AP reports:

A federal judge refused on Friday to give I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby access to a wide range of information from several government agencies, saying he would not allow the former White House aide's trial in the CIA leak case to become a debate over the war in Iraq.

"You want to try the legitimacy of us going to war," U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton told lawyers for Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff. "I don't see how that will help us determine whether Mr. Libby lied when he talked to the FBI and went before the grand jury."

CIA Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo has told friends he'll resign his post next week, the Washington Post reports. Meanwhile, former NSA director Gen. Michael V. Hayden is widely rumored to be the White House's pick to replace Goss as CIA director. Time magazine has a profile. The Wall Street Journal confirms that Foggo is under "federal criminal investigation" for improperly awarding agency contracts. Meanwhile, no one seems to have an answer for why Goss resigned so abruptly -- without warning or explanation.

At TPMCafe, Larry Johnson adds his own insights to the fiasco.

The Washington Post connects Christopher Baker, owner of alleged prostitution transporter Shirlington Limousine, to alleged Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes, via onetime San Diego defense contractor Jerome Foster:

Baker's connection to Wilkes began in the late 1990s when he was introduced to the contractor by Jerome Foster, a San Diego businessman who was then a director of Shirlington Limousine, Foster said in an interview.

Foster said he met Baker at the Watergate Hotel when he hired Baker as a driver. Baker told Foster that he had had legal and money troubles, Foster said, and he agreed to serve as a mentor to the driver.

At the time, Foster said, he had Navy contracts, used the same lobbying firm as Wilkes and was discussing doing business with Wilkes. He said he has not seen either man in years and was "shocked" when he learned about Baker's contracts.

Foster said the Baker he knew was naive about business. "He wasn't an individual I would have thought could have gotten that kind of contract on his own," Foster said.

Wow.

In the course of our research into Christopher Baker, the owner of the limo company that allegedly ferried prostitutes to lawmakers, we've been confronted with a widening constellation of legal representation. And it's gotten more impressive as we've gone along.

First, there's Sandy Roberts, a business attorney who is Shirlington Limousine's original counsel. He didn't return our call.

And then there's Baker's personal criminal attorney, Bobby Stafford. He's the one who made a questionable denial to the San Diego Union-Tribune about what Baker may or may not have seen.

When we called Stafford today, he referred us to a third lawyer -- Michael York -- who is handling all media inquiries, Stafford's office told us.

It's not hard to figure why. York is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist:

After graduating from law school in 1978, he spent eight years at the Lexington Herald-Leader, where he and another reporter won a 1986 Pulitzer for exposing corruption within the University of Kentucky athletic program. In 1987, York moved to the Washington Post.

He went on to a career in law, where he's represented such heavy hitters as Phillip Morris. So far, has not returned our calls.

So it appears that Baker is in a number of good -- and increasingly expensive -- hands. Pretty impressive for a guy who just got out of bankruptcy.

The New Republic's Spencer Ackerman reporting:

According to a CIA spokesperson (who spoke on background: "we're not doing names today") Goss's resignation is "totally separate" from the controversy surrounding CIA Executive Director/former procurement official Dusty Foggo's longtime friendship with defense/intelligence contractor Brent Wilkes. . .

[A]s to what that has to do with Goss, "do not connect those," the spokesperson said. Is Foggo leaving CIA as well? "I have nothing for you on that.... Nothing for anybody. I mean, today's topic is Porter."

More rumors:

Foggo was a problem for Goss, sure, but he wasn't the only problem, I'm told. There were a few, and they got to be too much.

There's been a drumbeat for the past few weeks that Goss would be leaving -- and it was louder than the Goss-is-leaving drumbeat folks have heard for the past year, two sources said. The crescendo came in part because several of his close aides have found ways to leave the director's office in the last few weeks, or put out feelers to find something new. "The whole group was out fishing" for new jobs, a former CIA official told me, "and the whole world knew it."

Other problems added to his trouble: Two sources told me that the President's discreet and influential Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board has been interviewing CIA officials and others over the past several weeks, as part of a larger investigation. My sources didn't know or wouldn't tell me what the panel was examining, only that "a lot" of the people it talked to "were unloading on the director."

We knew the CIA Inspector General was probing CIA #3 man Kyle "Dusty" Foggo's connection to Brent Wilkes and his contracts with the agency. But when CNN's John Roberts said maybe 20 minutes ago that Foggo was under investigation by the FBI, also, I think that's the first time that's been authoritatively reported. If it's accurate -- and I don't see why it wouldn't be -- that's big trouble.

We reported yesterday that the Watergate Hotel had received multiple subpoenas relating to the federal probe of Wilkes, Cunningham et al. But news accounts have mentioned a second hotel -- the Westin Grand -- as a favorite of Wilkes for entertaining lawmakers, their staff, and CIA officials with booze, food, cards and possibly prostitutes.

I have been calling the Westin Grand -- both the hotel and its corporate headquarters -- since yesterday afternoon, but they have yet to speak with me for the record. In fact, despite promises to do so, they have yet to return any of our calls requesting comment.

Lotta words. Little information:

Statement by CIA Director Porter Goss

This morning, I notified the President that I will be stepping aside as Director of CIA. It has been my distinct honor to serve the President, the people of the United States, and the very able men and women of the Central Intelligence Agency. I am grateful to President Bush for the trust and responsibility he placed in me, and for allowing me the privilege of serving him, and the people of the United States.

