Bravo to Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Renae Merle, staff writers at the Washington Post, for being the first media outlet to pick up the developing story on the possible involvement of Rep. Virgil Goode in the MZM scandal. In “Lawmaker-Contractor Deals Questioned: Congressman’s Relationship With Defense Firm Chief Sparks Call for Ethics Probe,” in today’s Post, they devote nearly half of the article about MZM to Goode’s role in the developing scandal. The new information comes in this bit:
Goode was the principal sponsor of a provision in 2003 defense legislation that called for the creation of a military center in his district, known as the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center, which MZM was hired to run, said a senior defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
So it turns out that MZM actually got the contract — Goode followed through.
It’s my hope that Birnbaum and Merle will find out what Goode’s involvement is in this and that, one way or another, this story end up in the Roanoke Times and the Danville Register-Bee, where his constituents will read about it. Bravo to the Post for their ongoing research.
One more note: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have issued a press release urging an ethics investigation into both Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who started all of this, and into Virgil Goode.
Thanks to Donald J. for the pointer.