How Did Wilkes' Personal Driver Get DHS Contracts Worth Over $25mil?

[Rose Siding]

And why?

Via Laura Rozen at War and Piece, Harper's reports

I reported last Thursday that Shirlington Limousine and Transportation, Inc., a firm allegedly used by defense contractor Brent Wilkes to provide prostitutes to ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham, is headed by a man who has a long criminal rap sheet and is also a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)....

I reported that Shirlington had won a $21.2 million contract from DHS last year, and the Post found a second contract from the agency, worth $3.8 million, awarded in 2004. Vest found yet another contract for Shirlington: $342,555 from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission....

Shirlington's president, Christopher D. Baker, has a criminal rap sheet that runs from 1979 to 1989. Cab drivers in the Washington area have told me that it would be all but impossible for a man with Baker's past to obtain a license to drive a taxi here, because applying for a license requires the provision of a criminal report and a set of fingerprints cleared by the FBI. Even a string of traffic tickets can lead to the suspension of a taxi license. In fact, being hired to drive a limousine under Shirlington's DHS contract requires a security clearance, which Baker, given his criminal record, would not be able to obtain. Yet Baker had no problem winning a sole-source contract from the DHS that has his company ferrying around town the most senior government officials charged with protecting the country from a terrorist attack. (Neither DHS nor Baker's attorney returned calls seeking comment.)

http://www.signonsandiego.com.nyud.net:8090/news/features/homevideo/images/021202austing_pimpmobile.jpg

[htuttle]

1. "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"

[babylonsister]

2. Riveting questions! How did this slime bucket get by a DHS

security clearance? And why would a contract to a limo company be sole-source? Who knew who?:think:

[htuttle]

3. It was probably due to the 'additional services' his company provided

[babylonsister]

4. Now that's a lot of services for $25M! nt

[htuttle]

6. Like I said in my reply above...

"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/28/AR2006042802345.html

The Cunningham investigation's latest twist came after Mitchell J. Wade, a defense contractor who has admitted bribing the former congressman, told prosecutors that Wilkes had an arrangement with Shirlington Limousine, which in turn had an arrangement with at least one escort service, one source said. Wade said limos would pick up Cunningham and a prostitute and bring them to suites Wilkes maintained at the Watergate Hotel and the Westin Grand in Washington, the source said.

[Rose Siding]

5. Part hush money regarding those services, maybe?