When the President asked me to become the last DCI, I fully recognized and embraced the challenge of leading this Agency through historic change, not just for the CIA, but the entire Intelligence Community. It was my desire to lead the CIA -- this is where I started my career, and where I always wanted to return.

Read more »

Here come the rumors.

Over at Warandpiece.com, Laura Rozen says she's hearing that Negroponte, or possibly the White House, gave Goss the boot, and it was sudden. That fits with what I'm hearing: that Goss didn't jump, or at least not without a nudge.

Rozen says she's been told Goss' departure "may have to do with how Goss handled a management issue concerning Foggo."

I've heard it a bit more bluntly: Goss was told to fire Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, his troublesome Executive Director, and Goss refused. That's what we're hearing now from knowledgeable sources. But there's a lot of contradictory information. We'll bring you more as the picture becomes clearer.

During his press conference just now, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) announced that he was leaving that afternoon to check in to the Mayo Clinic, where he admitted he'd been over the Christmas break for addiction to prescription medicine.

The reason, he said, is that "the incident on wednesday concerned me deeply.... I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited with three infractions." He said he was "deeply concerned about his reaction to the medication and lack of knowledge about the incident that evening."

Update: Here's the text of Kennedy's statement.

CIA says they're putting out a statement soon on Goss' resignation. My guess: it won't tell us the real reason he's stepping down. For that, Rozen speculates, we may need to look into the pages tomorrow's paper.

As we mentioned before, former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) was the first on CNN to mention a connection to Brent Wilkes' prostitution ring as the reason behind Porter Goss' sudden resignation. Here's the transcript:

Reporter: So why is President Bush accepting Porter Goss's resignation? What do you make of the timing of it?

Bob Barr: I think there's going to be more coming out. We don't know the whole story...

Reporter: But Congressman, there's something that doesn't make sense here, you know? There's something... I am wondering whether this resignation is something to come, Porter Goss wanted to get out of the way. Do you have any sense of that on Capitol Hill or from your sources in Washington?

Bobb Barr: We've seen brewing out of the congressman Duke Cunningham scandal, probably now for several months. It's starting to reach into the CIA and that come very... well... like a sore that's been festering, that could very well burst out and maybe that's a reach into the top levels of the agency.

Reporter: Are you saying the director himself, congressman?

Bobb Barr: I can't imagine that. I know Porter, I've known him for many years and I can't imagine him part of that. But if you've got the top two or three people at an agency working under him and he's going to put them in there and place the faith and the trust of the government in these people and then he becomes tainted by this, it certainly reflects on the leadership.

Bob Barr, thank you very much.

Various pundits now out and hypothesizing on the reason for Goss' sudden departure -- without warning, without a stated reason, without a timeline, without a successor.

Was he upset for not being tapped to be Director of National Intelligence? Couldn't take the pressure?

CNN: "There's something. It's an indication fo something to come, Porter Goss wants to get out of the way."

Former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) gets first mention of possible link to Cunningham scandal, 2:18 PM Eastern on CNN.

We have the same suspicions, based on our earlier reporting. For more background, read our coverage here and here.

Goss out, apparently effective immediately. . . No successor named. . . No word on the fate of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, Goss' #3 at the agency, whose name has been repeatedly mentioned in the developing Cunningham-Wilkes-Wade hooker scandal. We've got a call in to the agency to find out.

CNN, not looking in the right places: "Taking a look at what's out on the Internet -- not much controversy involving the director himself."

From joint Oval Office announcement of Porter Goss' resignation as CIA director:

Bush: "I appreciate his integrity. I appreciate the honor he brought to the job."
Goss: "It has been a very distinct honor and privilege to serve you."

breaking. . .

Update: MSNBC confirms. . .

Late Update: Here's the transcript of Bush's and Goss's remarks.

I really hope this isn't true.

In three weeks, David Safavian's trial will begin. This was supposed to be Jack Abramoff's big court debut, since Safavian's on the hook for allegedly lying about his relationship with Abramoff to ethics investigators at the General Services Administration, where Safavian was chief of staff.

This wasn't going to be the big show. But it would have provided Abramoff the opportunity to rehearse for later trials -- say, Bob Ney's or Tom DeLay's. Taking cross examination isn't easy, and he could have used the practice.

But it looks like prosecutors might try to let Abramoff's emails do the talking for him:

If the government can get the e-mails declared admissible as evidence for next month's trial, prosecutors might not have to call admitted felon Abramoff as a witness against Safavian.

The government does not want to put Abramoff on the witness stand, Safavian's lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, said of the prosecution's e-mail gambit...

Prosecutors may want to save Abramoff for bigger criminal cases down the road, for example against members of Congress.

From the AP:

Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a news conference that she had not spoken directly to [Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)] about the investigation. "But he knows what is going on, and the ethics committee should investigate what is going on."

At the same time, Pelosi sought Thursday to differentiate the Jefferson case from what Democrats have labeled the "culture of corruption" linking the Republican majority and special interests represented by disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. "The Republicans are all tied together," she said. "Mr. Jefferson is his own behavior, he is responsible for it."

Responding to a query I made yesterday to the department, Homeland Security spokesman Larry Orluskie emailed me to confirm his department did in fact present a "recognition award" to Shirlington Limo in April 2005. The company has flirted with bankruptcy, had its federal licensing revoked, and is run by a longtime felon. It is currently being investigated for allegedly transporting prostitutes and lawmakers to parties hosted by alleged Congress-briber Brent Wilkes.

