Virgil Goode
Mitchell Wade, the former CEO of defense contractor MZM Inc., has admitted to illegally directing about $90,000 in campaign contributions to Goode, who used his position on the House Appropriations Committee to create a special program that would have outside companies scrutinize foreign ones before they could receive Defense Department Contracts.MZM created a facility to do jus that, called the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center, and opened it in the heart of Goode’s district. Goode helped push contracts for the Center worth $3.6 million in 2003 and $9 million in 2005.
Among the MZM employees to donate to Goode’s campaigns was James C. King, former head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency who took over as CEO of MZM after Wade was forced to resign and the company was sold to Veritas Inc. and renamed Athena. King and his wife Jeanne donated $12,000 to Goode’s 2004 re-election campaign.
Goode, a five-term Congressman from Virginia, was initially elected as a Democrat, but he switched parties in 2002. Wade and the employees who helped him fill Goode’s coffers have said Goode did not know the contributions were illegal, and Goode has since donated them to charity.
Categories
Government Officials | Homeland Security | Defense
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