- Jul 25, 2002
- 10,053
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- 71
Questionable Ethics
It's pretty rare for the FOX News Network, the 'Official Mouth Organ of the GOP Machine'
to even make a reference
to anything that might even slightly stain the sheets of their masters.
But 'Sex in the City' and 'Hookers for Fun nad Profit' fit their guidelines of 'Sin-Sationalism'.
<CLIP>
WASHINGTON ? Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has his own security detail and driver,
but all other senior Homeland Security officials must rely on a limousine company owned by a known felon
whose car service has been riddled with tax and debt problems.
Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc. of Arlington, Va., holds a $21.2 million contract with DHS,
even though its owner, Christopher D. Baker, has a rap sheet in Washington, D.C., that runs 62 pages long.
Among the convictions on Baker's record are attempted petty larceny, attempted robbery,
possession of drug paraphernalia and receiving stolen property. These convictions all came in an 11-year period
between 1979 and 1989. The head of one government watchdog group calls the record troublesome.
"It boggles the mind that anyone who has this kind of rap sheet could ever get a dime from the Department of Homeland Security,"
said Keith Ashdown, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Shirlington Limousine operates out of two nondescript locations, a townhouse in Northern Virginia and a unit
in a condominium complex in Washington, D.C. The DHS contract calls for 12 minibuses and 16 drivers to handle local
travel and 10 additional drivers to chauffeur department executive staffers in Homeland Security-owned sedans.
. . . "With the kind of rap sheet that's been described in a case like this you'd expect to see the contractor possibly
on a list of excluded parties, meaning that they might be temporarily suspended or even permanently debarred from
doing business with the federal government," said Steven Schooner, a law professor at George Washington University.
. . . Interest in Shirlington arose peripherally to another, larger case. A defense contractor who pleaded guilty
in the bribery case of former Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham suggested that another contractor, Brent Wilkes,
hired Shirlington Limo to move prostitutes to poker parties that were held for defense contractors, lawmakers and CIA officials.
The parties were aimed at currying favor from government officials involved in the process of awarding lucrative federal contracts.
Cunningham is currently serving a federal prison sentence for taking $2.4 million from government contractors.
Wilkes, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Cunningham case, has not been charged with a crime.
The poker parties were also attended by Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo,
the former No. 3 man at the CIA, who stepped down from his post on Monday.
The CIA released a statement on Foggo's behalf last week acknowledging Foggo's attendance
at the games held in area hotel rooms, but said nothing untoward happened while he was there.
It's pretty rare for the FOX News Network, the 'Official Mouth Organ of the GOP Machine'
to even make a reference
to anything that might even slightly stain the sheets of their masters.
But 'Sex in the City' and 'Hookers for Fun nad Profit' fit their guidelines of 'Sin-Sationalism'.
<CLIP>
WASHINGTON ? Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has his own security detail and driver,
but all other senior Homeland Security officials must rely on a limousine company owned by a known felon
whose car service has been riddled with tax and debt problems.
Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc. of Arlington, Va., holds a $21.2 million contract with DHS,
even though its owner, Christopher D. Baker, has a rap sheet in Washington, D.C., that runs 62 pages long.
Among the convictions on Baker's record are attempted petty larceny, attempted robbery,
possession of drug paraphernalia and receiving stolen property. These convictions all came in an 11-year period
between 1979 and 1989. The head of one government watchdog group calls the record troublesome.
"It boggles the mind that anyone who has this kind of rap sheet could ever get a dime from the Department of Homeland Security,"
said Keith Ashdown, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Shirlington Limousine operates out of two nondescript locations, a townhouse in Northern Virginia and a unit
in a condominium complex in Washington, D.C. The DHS contract calls for 12 minibuses and 16 drivers to handle local
travel and 10 additional drivers to chauffeur department executive staffers in Homeland Security-owned sedans.
. . . "With the kind of rap sheet that's been described in a case like this you'd expect to see the contractor possibly
on a list of excluded parties, meaning that they might be temporarily suspended or even permanently debarred from
doing business with the federal government," said Steven Schooner, a law professor at George Washington University.
. . . Interest in Shirlington arose peripherally to another, larger case. A defense contractor who pleaded guilty
in the bribery case of former Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham suggested that another contractor, Brent Wilkes,
hired Shirlington Limo to move prostitutes to poker parties that were held for defense contractors, lawmakers and CIA officials.
The parties were aimed at currying favor from government officials involved in the process of awarding lucrative federal contracts.
Cunningham is currently serving a federal prison sentence for taking $2.4 million from government contractors.
Wilkes, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Cunningham case, has not been charged with a crime.
The poker parties were also attended by Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo,
the former No. 3 man at the CIA, who stepped down from his post on Monday.
The CIA released a statement on Foggo's behalf last week acknowledging Foggo's attendance
at the games held in area hotel rooms, but said nothing untoward happened while he was there.
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