"Shirlington Limousine and Transportation was recognized for their prompt and courteous service to DHS Headquarters employees in the form of shuttle service and sedan drivers," he wrote.

"Regardless of the criticisms on blogs and slanted reports, this contractor is delivering a much needed service to this department with utmost professionalism, and the contract solicitation and award was completely up-and-up in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation."

Here's a timeline of gaffes by the youngest Kennedy in Congress, courtesy of the Boston Herald.

The paper also found a woman at the Capitol Hill favorite Hawk and Dove bar who said Kennedy had been drinking, after all. Sleep-drinking, perhaps.

BONUS: The courageous Wonkette has published Kennedy's police statement from his car accident outside a CVS three weeks ago. It looks like he was sleep-writing. Damn those pills.

In addition to stopping by the Watergate Hotel yesterday, I hit up a number of other hotels to see what anyone could tell me about Shirlington Limo, which reportedly ferried hookers and congressmen to parties hosted by crooked contractor Brent Wilkes.

The trip was largely a bust. Doormen and concierges at the Hilton Washington (a.k.a. the Hinckley Hilton), the Fairmont, the Ritz-Carlton, the Watergate, the Westin Grand and the Marriott Washington all said they'd never heard of the company.

I spoke to maybe a dozen limo and shuttle drivers, also, most of whom stared blankly when I mentioned Shirlington Limo. Two drivers recognized the name, and one offered to put me in touch with friends who'd driven for the company. We'll see what pans out.

Pentagon Official Suspected of Aiding Iraq Fraudsters

Every scam needs an inside man, and federal prosecutors think they may have found at least one in the Navy.

Douglas Combs served as assistant to Navy Secretary Hansford Johnson during the Iraq invasion. From that post, it's believed he tried to steer high-dollar contracts to Custer Battles, a company recently found to have used front companies and fake paperwork to bilk the military for millions of dollars.

Combs and Johnson, now outside of government, jointly purchased the remnants of Custer Battles. The company continues to operate in Iraq. (WSJ)

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This one just rose to true comedic heights. According to the latest report, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) says he wasn't drunk driving -- he was sleep-voting. We'll let Roll Call take it from here ...

"Last Tuesday, the Attending Physician of the United States Congress treated me for Gastroenteritis," a stomach illness. According to Kennedy, the attending physician prescribed Phenergan, an anti-nausea medication, which in addition to treating gastroenteritis, "I now know [it] can cause drowsiness and sedation."

"Following the last series of votes Wednesday evening, I returned to my home on Capitol Hill and took the prescribed amount of Phenergan and Ambien, which was also prescribed by the Attending Physician some time ago and I occasionally take to fall asleep. Some time around 2:45am, I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote.

"Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication. At that time, I was involved in a one-car incident in which my car hit the security barrier at the corner of 1st and C St, SE. At no time before the incident did I consume any alcohol."

AP reports:

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Thursday he's not surprised by allegations of prostitution in the corruption case involving former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a former committee member.

Chairman Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., said he has discussed the matter with authorities and expected to raise the issue with an independent investigator he has hired to review Cunningham's committee work.

"If I'm trying to connect dots, this is not a surprising outcome," Hoekstra said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Hoekstra also said he expected his committee to wrap up its investigation into Cunningham's activities within "weeks."

I stopped by the Watergate Hotel this afternoon and chatted with Josh Graham, the assistant general manager, about the recent stories swirling around his establishment.

According to Graham, the Watergate has received multiple subpoenas in connection with the Wilkes Hookergate scandal. He went on to say that the hotel is complying with those subpoenas but that he couldn't discuss the content of the orders, nor could he discuss details of the investigation, "out of respect for our guests' privacy."

The Wall Street Journal had originally reported that investigators "had requested, and been given, records relating to the investigation and rooms in the hotel," but not that they had used subpoenas.

I put in a call to the Westin Grand -- the other hotel reportedly used by Wilkes to entertain lawmakers with poker, food, drink and possibly prostitutes. No one there could immediately confirm it had received similar subpoenas.

Heckuva job, Shirlie?

In April 2005, the Department of Homeland Security gave an "achievement award" to Shirlington Limousine Company. You know, the outfit run by the bankrupt felon who's now under investigation for running hookers to congressmen?

(This was noted by others earlier, but it bears another mention.)

This does not look good.

From Roll Call:

Police labor union officials asked acting Chief Christopher McGaffin this afternoon to allow a Capitol Police officer to complete his investigation into an early-morning car crash involving Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.).

According to a letter sent by Officer Greg Baird, acting chairman of the USCP FOP, the wreck took place at approximately 2:45 a.m. Thursday when Kennedy's car, operating with its running lights turned off, narrowly missed colliding with a Capitol Police cruiser and smashed into a security barricade at First and C streets Southeast.

"The driver exited the vehicle and he was observed to be staggering," Baird's letter states. Officers approached the driver, who "declared to them he was a Congressman and was late to a vote. The House had adjourned nearly three hours before this incident. It was Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy from Rhode Island."

Baird wrote that Capitol Police Patrol Division units, who are trained in driving under the influence cases, were not allowed to perform basic field sobriety tests on the Congressman. Instead, two sergeants, who also responded to the accident, proceeded to confer with the Capitol Police watch commander on duty and then "ordered all of the Patrol Division Units to leave the scene and that they were taking over."

