GOP Senses Defeat in CA-50

...His life is getting lonelier. He has been dropped by charities; his office building is for sale; his federal contracts are drying up. Once a ubiquitous figure in San Diego politics, Wilkes might as well have ceased to exist. Former San Diego congressman Brian Bilbray, a Republican who was in the House until 2001 before retiring to become a lobbyist, is running for Duke Cunningham's vacated seat. Bilbray told NEWSWEEK, "I may have met Brent once or twice, but I really do not remember." Bilbray did discover that Wilkes had donated $7,000 to his campaigns, but the candidate has given the money to charity. "I wouldn't know Wilkes if I saw him in the street," said Bilbray.

$7,000 Amount of Cunningham money taken by Brian Bilbray.

$6,000 Amount of Brent Wilkes money taken by Brian Bilbray.

(Washington, D.C.) – According to official F.E.C. filings, former Congressman Brian Bilbray refuses to return $13,000 in tainted donations from Duke Cunningham and his co-conspirator. Bilbray accepted $7000 from Cunningham before he pleaded guilty to charges of accepting $2.4 million in bribes and gifts from defense contractors and evading more than $1 million in taxes. He accepted $6000 from co-conspirator Brent Wilkes and his defense contracting company ADCS. Co-conspirator Mitchell Wade plead guilty to four felony counts in conjunction with the Cunningham bribery scandal. Even Bilbray’s former Republican primary opponent Bill Morrow donated a $1000 contribution from ADCS to a local charity in 2005. So why is Brian Bilbray holding tight to $13,000 in tainted cash, including $7000 from a Congressman who went to jail for his crimes?

“By refusing to return dirty money from Cunningham and his co-conspirators, Brian Bilbray has made it very clear that he stands for more of the same old GOP business-as-usual,” said DCCC Communications Director Bill Burton. “Californians need someone who will fight for them in Washington, not one more registered lobbyist to slither around fighting for the special interests and currying favor with contractors. They have experienced first-hand the cost of this kind of special-interests-come-first corruption and they will not tolerate more of the same from Brian Bilbray.”