From New York Daily News:

It's far from letter-perfect

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

The very day it refused to accept thousands of letters from Daily News readers outraged by cuts in our counterterror funding, the Department of Homeland Security reported that a letter of another sort it long insisted did not exist had suddenly materialized from its files.

Presto! There it was, a Jan.16, 2004, missive to Homeland Security from Randy (Duke) Cunningham, then a Republican congressman from San Diego, now a federal convict serving time for accepting bribes.

The congressional convict-to-be was writing on behalf of a convicted felon named Christopher Baker, head of Shirlington Limousine & Transportation, which was seeking a contract with Homeland Security.

"I have personally known Mr. Baker since the mid 1990s," Cunningham wrote. "He is completely dedicated to his work, and has been of service to me and other Members of Congress."

Cunningham did not say this service was at the behest of the defense contractor who was bribing him. Cunningham also did not say that this service allegedly involved shuttling hookers to "hospitality suites" the contractor maintained for Cunningham and at least one high CIA official.

The letter does go on to say this regarding a man who has convictions for attempted robbery and car theft:

"Please be advised of my full support of his wish to provide transportation services for the Department of Homeland Security."

Presto! Three months later, Cunningham's pal Baker had a $3.8 million contract to provide Homeland Security with "shuttle services and executive transportation support."

Presto! The first contract was followed by a second, $21.2million contract. That meant Homeland Security was paying $25 million to have its officials driven around town even as the department resolved to cut counterterror money to New York by 40%.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Pete King (R-L.I..) heard secondhand that Cunningham had helped Shirlington land the contracts and had written a recommendation on Baker's behalf. He made inquires with Homeland Security.

"They said they had no record of any letter at all," King recalled.

King threatened to subpoena Baker, who provided an affidavit acknowledging Cunningham had sent a letter on his behalf to Homeland Security.

King again asked Homeland Security about the letter. The reply was the same.

"They said, 'We have no record at all,'" King recalled.

Then on Thursday, King summoned a Homeland Security official to testify before the committee. He once more inquired about the letter.

"She said, 'Actually, we did find an e-mail which referred to a letter,'" King recalled yesterday.

King asked if she had told Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff about this e-mail.

"She said, 'Oh, yeah, I discussed this two weeks ago with him,'" King recalled.

King understood exactly what this meant.

"Chertoff knew we were looking for this letter, and fortwo weeks, he knew therewas an e-mail referring tothe letter and he never told us," King said.

Yet the very day the committee learned of the e-mail, Homeland Security again insisted Cunningham had not written the agency on Shirlington's behalf.

"There is no letter," a Homeland Security spokesman said Thursday.

Late Friday, Homeland Security called King and reported it had found a letter after all.

"They said some clerk was going through files, and it just happened to turn up," King said.

That was the very day Homeland Security refused to accept hand delivery of those 6,000 letters to Chertoff from Daily News readers outraged by the counterterror funding cut.

"We can't accept mail from people we don't know," a spokesman said.

A letter from a corrupt congressman arrives at Homeland Security and - presto! - a convicted felon has $25 million in contracts.

But thousands of letters from decent citizens who fear for their families are deemed to be too much a potential threat to Chertoff even to open.