In Tuesday’s State of the Union address, the President didn’t dwell on an important issue: lobby reform to end the corruption that seems endemic in the halls of Congress. This week, we’re about to see just how far this pattern of money and influence may reach: from the federal level right down to the District’s own councilmember and Georgetown alumnus David Catania (I-At Large).
Catania’s 2002 campaign for office received $6,000 from Mitchell Wade, Wade’s wife and Wade’s D.C.-based defense contracting business, MZM Inc. (this information was first reported at www.talkingpointsmemo.com). At the time, Catania was a Republican (he left the party in 2004 because of its antagonism towards gay rights) and it seemed reasonable that a local Republican would give to a Republican candidate.
Fast forward to 2005. Representative Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Ca. ) resigns his office and pleads guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for influencing defense contract legislation. One of the main conspirators in the bribery was none other than Mitchell Wade.
Wade is now at the center of a massive federal corruption investigation that includes Cunningham and several other representatives. It seems that he was targeted when he gave large donations, giving to those who could benefit him: Cunningham, a member of the influential Defense Appropriations Committee and Reps. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) and Katherine Harris (R-Fl.), whose districts were home to his business interests.
Why did Wade support Catania so generously, especially considering news reports indicating that MZM Inc. was struggling at the time?
“[A]s far as I knew, Mr. Wade was a very successful republican,” Catania told The Voice in an e-mailed statement. “I obviously had no knowledge of the wrongdoing that he is accused of. His contributions to my reelection campaign, like those of over 2,000 other individual contributors, were legally accepted and accurately reported.”
Catania and his staff declined to answer additional questions about their relationship or explain the large donations. Wade was unavailable for comment.
Some have speculated that this may have been another attempt to buy influence, although Cunningham, with whom Wade also had a close relationship, was known for using his position in Congress to affect legislative changes in D.C. These included a clean-up program for the marina where he lived on a yacht (which, incidentally, was financed by Wade).
A Washington Post article from April 2005 revealed that Catania and Wade were friends and that Catania had at least one meeting with staff from the SURE Foundation. The foundation is one of several groups, registered to the same address of MZM, Inc., that are suspected of being a front for political or financial purposes (both Cunningham’s wife and daughter were board members at the SURE Foundation.)
None of this proves that something unethical or illegal occurred in Catania and Wade’s relationship; my experience covering Catania leads me to believe that Catania is a councilmember who puts his constituents’ interests first. Nevertheless, Catania’s refusal to speak about this issue and its suspicious circumstances raises serious questions for the public and the press.
