REGION: Ex-defense contractor gets prison in Cunningham bribe case


Calling the crimes "quite damning," a federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Monday sentenced Mitchell Wade, a former defense contractor, to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for bribing former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Wade also was fined $250,000 by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina for his role in the largest uncovered congressional corruption case.

"I'm a different man today," Wade told Urbina during the hearing. "I've taken radical and drastic steps" to change my life.

The 45-year-old Wade, a central figure in the Cunningham corruption case, was not taken into custody Monday. A spokesperson with the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., said the Bureau of Prisons will determine when Wade must turn himself in to begin his sentence.

Wade pleaded guilty in 2006 to giving Cunningham more than $1 million in bribes, a yacht dubbed "The Duke-Stir" and other gifts, including shopping sprees for antique furniture.

Prosecutors say the amount of the bribes, which included buying Cunningham's Del Mar home for a vastly inflated price, totaled about $1.8 million.

Cunningham, a powerful Republican who represented northern San Diego County for eight terms in Congress, steered about $150 million in government defense contracts to Wade's company, MZM.

Wade's sentence essentially splits the difference between the four years that prosecutors wanted and the year of house arrest that Wade had requested. His attorney, Howard Shapiro, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Wade was the last person to be sentenced in a scandal that forever tarnished the reputation of Cunningham, who had been regarded as a Vietnam war hero for downing five North Vietnamese aircraft while serving as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot.

Cunningham pleaded guilty in 2005 to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from Wade and former defense contractor Brent Wilkes of Poway. Wilkes was later convicted of conspiracy and other charges. He is appealing his 12-year sentence.

Cunningham is nearly three years into his more than eight-year sentence. The 67-year-old is awaiting a response to the petition he filed earlier this year asking President George W. Bush for clemency.

Cunningham, who is serving his sentence at a federal prison near Tucson, Ariz., is now regarded by many as the poster child for congressional corruption and the catalyst for reforming the award of earmarks, which allowed lawmakers to award defense contracts outside the normal appropriations process.

"This whole saga with Cunningham has been a horrible chapter for the Republican Party, and the party made no excuses for Duke and his conduct," Tony Krvaric, chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego County, said Monday. "This is going to be brought up for decades. The damage is incalculable."

Krvaric said Cunningham, Wade and others tied to the bribery conspiracy "deserve whatever sentence they got." And, he said, he does not want to see Cunningham granted clemency or a pardon.

At the time of the bribery, from 2001 to 2004, Cunningham represented a large swath of North County as the congressman representing the 50th District. He had a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, which holds sway over the Pentagon purse strings.


