Busby blasts Bilbray over 'tainted money' from campaign donations

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Tuesday, April 25, 2006 8:56 AM PDT ∞

NORTH COUNTY -- The 50th Congressional District's upcoming runoff election is getting dicier by the day, with Democrat Francine Busby blasting Republican opponent Brian Bilbray on Monday for failing to return "tainted money" and Bilbray saying that he wants to focus on the issues -- not name-calling.

Campaign finance records show that Bilbray took thousands in campaign donations from former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham over the years, as well as from one of the men linked to the disgraced former lawmaker.

In a Monday phone interview, Busby said Bilbray needs to give all the money back or donate it to charity.

Meanwhile, Bilbray said by phone Monday that Busby needs to stop taking potshots at him and focus on the real issues of concern to 50th District voters, things such as illegal immigration, the war in Iraq and the national deficit.

He also said that he has donated about $6,000 of the $15,000 in political contributions to local charities and plans on donating some of the remaining $9,000 in the coming weeks.

In an earlier interview, Bilbray also called Busby a hypocrite for those accusations, saying that she has taken campaign donations from lobbyists and other questionable sources.

Cunningham pleaded guilty last year to charges of tax evasion and having received more than $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering tens of millions in government business to two defense contractors. The following day, he resigned from his congressional seat, and it has been vacant ever since. On April 11, a special election was held to select a temporary replacement to serve out the remainder of his term through the end of the year.

However, because no single candidate captured more than half the votes, Bilbray and Busby will face off in a June 6 runoff election.

Court records refer to one of the people who allegedly gave bribes to Cunningham as co-conspirator No.1. Sources close to the investigation have confirmed that person is Poway resident Brent Wilkes, who owns local defense company ADCS Inc.

Federal Election Commission campaign finance records show that in 2000, a political action committee controlled by Cunningham -- American Prosperity Political Action Committee -- donated $5,300 to Bilbray's campaign committee. Bilbray served as the then-49th Congressional District congressman between 1995 and 2000.

Commission records also show that Wilkes, his wife, the ADCS political action committee and an ADCS executive contributed a combined total of $9,000 in campaign donations to Bilbray between 1998 and 2000.

However, finance records also show that Bilbray apparently donated to charity $6,000 of Wilkes' campaign contributions.

In a Monday phone interview, Busby said it is time for Bilbray to do the right thing, and give back or donate to charity all of the money he received from Cunningham, Wilkes, ADCS or its employees.

"We have to make a clean break from 'Duke' Cunningham and ... the people who are his co-conspirators in this bribery scheme," Busby said.

On Monday, Bibray said that he wasn't aware of the other money that had been donated by the ADCS political action committee nor an executive working for Wilkes. He said that he plans on donating the rest of that money to charities as well.

As far as the money from Cunningham's committee is concerned, Bilbray said that most of that money was spent long ago, in his unsuccessful run for re-election against Democrat Susan Davis in 2000.

"How far back do you go?" Bilbray asked. "I served in Congress with Cunningham and knew him, but does that make me guilty?"

Rather than focus on blaming each other for who gave money to whom, they should concentrate on the issues, Bilbray said.

"The broad brush can work both ways," he said. "I don't want to spend the next month going through her contributions and trying to find something to embarrass her or question her integrity."

He said he would like to keep "cheap shots" to a minimum, "talk about the facts, the issues."

In an interview last week, however, Bilbray had criticized Busby for some of the campaign contributions she has received.

"She is being extremely hypocritical," Bilbray said last week. "She has taken donations from registered lobbyists."

He cited the fact that in February, Busby received a $500 donation from former U.S. Sen. Dennis De Concini, D-Ariz.,who was a member of the so-called "Keating Five." According to Federal Election Commission records, La Jolla resident De Concini is a partner in a Washington lobbying firm.

In the early 1990s, De Concini was one of five elected officials accused of having intervened with federal regulators on behalf of the owner of a savings and loan operator Charles Keating, while taking campaign donations from him. All five of those legislators denied any wrongdoing. The scandal contributed to De Concini's retirement in 1995.

On Monday, Busby said that it is absurd for Bilbray to try and deflect criticism by pointing out a donation she received from a man who was neither censured by Congress nor charged with any crimes.

"There is absolutely no equivalency between the money I received from De Concini ... and the men (Bilbray) has taken money from," she said.

Bilbray campaign spokesman Steve Danon on Friday said that Busby is trying to divert voters' attention from the issues.

"Francine Busby is trying to play the guilt-by-association game instead of talking about the issues that hard-working voters want to hear about, like illegal immigration and balancing the federal budget," Danon said. "We are not going to play that tit-for-tat game."