to Catania (the PAC, Wade and Wades' wife all gave).

Josh wrote about this in January 2006, but there's been no follow-up.

Why would Wade waste his time with an openly gay, then-Republican City Councilman from the District of Columbia?

Here's Josh's story, intimating there might be something involved with the "Sure Foundation":

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_01_22.php#007525

Mrs. Panstreppon?

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on February 15, 2007 1:00 PM:

On 4/15/05, Yolanda Woodlee of the WP reported that David Catania recommended Effie Barry, Marion Berry's ex-wife, to Wade. She was put on the MZM payroll as a $10k per month consultant in November 2004 to "form a collaboration between the foundation, DC schools system, the Anacostia Museum and the Anacostia Neighborhood Library".

I read one news story which reported the Dukester having earmarked a $100k grant for the Sure Foundation in October 2004. According to the WP, the $100k grant went through DC Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

The 2005 Sure Foundation 990 is not available online so I don't how the $100k grant was spent. From its inception in 2001 through 2004, the Sure Foundaton only made direct grants to organizations and did not administer any of its own programs. No money was spent on the Washington DC project in 2004.

Contributions to the foundation (which came from MZM) were only $102K, $120k and $140k in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The $100k grant was not disclosed seperately in the 2004 990 which reported $257k in direct contributions.

The Sure Foundation was headed by a DOE employee named Tatiana Strajnic. Strajnic was in charge of administering funds for a somewhat vague DOE energy program. She also took at least two trips to Europe on MZM's tab.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on February 15, 2007 2:01 PM:

Postscript: The $100k grant is listed on the Citizens Against Government Waste database as:

SURE Foundation/library and community resources (Federal Payment to the Office of Chief Financial Officer)
No Budget Request, added in Conference
Fiscal 2005

I tried to think what projects Catania and Barry would work on together but I don't know much about DC government. For example, would either men be involved in what happens to the Walter Reed facility after it relocates? I would think the property is quite valuable.

Citizen92 wrote on February 15, 2007 2:13 PM:

Barry is no longer the power player that he used to be in DC - he has a hard enough time staying sober, clean and staying out of jail.

As bad as it sounds, I think there's some sort of gay angle. Catania is openly gay, one of only two Republicans on the DC Council, was a member of the Log Cabin Republicans before Bush came out against gay marriage, and, in 2002, was a $100,000 "Maverick" for Bush-Cheney.

Several commentators on different sites have commented on Cunningham's sexuality (genders of the prostitutes not mentioned in the indictment, the man's penchant for fine art and Louis XIV commodes, the "I've loved men" comment).

As we've learned from the Foley scandal, the GOP "gay mafia" is there but hidden from plain view. And everyone knows everyone else.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on February 15, 2007 3:20 PM:

I don't know what the gay angle could be. Catania was supposed to be a friend of Mitchell Wade but Wade has been married twice and I never read that he was gay.

I checked Catania's website. He and Barry are on the Committee on Health together. Catania and Barry introduced the the "Own Your Home Act of 2007," designed to encourage homeownership by tenants of public housing units.

I can't figure out why Catania recommended Effie Barry to Wade. From the WP:

" Effi Barry was about to pack her bags to move to South Carolina for a college teaching position last fall, when D.C. Council member David A. Catania called.

"He asked me: 'What are you doing? We don't want you to leave the city. I know an organization. . . . Why don't you give them a call?' " Barry said, recounting the conversation.

That encounter between Catania (I-At Large) and the former wife of council member and ex-mayor Marion Barry led to a consulting contract that persuaded her to remain in the District.

Catania said he had immediately thought of Effi Barry when a friend, Mitchell J. Wade, mentioned that his nonprofit wanted to make inroads in the District's poverty-stricken communities. Catania told Wade, a board member of the Sure Foundation, of Effi Barry's ties to the city and knowledge of communities east of the Anacostia River where some of the poorest children reside...."

You'd think Marion Barry would be happy to have his ex move to to South Carolina. Plus Effie Barry gave up a college teaching job to take on what was not necessarily a permanent consulting position which involved being an advisor to a program that was not even funded at the time.

I checked the Anacostia Community Museum and Library websites and they are part of the Smithsonian Institutions Libraries. The museum runs a program for children but I don't think it has anything to do with the Sure Foundation and Effie Barry.

Based on his other "charitable" donations, Wade never did anything for anybody without a payback. The best was his sponsorship of summer camp for Catholic and Protestant children from Northern Ireland at a resort in Sligo Ireland. At the same time, Wade sponsored camp for needy White House fellows at the same resort. The trip is still posted on the White House website.

Citizen92 wrote on February 15, 2007 3:42 PM:

I was thinking Cunningham and Catania might have a connection. Wade was somehow a go-between?

Marion Barry's other wife (not sure if they're still toghether or divorced), Cora Masters Barry runs something called the DC Recreation Wish List -- and one of its facilities is the "Cora Masters Barry" SE Tennis and Learning Center.

Maybe Marion wanted wife #1 to be involved in foundation work just like wife #2?

I just don't know what David Catania is involved in any of this... Particularly with the Barrys, considering Marion is the most liberal of Democrats around -- and represents the waste/fraud/abuse that Catania just loves to rail against.

So back to the original point, what did Catania do for Wade that earned him the payoff? Virgil Goode was also given a PAC donation when Catania was, but that was when MZM a branch in Goode's district.

Mrs Panstreppon wrote on February 15, 2007 4:58 PM:

LOL - I don't know what David Catania was up to with Mitchell Wade but I noticed Jack Abramoff's company, Kaygold LLC, contributed $1k to Catania in April 2002. Wherever Abramoff goes, trouble is sure to follow!

political portrait painting wrote on June 7, 2007 12:43 AM:

I wonder why some people still feel happy despite of other people’s misfortune. I wish a part of them will think about other people’s welfare instead of making more money. Although this is one unique way of being optimistic towards something hopeless the fact still remains that this is an absolute evidence of insensitivity.