Dusty Foggo: Another Drop In The Overflowing Corruption Bucket
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Federal prosecutors filed their government’s sentencing memorandum in the Dusty Foggo plea deal. This is used by the judge as one of many sources to determine culpability, sentencing breaks or enhancements in terms of going up or down levels in the sentencing guidelines — all of which go into the court’s sentencing calculations.
It is a scorcher. A sampling:
By late 2002, Foggo had become Chief of Support Operations at a crucial Overseas Location, with control over millions of dollars in government funds. He also had a high-level, high-paying position with his best friend [Brent Wilkes] waiting for him, as well as a need for money and powerful contacts so he could pursue his plan to succeed Randall "Duke" Cunningham as one of San Diego’s congressional representatives. All of these circumstances and exigencies presented after September 11 put to the test Foggo’s commitment to the core values of the CIA and to his country. He failed that test and seized the opportunity to abuse his CIA offices through a vast criminal scheme.
Although Foggo has admitted his execution of this years-long scheme, he seems unwilling to truly accept responsibility for its full scope. Instead, in his Statement of Responsibility, he attempts to portray himself as having been "influenced" by Wilkes into a "lapse of judgment."…
Foggo’s goal was to succeed Cunningham at the elected official trough. Just what the nation needs.
The lawyers in the readership will be cringing at that last bit — because federal judges hate a weasel attempt at acceptance of responsibility in a plea. That one is likely to result in a sentencing enhancement, which can add months to years of prison time.
This whole sordid saga is tied into the morass of money and corruption that so much of Washington has become.
The halls of power are swimming in a sea of lobbying dollars, no bid contract perks and everything else that goes with courting the seemingly insatiable appetites of people in power and those who surround them. Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, Ed Buckham, Brent Wilkes, Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, Karl Rove…the list goes on and on of people the last few years — on both sides of the political aisle — who are so drunk on power and so intent rake in personal perks that they fail to act in the public’s interest.
Those folks who haven’t been imprisoned…yet…are feted on television (YouTube) or in print as power tycoons whose opinions ought to influence to the rest of us.
Wrong.
When people ask me how this economic mess happened, with no accountability or regulatory oversight putting brakes on fraudulent greedy schemes, my response is this: why should businesses put the brakes on, when politicians who enact the laws do not bother following them themselves?
Why is the American public so greedy and selfish and self-involved? Because the examples of our leadership for years has been exactly that.
You want ethics from the rest of us, Beltway crew? Try living like you have some. Be the example for a change.
Yes!