More Dirty Money for Virgil Goode
By: Al Weed for Congress
Published On: 7/1/2006 4:14:37 PM
Crossposted from the Al Weed blog.
Today's Washington Post has an article on Virgil Goode and his MZM entanglements. MZM's Martinsville office is run by a man named Richard Berglund.
According to the filing, Berglund and his wife wrote $4,000 in checks to "Representative A" in March 2005 after MZM's owner, Mitchell J. Wade, handed Berglund an equivalent amount of cash. It says that Berglund gave another $4,000 he received from Wade to two MZM colleagues, who in turn donated it to the congressman.
I can't say I'm surprised. We knew Mitchell Wade funneled a lot of money into Virgil's coffers, it was just a matter of figuring out who the straw donors were. Well, one of them runs the facility in Martinsville. Virgil admitted to being "Representative A" but he still claims he didn't know the donations were illegal.
Wade handed the checks directly to "Representative A" at a March 2005 fundraising event, according to the court document filed yesterday. That was around the time that Wade requested Goode's help in earmarking funds for the facility, according to Wade's plea agreement.
At this point, I don't see how anyone can maintain that Virgil didn't know that he was getting this money to give Mitchell Wade 9 million taxpayer dollars. If the center in Martinsville doesn't live up to expectations, and the struggling city is forced to repay the federal government for $500,000 in grants, because Virgil didn't want his MZM buddies to take the risk -- I don't see how anyone in Martinsville can vote for Virgil Goode this November.
Comments
Good to see this (phriendlyjaime - 7/1/2006 6:49:13 PM)
playing in the media! I love when these dirty secrets go public...
:)
I'm reading Hostile Takeover. (summercat - 7/2/2006 7:54:58 AM)
Even in my most cynical moments, I didn't realize the breadth of what has been done in the area of money-for-legislation. I recommend the book to anyone who really wants the Dems to take hold on some aggressive reform talking points. The Goode machinations are just another prime example of this type of thinking. Go Weed!
it is a terrific book (teacherken - 7/3/2006 8:02:45 AM)
and David Sirota had by far the most influence on dailykos last week, if you look at jotter's weekly ratings.
Coverage (Kathy Gerber - 7/2/2006 11:21:29 PM)
Maybe I'm missing something, but the papers in the 5th where it counts - e.g., Daily Progress, News Advance, Register Bee - didn't carry this story.
But they are heating up with the super-strange LTEs early in the season. There's one in the Register Bee that says the flag is an icon and if we burn the flag, what's next, burning a bald eagle, another icon?
Al supports the ban on burning bald eagles (Al Weed for Congress - 7/3/2006 1:12:58 AM)