Brent “Boom Shaka Laka” WilkesWe spend a lot of time here at TPMmuckraker digging into Brent Wilkes’ doings. And yet, despite all the seamy details, there just hasn’t been that one thing that really brings the man alive for me. Oh, but my wait is over.
Turns out that Wilkes had a habit of shouting “catch phrases such as ‘boom shaka laka’ and ‘yeah baby’ whenever good news arrived.” What good news? Well, you’d think that Duke Cunningham pushing through a multimillion dollar earmark would be an occasion for a “BOOM shaka laka!” And you can be sure that Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), and Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) were all good for a “Yeah baby!” on a number of occasions.
What’s more:
In May 2004, Wilkes’ employees threw him a surprise party on his 50th birthday.About 200 people attended the event, which included batting cages, a mechanical bull, a steel drum band, jousting and a dunk tank.
Banners with Wilkes’ favorite sayings, such as “God loves a working man,” “Boom Shaka Laka,” and “Happy 50th … Yeah Baby!” were in view.