Baird said he had been advised that after the officers departed, Capitol Police "House Division officials" gave Kennedy a ride home.

Baird has called for a "complete and immediate investigation."

A man identifying himself as "Sam Johnson" from Shirlington Limousine called me this afternoon, returning my message from this morning. After identifying myself as a reporter, I asked what he could tell me about the company and the allegations that have been reported in recent days.

"What I can tell you is I can have someone from my public relations call you," he said. He took my name and number -- odd, I thought, since he had just called me -- and promised to pass it along. My fingers are crossed.

I've spent the morning talking to the heads of various limousine services in the D.C. area. They had all read the Post article about Christopher Baker and Shirlington Limousine, but no one seemed to know the guy well -- or they didn't want to talk about him.

"I only knew him vaguely," Cliff Powell of Mahogany Limo told me. "He's in big trouble now, isn't he?"

Paul Rodberg, the current president of the Washington Metropolitan Limousine Association said Baker was not a member of his group; the previous president, Reggie Tymus, who started his term in 2001, said the same.

"I knew he had financial troubles," said Rodberg, who's also president of Reliable Limousine. Other than that, he said, "I don't know anything about it."

Read more »

Two of Jack Abramoff's tribal clients gave money to the New Hampshire Republican State Committee shortly before Election Day in 2002. And as I reported last month, one of those contributions, a $10,000 check from the Mississippi Choctaw, was misreported as $5,000.

The Senate Majority Project has filed a complaint with the FEC today arguing that the NHRSC deliberately misreported the true amount of the contribution. Why? Well, $5,000 was the legal limit for the Choctaw to contribute that year. And beyond that, the NHRSC waited until just before the election to cash the check (October 29), despite having received it much earlier (it's dated October 10) - a crafty move that allowed them to defer reporting the contributions until after the election. That way no one would know on Election Day that casinos thousands of miles away were inexplicably pumping money into the party.

And as they note, there were some pretty fishy things happening around Election Day in New Hampshire that year.

Check it out.

Ah, another day, another ethics complaint. This one's against Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), anti-environmentalist, Abramoff chum, and DeLay sidekick.

You can read the complaints (there's an IRS one too) at CREW, or, if you prefer, you can see some of the same allegations at this site with the added bonus of a little Pombo doing the mambo.

Poor Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL). She's got enemies all around her -- her former staffers, former advisers to her Senate campaign, even her own Republican party.

Now, they seem to be conspiring to bring her down with leaks. In a way, it's almost noble that the party will smear its friends as easily as it would smear an opponent. In Harris' case they're even gentlemanly about it -- her former campaign strategist Ed Rollins has now gone on the record twice to share derogatory information about her.

This time, he backs up two former staffers who tell the Orlando Sentinel she made an earmark for Mitchell Wade's MZM, Inc. "a priority," overruling their objections to it. Before Wade found himself singing like a canary to federal investigators, he was busy helping to procure hookers, spreading cash around Capitol Hill, and taking Harris to a $2,800 dinner, all apparent efforts to win fat government contracts. Rollins told Harris he thought her dealings looked bad -- and now he's telling you:

"I said, 'Duke Cunningham got cash from Wade, and in your case he's promising to raise money,'" said Rollins. . . "I told her, 'This is how it's going to look.'"

Read more »

New Leak In Valerie Plame Case: She's Writing a Book

Former CIA undercover agent Valerie Plame, whose identity was exposed in a series of conversations with White House officials, was the victim of another leak, this time from the New York publishing world. Two anonymous sources confirmed to the New York Times that Plame has been shopping a book proposal around town. (NYT)

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GOP super-strategist Ed Rollins (late of the Katherine Harris campaign) made a couple interesting comments on Charlie Rose last night. First, he indicated strongly that he believes a number of the other lawmakers in trouble with Hookergate are Defense appropriators. He also says as many as 15 lawmakers could get indicted over the mess in the next few months.

Maybe Ed's playing the expectations game: if voters buy the 15 number, and only seven actually get busted, well then the kids aren't so bad after all. Still, it's interesting speculation from an insider. I just found the show transcript on Nexis -- emphasis is mine:

ED ROLLINS. . . If this House scandal is as big as I think it is from talking to people that are around it -- of course it started with Cunningham and it`s moving beyond that.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Duke Cunningham.

ED ROLLINS: Duke Cunningham, a congressman from San Diego who took bribes. There was a real little cabal on the Defense Appropriations Committee in which a couple of people who basically made an awful lot of money off of defense contractors and basically rewarded a bunch of members, Republicans.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Including a story that broke over the weekend, perhaps the use of prostitutes.

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TPMm Reader BS writes about receiving less-than-Cunningham-level service from Brent Wilkes' favorite limo company on the night of his senior prom:

I have some personal experience with Shirlington Limo which fits in nicely with the picture we have now. Just by way of background I'm a long time Northern VA resident just out of college.

We (myself and about 7 others) made the unforunate mistake in June of 2000 of hiring Shirlington to provide us with a limo for prom night. It was the last minute so our choices were either Shirlington Limo for a fee that seemed reasonable, or a Stretch Navigator from another company which, of course, was way too much expensive despite us all being "upper middle class".

Anyway, they took a $100 deposit and wanted me to fax the iterary, no problem. Prom night rolls around, the guy is at least 30 minutes late, and because it is prom night and reservations were made at a fancy restaurant this wasn't the greatest of news. Then the driver informed us that the deposit we made was essentially meaningless. He needed a cash payment and told me that I would have to take up the issue of the deposit w/ Shirlington.

