A government watchdog group is asking the House ethics committee to investigate the dealings between a corrupt defense contractor and U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode.

Common Cause made the request following an announcement this week that the ethics committee was launching a probe into a bribery scandal that put former California Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham in prison.

Cunningham took bribes from defense contractor MZM Inc. -- a company once headed by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted making more than $40,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Goode.

Goode, R-Rocky Mount, could not be reached Friday. He has earlier said he did nothing wrong and had no inkling of the illegal activities committed by his largest campaign contributor in recent years.

A statement on the Cunningham investigation, one of four announced this week by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, says the probe could be extended to other lawmakers. But it makes no mention of Goode.

That prompted Common Cause to ask the panel to "immediately add to its to-do list" other members of Congress that it linked to a Capitol Hill ethics scandal, including Goode and Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Fla.

"Certainly there appears to be a cloud over his [Goode's] head and that's why we need an ethics committee investigation," Common Cause spokeswoman Mary Boyle said. "If he was an innocent bystander as he says, then he would be cleared."

An ethics committee staffer declined to comment Friday on the request.

Goode has received more than $90,000 from Wade, other MZM employees and their family members, and the company's political action committee. Critics say the money influenced Goode to request federal funding that eventually went to an MZM operation in Martinsville.

After seeking a $3.6 million appropriation for the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center, which conducts background checks on out-of-the-country military vendors at the Martinsville location, Goode was involved in negotiating a state economic incentives package that offered unusual benefits to MZM.

But unlike the Cunningham case, no one has publicly accused Goode of accepting anything other than campaign contributions.

Cunningham was sentenced to eight years in prison for accepting lavish bribes -- a Rolls-Royce, a yacht, expensive antiques and cash -- in exchange for steering lucrative defense contracts to Wade's company.

Wade pleaded guilty in February to bribing Cunningham and making illegal campaign contributions to two other lawmakers, unnamed in court records but identifiable through other sources as Goode and Harris. Wade admitted that he skirted campaign finance laws limiting his contributions to $2,000 a candidate per election cycle by writing checks to his employees, and sometimes their spouses, and then directing them to make contributions to Goode.

The former MZM head agreed to cooperate with federal authorities in an ongoing investigation.

Goode, who donated all of his MZM-linked money to charity last year, did not respond Friday to a question about Common Cause's statement. Following the usual practice with MZM issues, his press secretary directed that all questions be put in writing. In the past, it has taken Goode several days to respond.

In earlier statements, Goode has said his key motivation in dealing with MZM was to bring jobs to an economically deprived region of his 5th Congressional District.

After MZM crumbled under the weight of a federal investigation last summer, the company was sold. Athena Innovative Solutions is the new owner of the Martinsville facility.

Now, it appears the facility itself is caught up in a federal probe.

Last month, The Roanoke Times made a request under the Freedom of Information Act for records of any audit, inspection or investigation of the facility conducted by the inspector general's office of the Department of Defense.

In a response this week, the Defense Department denied the request because the information sought is part of an open investigation.

"The disclosure of any portion of the investigation at this time could reasonably be expected to interfere with law enforcement proceedings," Darryl Aaron of the department's FOIA office wrote. "We do not have a time frame for the completion of this investigation."

Michael Woods, a spokesman at Athena's headquarters in Washington, D.C., has previously declined to answer any questions about the Martinsville facility. He did not return a call Friday.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center that MZM brought to Martinsville is nearing completion of its second year of operations -- with nowhere near the number of jobs that were promised three years ago.

Standing next to Goode at an opening ceremony in November 2003, Wade said the facility would bring 150 high-paying jobs within three years to a region plagued by declines in the textile and manufacturing industries.

As of December, there were 30 people working for the company.

That number comes from an annual report the city of Martinsville submitted to the state. The report was required by a performance agreement linked to $500,000 in state incentive grants that went to the MZM operation.

The agreement was unusual because it holds the city of Martinsville -- not MZM -- responsible if the company fails to meet its projections of 75 jobs and $4.4 million in capital investments. Although the company had promised 150 jobs, the performance agreement calls for half that number because the positions pay about twice the area's average wage.

Investment to date in the project is about $3.8 million, according to the report.

During negotiations, Wade offered only half of what the vacant building that his company moved into was worth, and declined to apply for incentives, according to previously released documents. It was Goode who suggested that the city be held accountable for the grants, the records state.

Local officials say they believe the company will eventually meet its hiring goals and remain a force in the regional economy.

Before retiring as vice president of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., Tom Harned expressed optimism last month. "We feel like they landed on their feet and there's no reason not to believe they will do anything other than meet the projections," he said.