Yep, screwed them out of $500k for the sake of MZM, the defense contractor behind the Dukester scandal. TPM Muckraker reports.

The program -- the Virginia-based Foreign Supplier Assessment Center -- was created in 2003 by an earmark tucked into a classified appropriations bill by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), to be operated by MZM. He kept it alive with another earmark in 2005.

Before inserting the first earmark, Goode accepted many thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from MZM. Before the second earmark, he enjoyed the same largesse. In all, Goode took about $90,000 in campaign contributions from MZM president Mitchell Wade and other employees. Goode has since given the money to charity; Wade has pleaded guilty to bribing convicted congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Cunningham, of course, has gone to jail.

But here's the curious, and sad, thing: Goode didn't just fleece a few million bucks from U.S. taxpayers to give the military a facility they didn't want. He also screwed his own constituents -- the less-than-prosperous residents of Martinsville, Virginia.

In addition to his federal earmarking for MZM, Goode pushed the Commonwealth of Virginia and the town of Martinsville to give MZM incredibly favorable terms, as one blogger notes.

To be exact: the state of Virginia gave MZM $500,000 to locate in Martinsville, if they met certain criteria (which have they never completely met). But if the center didn't perform well -- as it appears, now, it never will -- the city of Martinsville is forced to repay that money from its own coffers, not MZM.

That cruel twist, reports say, was Goode's idea. Not that it's affecting Goode: the latest polls show him with a double-digit lead over his Democratic opponent in the midterm election.

It's true, the latest polling indicates Weed is trailing 35% to Goode's 59% in SUSA polling.

We can only hope he finally gets indicted before the election so people realize he's a crook before it's too late.