After finally getting on the road, 30 minutes late, the driver asked us very nicely that "if we get pulled over could you guys say I picked you up at Clyde's in Georgetown or something". The driver that Shirlington had sent over was not even legally allowed to pick up anyone in Virginia (imagine my shock).

Based on my experience Shirlington Limo sounds exactly like the type of company I want to entrust with a contract to shuttle around some of our nations most important officials (and prositutes).

Sounds like it was a pretty rough night. But I talked to BS and his dad, and it sounds like they've gotten over it.

My quest for a complimentary Shirlington Limo Company pen has intensified.

Shirlington's most recent business filing says its principal office is located at 425 8th St. NW, as well as 717 D St. NW. (The airport is actually the listed address for company owner Christopher Baker. We're not the first to note this guy claims many locations.) So this afternoon I stopped by both.

I didn't have much luck at the airport; my bad luck held at the downtown offices.

On paper, the 8th St. address looked familiar. Arriving at the building, I realized why: I used to date a woman who lived there. It's not an office building at all, it's a luxury rental high-rise called the Lansburgh. It features a heated indoor pool, a virtual golf room, two exercise rooms, a very nice spa -- in an unguarded moment, I once confessed to a friend I wasn't sure if I was dating the woman or her building amenities.

It was also once home to former Attorney General Janet Reno. Condoleezza Rice is rumored to have stayed there as well.

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The vote just ended: 217-213, with 8 Democrats voting for it, and 20 Republicans against.

Who are those 8 Dems? Maybe we can buy them a nice meal?

Update: Here's the tally. More on the bill here.

The Dems who voted for the bill are:

Rep. John Barrow (D-GA)
Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK)
Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA)
Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT)
Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA)
Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS)

Later Update: Here's CREW's Executive Director Melanie Sloan on passage of the bill:

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As Josh mentioned yesterday, Shirlington Limousine had quite a sketchy history (even excluding the prostitutes) to be receiving a $21 million contract with the Department of Homeland Security.

Well, here's one more bit of sketch to add to the mix.

On two different occasions, Shirlington had its federal license, called the motor passenger common carrier authority, revoked by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It was first revoked on September 11, 2000 and reinstated April 4, 2001, and then again revoked June 13, 2005 and reinstated October 31, 2005.

What does that mean? Basically it means that they weren't allowed to cross state lines during those periods.

But it's a little more complicated than that, so I talked to Ian Grossman of the FMCSA. To get all bureaucratic on you, a carrier without that authority cannot carry passengers outside of their "commercial zone." In the case of Washington, D.C., the zone extends 15 miles in all directions beyond D.C.. It also includes Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, as well as the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park in Virginia.

Phew.

Here's what this adds up to. Shirlington got their wings clipped (or tires slashed - choose your metaphor) in April, 2005, just prior to winning that huge DHS contract in October of 2005.

So during the months when DHS would have presumably been evaluating Shirlington's fitness to ferry senior officials around, their cars couldn't take passengers far outside D.C. You'd think that would be a problem if a DHS official needed to be taken to Baltimore-Washington International Airport for example.

This was the best company DHS could find?

Responding to the news that a businessman has pled guilty to bribing Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) through payments to his wife's company, TPMm reader BK chimes in:

Republicans shouldn't be gloating too much. The fact that the DOJ is pursuing a bribery case against Rep. Jefferson based on payments to his wife's company doesn't bode well for Tom and Christine DeLay, Tony and Lisa Rudy and John and Julie Doolittle. Not to mention John Sweeney.

Yes, indeed.

I took a field trip this morning to the world headquarters of Shirlington Limousine & Transportation, Inc. hoping to talk to people in the building, and get a sense of what the company was like. Maybe pick up a complimentary pen.

My expedition didn't last as long as I'd hoped.

Since the mid-1990s, the company we now believe ran hookers to and from "hospitality suites" run by Brent Wilkes has rented office space in Hangar 7 of the general aviation wing at Washington D.C.'s National Airport. The building is currently operated by British-owned Signature Flight Support, which provides services for corporate jets -- baggage handling, de-icing, fueling, that kind of thing.

Did the Signatures folks want to chat about their unusual neighbors/tenants? No, it turns out. And I'm not the first to ask, either.

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Shirlington Limousine, pegged by news outlets as Brent Wilkes' hooker ferry service, had two more government contracts that haven't been reported, Harper's says: one with the Department of Housing and Urban Development ($519,823) and one with the Federal Highway Administration ($142,000). Added to the contracts we already knew about, this brings the company's total business with Uncle Sam to over $25 million. Silverstein's got more juicy details too, including the fact that the company operated under four different names.

It's only getting worse for Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). Vernon Jackson, 53, the CEO of Louisville-based iGate Inc., pleaded guilty today to charges of bribing Jefferson. This is the second plea to implicate Jefferson. The first other was from his former aide, Brett Pfeffer.

From the AP:

Prosecutor Mark Lytle said Jackson paid roughly $360,000 over a four-year period to a company controlled by the congressman's wife in exchange for Jefferson's help promoting iGate technology in Africa. Jackson also gave the company a 24 percent stake in iGate and paid for $80,000 in travel expenses on the congressman's trips to Africa to promote iGate.

