Cunningham home sale to defense contractor to raises questions
By: Wire Reports -
SAN DIEGO - A defense contractor bought Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's Del Mar home in November 2003 and sold it nearly nine months later at a $700,000 loss, it was reported today.
At the time, the Republican congressman was supporting Mitchell Wade and his firm MZM Inc. in efforts to win Pentagon contracts, The San Diego Union- Tribune reported.
Cunningham used the proceeds from the sale to buy a home in Ranch Santa Fe for about $2.5 million, the newspaper reported.
About the same time, Wade's company, which had been suffering through a flat period, was awarded tens of millions of dollars in defense and intelligence-related contracts, according to the Union-Tribune.
Cunningham denied anything untoward about the dealings.
"My whole life I've lived aboveboard," he told the newspaper. "I've never even smoked a marijuana cigarette. I don't cheat."
But others congressional and political watchdog organizations said it just didn't look right.
"This doesn't look good at all," Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told the Union-Tribune. "It doesn't look like something that was on the up and up."
Wade was unavailable for comment last week. Scotty Brumett of MZM Inc. said Wade bought Cunningham's home to raise the firm's profile in San Diego.
"We were looking at expanding our company presence in San Diego," he told the Union-Tribune. "We looked at the property and thought it would work for us. But after we bought it, we realized that it did not meet our security or our corporate needs."
The Del Mar home was put back on the market within a month of the purchase, but it was never included on the multiple listing service used by Realtors, the newspaper reported.
Property records show the buyer of the Del Home as 1523 New Hampshire Avenue LLC. Nevada state business records show that Wade owns that company, the name of which is the same as the address of his Washington, D.C., office.
Cunningham told the Union-Tribune the real estate deal was independent of any help he may have given MZM.
"I don't have anything to do with contracts," Cunningham said.
MZM has been a major contributor to Cunningham campaigns, having donated $13,000 in the 2003-04 election cycle, the Union-Tribune reported.
According to the newspaper: Wade was a Pentagon program manager before starting MZM in 1993. In 2003 and 2004, MZM's business picked up. In fiscal 2003, it won $41 million in defense contracts. Since then, MZM has added tens of millions of dollars in additional contracts, including a $5 million contract to provide interpreters in Iraq. In 2004, MZM had $66 million in revenues, according to Washington Technology magazine, which put the relative corporate newcomer on its 2005 list of "Top 100 Federal Prime Contractors."