Jackson said in court that the congressman helped iGate receive a government certification allowing the company to obtain military contracts. After that, the congressman insisted on financial compensation to continue his efforts on behalf of iGate.

Update: Here is the "Statement of Facts" to which Jackson pled guilty. "Representative A" is Jefferson.

Another Update: And for a more readable summary of the charges, here's the DoJ's press release about the plea:

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Ouch. Last night, Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) got 68.38% of the vote against a nobody rival with virtually no campaign money. Not as bad as it could have been - Hotline even seems to think it's a good sign - but certainly not the overwhelming show of support he'd hoped for.

But it's gonna be a long, long haul till November, as he tries to fight off his Democratic challenger as well as the Justice Department. We brought you word last month that he spent 40 percent of his campaign money on his lawyer in the first quarter this year. Well, it looks like he's going to have to keep dipping.

Ney's defense fund got a whopping eight contributions this year, totalling $40,000. Eight. And more than half of them came from one family - three members of the Boich family gave, in addition to two of their businesses, for a total of $25,000. You can see the fund's report here. None of the money has been spent yet, possibly because it would soon be gone. Ney's paid at least $232,000 in campaign funds to his lawyer, Mark Tuohey, over the past year. And the number's only going to go up as the DoJ's investigation heats up.

According to Roll Call, Ney's camp is saying that the dismal showing is because Ney "has not put much effort into raising cash for the legal defense fund." Right.

Last Friday, the AP reported that GOP big-wig Haley Barbour was one of the investors in GOP Marketplace, the consulting firm central to the New Hampshire phone jamming.

But a closer read of the company's founding documents shows a much deeper connection than Barbour admitted to the AP. He had direct control over the company's management. And a look at the timeline of the company's founding shows that it was something of a pet project for Barbour and his partners.

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Here's an odd anecdote. TPMm Reader RC, a close friend of the author, writes:

Last year I was hailing a cab from the Capitol late in the afternoon and a black sedan pulled up and offered to take me wherever for whatever I usually pay. I said I didn't trust him and he said I should trust him because he worked for DHS (!), so I took the ride. I bet that was Shirlington.

As a postscript, RC adds:

After I was in the car and we were on our way, I was asking the guy how I could be sure he didn't want to rob me. He said he could tell by the look of me that I was the type that went to the ATM every few days and rarely carried more than $50 in cash, so robbing me wouldn't be worth it to him. (This being how I could be sure he didn't want to rob me!) He *did* say his company had a contract with DHS (rather than working directly for the agency).

Anybody else have an experience like this?

As Josh reported over at TPM last night, we're finding some odd connections between Brent Wilkes, owner of San Diego, CA-based ADCS Inc., and the Virginia-based Shirlington Limousine Company, which he is reported to have hired to ferry hookers to and from his "hospitality suites" in various Washington D.C. hotels, where he entertained congressmen and others.

The main tie seems to be the persona of Jerome Foster, another San Diego-based defense contractor, who sat on the board of Shirlington Limo from its inception in the early 1990s until 2000. As Josh explains it, the two are connected through a third man, former Rep. Bill Lowery (R-CA):

If you've followed the Wilkes story, you know that the guy who taught Wilkes how Washington works and has been in the mix with him ever since is former Rep. Bill Lowery (R-CA). Wilkes first spent quality time with Lowery back in the 1980s when one of Wilkes' jobs was to take Lowery on trips down to Central America to hang with Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and the Contras.

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"It's highly unlikely she can succeed. . . the tea leaves are pretty easy to read at this point."
- Former FL GOP Chief Al Cardenas, speaking yesterday to a reporter about Harris' chances of winning

"I never give up. I never give in. I will not quit. In the U.S. Senate, I will fight for Florida and for you with all my heart."
- Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL), in new TV ad released yesterday

It takes a thief...

Last week we learned that Jack Abramoff keeps busy between visits with prosecutors by hitting the beach - well, now it seems that his buddy Michael Scanlon has found his own way to keep busy when he's not dishing on Members of Congress.

From Roll Call:

In the irony-on-steroids category, guess who was defending his graduate thesis on Congressional ethics Monday? Cover your eyes and guess, then sit down for the answer.

It was Michael Scanlon. Yes, that Michael Scanlon, the one who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. His topic, as Scanlon himself confirmed, was an "evaluative history of the House ethics process."....

Our source says Scanlon got up and gave a roughly one-sentence introduction of his thesis before taking questions from the four faculty members and nine other students in the room. He says Scanlon talked about the House ethics committee and argued that the "system now is not broken, but functioning in the same manner it has since its creation."

Scanlon essentially argued that the House ethics process is "political in nature" and that Members were never expected to do a very good job at policing each other, the source says.

Asked why he was now getting his master's degree at such a precarious moment in his life (precarious being an understatement), [Scanlon] said he actually finished classes at [Johns Hopkins University] six years ago but never got around to arguing his thesis.

"It was just a loose end in my life," he said.

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Ah, the Shirlington Limousine Service.

I dismissed the angle at first, despite the curious details surfacing about the car company which ferried the hookers to Wilkes' parties, and also brought Cunningham to the hookers, according to reports. Also noted: the company owner has a 62-page rap sheet; he had a contract with the Department of Homeland Security, and one with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Also, he had tax problems.

That was all interesting, I thought. But it diverts us from the crux of the story: Who got the hookers? Who had sex with hookers? Who paid for the hookers?

I'm now reconsidering my conviction. Why? Shirlington Limo appears to connect a growing list of high-powered Washington elites to the world of crime. On the one hand, the company's contracts with sensitive agencies, and comments by company owner Chris Baker, imply it has connections with power brokers. On the other, Baker's rap sheet and tax complications point to his more-than-passing familiarity with the underworld.

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WPost's Tom Edsall, in an online chat: "This is the kind of story that smells like there is a whole lot more there, and if there is, it will be one great story."

Despite the all-but-certain federal indictment hanging over his head, Abramoff money-and-favors recipient Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) is expected to win his congressional primary, being held today. His competitor, James Broadbelt Harris, is an unknown who hasn't campaigned -- he hasn't even filed with the FEC, which indicates he has raised less than $5,000, CQ's Greg Giroux tells me.

I called Giroux to get his take on the election. While he expects Ney to win, he said, he's curious about what kind of "protest vote" Republicans in the district will cast for Harris, reacting to Ney's ethical troubles.

"I'd be surprised if Harris got more than 20 or 25 percent," Giroux told me. "That would be a sign that there is a chunk of the Republican base that's disenchanted with the incumbent."

"If Ney gets in the 80s -- and he very well may -- that'd show that at least Republican voters are behind him, and they weren't willing to look at this alternative candidate," Giroux said.

What do we know about Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the highest-ranking CIA official to admit he attended poker parties thrown by crooked contractor Brent Wilkes? Thanks to a handful of enterprising journos, we know a surprising amount about the guy, whom the CIA insisted was undercover until late last year. Those facts help draw a line through history that leads Foggo -- and others -- from the jungles of Central America to the posh hotel suites where Wilkes did his questionable entertaining.

(A quick shout out to the San Diego Union Tribune, Laura Rozen and Jason Vest, whose work forms the basis for this post.)

In November 2004, newly-installed CIA chief Porter Goss reached down into the ranks of long-serving middle managers at the CIA to make Foggo the Executive Director of the agency. Thus the lifelong friend of Cunningham briber Wilkes found himself in charge of running day-to-day operations for the $5 billion spy outfit.

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Those White House visitor logs that were supposed to show all of Jack Abramoff's comings and goings?

The infuriating exchange from this morning's press gaggle:

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Last week we rolled out a new feature called the Midterm Muck Project; it's a list of races where ethics and/or corruption will be a defining issue. We'll be following these this fall as part of TPM's broader Election 2006 project. In part, we're doing this to see how much ethics really does play a role this November; but also, we'll want to be on these races to catch incumbents when they try to spin their way out of trouble.

I had a preliminary list, but asked readers to send in more examples of ethically challenged Members that might be worth our attention.

And after combing through the entries, we've added two more to the tally: Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) and Rep. JD Hayworth (R-AZ).

Now, if your entry didn't make the cut, don't despair. We can still be convinced. But we want evidence that not only does your rep have serious ethical problems, but also that those problems will have a significant impact on the campaign. We will be watching mostly close races, but we're more than happy to make exceptions for rarities like Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), who is polling strongly despite his very considerable muckiness.

Again, to help, send in your rep's name, a brief description of the muck, and, if possible, a link to a supporting article.

Here's our running tally:

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The CIA confirmed to the Wall Street Journal what we knew already from multiple eyewitness accounts: Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the CIA's #3 official, attended Wilkes' poker parties at hotel suites around Washington, D.C. where prostitutes allegedly entertained.

But that's it, the agency says. He never saw any hookers -- at least not while they were playing cards.

"If he attended occasional card games with friends over the years, Mr. Foggo insists they were that and nothing more," CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise-Dyck told the WSJ:

She said Mr. Foggo says he never witnessed any prostitutes at the games and that any allegation to the contrary would be "false, outrageous and irresponsible."

Good to have that on the record. Foggo's an interesting character -- with ties to Wilkes that go back more than 30 years, and have stretched as far as Central America and the Middle East. More on the two later.

Tom DeLay Gets The Best Representation Money Can Buy

Former majority leader Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) has shelled out $1.3 million in legal fees in less than two years. He has four different firms helping him face money laundering charges in Texas, and federal investigators in D.C. They've received $400,000 from DeLay this year alone. Thankfully, he still has friends to pick up the tab, including Bob Perry, the main money man for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco. (Boston Globe, Roll Call)

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From MSNBC:

Intelligence sources say Valerie Wilson was part of an operation three years ago tracking the proliferation of nuclear weapons material intro Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson's cover was blown, the administration's ability to track Iran's nuclear ambitions was damaged as well.

Unfortunate. Like a fly in your chardonnay.

The White House stonewalled for months, and maybe now we'll learn why. From the AP:

The Secret Service has agreed to turn over White House visitor logs that will show how often convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff met with Bush administration officials - and with whom he met.

U.S. District Judge John Garrett Penn last Tuesday approved an agreement between the Secret Service and Judicial Watch, a public interest group, that requires the agency to produce records of Abramoff's visits from Jan. 1, 2001, to the present.

Judicial Watch filed suit in February after the Secret Service failed to respond to its request under the federal Freedom of Information Act....

The visitor logs are to be delivered to Judicial Watch by May 10.

Kids and corruption. I guess they just go together.

We've written before about the DeLay Foundation for Kids, Tom DeLay's charity for foster children that was lavished with corporate generosity while DeLay was in power. The charity served his lavish lifestyle, its fundraisers providing him an excuse to tour the country's finer golf courses, teeing off with lobbyists and eager executives (here's a picture of DeLay with Jack Abramoff at a DeLay Foundation event).

Well, it appears that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. DeLay's operation must have seemed like a mighty good idea to Michael Scanlon, DeLay's former press secretary who pled guilty last year to bribery and fraud charges, because Scanlon formed his own version: the Scanlon Foundation for Kids. The foundation, incorporated in Delaware on December 16, 2002, was registered to the same address as Scanlon's $4 million home on Rehoboth Beach.

Scanlon was no slouch at creating shell companies. His American International Center, formed in early 2001 and also run out of his home, served to launder millions of dollars from Abramoff clients. And Scanlon, of course, worked closely with Abramoff, from whom he could have learned the fine art of the fake charity.

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Last week, CIA Director (and former House intelligence committee chairman) Porter Goss denied news accounts which suggested that he attended parties-of-ill-repute thrown by alleged Cunningham briber Brent Wilkes. The parties centered around poker but, at some point, ladies of the evening are said to have shown up to add to the merriment.

We'll take Goss at his word -- for the moment, anyway. But just which members of Congress did show up at Wilkes' parties?

The San Diego Union-Tribune said "members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees" joined CIA officials at Wilkes' shindigs to play cards, eat, drink. . possibly, they stuck around for more.

Of course, dozens of congressmen have served on those panels during the dozen or so years Wilkes threw his parties. But anyone playing at home probably has questions about a few lawmakers in particular -- those known for their ties to Wilkes and their positions of power. We'll call these folks members of Congress with a clear Wilkes predicate.

So we called them and asked: did you ever attend a party thrown by Wilkes?

Their responses:

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) -- Chaired the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee (which hands out Pentagon pork) from 1999 to 2005. From 1995 to the present, took $51,000 in donations from ADCS and Wilkes -- more than any other lawmaker besides Cunningham.

"He has never attended anything remotely like that," said Lewis' spokesman Jim Specht. "He only know Brent Wilkes through California politics, and never dealt with him in terms of any Washington activities."

Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-CA): Since 1995, took $41,000 from Wilkes/ADCS, right behind Lewis. Has personally pocketed $14,400 from Wilkes. Helped swing an unrequested $37 million Pentagon contract to a Wilkes-owned company. Sits on Appropriations Committee.

Did not return our call.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA): Took $37,000 from Wilkes/ADCS. Repeatedly pushed the Pentagon to contract with Wilkes for inferior products and services the department said it did not want or need.

"The congressman has never been to a party with Brent Wilkes," spokesman Joe Casper told me. "In fact, Congressman Hunter doesn't smoke, drink, and to his own account he's not that much fun at parties."

Responding to press reports late last week that he'd shown up to frat party drunk, Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) now says that he "wasn't drunk and wasn't even drinking" at the frat party he attended at Union College last month.

So we called up the reporter for the Union College newspaper, John Tomlin, who had described Sweeney in his piece as "openly intoxicated." He stood by his story. Students at the party he spoke to agreed: Sweeney was clearly drunk. And one perceptive student told him not only that Sweeney had been drinking at the party, but that his beverage of choice was a Keystone Light beer. Another student confirmed to us that he'd seen Sweeney drinking beer.

"I distinctly recall being there [at the party] and thinking to myself, 'This guy is drunk,'" Tomlin said. Ha talked to a number of people there, and they agreed.

But I guess you never know. Maybe a room full of frat boys don't know a drunk guy when they see one.

With Americans' attention focused on the civil liberties encroachments coming from the federal level -- the Patriot Act, the Pentagon's domestic surveillance, the FBI's secret warrants -- we've hardly noticed the dangers in our own backyard, U.S. News and World Report says in an important new piece: local police.

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Grand Ole Partier?

Those kids who told the Union College reporter that Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) was drunk are mistaken, according to Sweeney's spokeswoman:

Sweeney, though, says he wasn't drunk and wasn't even drinking at the frat party. He gives a very different account than the ones written about in the Albany Times Union's blog and the Union College school newspapers, which suggested Sweeney was hammered when he crashed the Delta Phi party. The newspapers' Web sites also included photos of Sweeney with students at the bash looking, well, half in the bag.

"You weren't there, that's speculation," Sweeney's spokeswoman, Melissa Carlson, told HOH. True. And she pointed out that Sweeney "isn't supposed to be drinking" because he's on medication trying to recover from a recent three-week-long hospitalization for a condition doctors believe to be vasculitis, an inflammation of blood vessels in the brain.

"He wasn't drinking," she said, adding, "What's wrong with him stopping by and talking to college kids?"

Sweeney's friend (seen in a couple of the pictures) who accompanied him to the party says that Sweeney had only had "a half a glass of wine" before he went over. He added that Sweeney was "absolutely not" inebriated and he "wasn't slurring his words," as the Union College paper had reported.

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The Post brings us word that Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), lobbyist shill extraordinaire, is bored to tears about all this corruption hullabaloo:

Doolittle declared that voters have little or no interest in ethics legislation.

"Do I think they care about it? No, I don't," Doolittle told a reporter. Doolittle said that during the April 7-23 recess, he did not hear "anything about Jack Abramoff," the central figure in a lobbying scandal.

Indeed, this seems to constitute a broad Republican strategy of willful disinterest. Nevermind that voters actually do care about corruption. Perhaps if they're told enough times that they don't, they'll start to believe it.