Posted on 11/28/2005 12:30:57 PM PST by RWR8189
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges and tearfully resigned from office, admitting he took $2.4 million in bribes to steer defense contracts to conspirators.
Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.
Cunningham answered "yes, Your Honor" when asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted bribes from someone in exchange for his performance of official duties.
Later, at a news conference, he wiped away tears as he announced his resignation.
"I can't undo what I have done but I can atone," he said.
Cunningham, an eight-term Republican congressman, had already announced in July that he would not seek re-election next year.
House Ethics rules say that any lawmaker convicted of a felony no longer should vote or participate in committee work. Under Republican caucus rules, Cunningham also would have lost his chairmanship of the House Intelligence subcommittee on terrorism and human intelligence.
The former Vietnam War flying ace was known on Capitol Hill for his interest in defense issues and his occasional temperamental outbursts.
After the hearing, Cunningham was taken away for fingerprinting and released on his own recognizance until a Feb. 27 sentencing hearing. He could receive up to 10 years in prison.
He also agreed to forfeit to the government his Rancho Santa Fe home, more than $1.8 million in cash and antiques and rugs.
In a statement, prosecutors said Cunningham admitted to receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes paid to him by several conspirators through a variety of methods, including checks totaling over $1 million, cash, rugs, antiques, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations.
"He did the worst thing an elected official can do _ he enriched himself through his position and violated the trust of those who put him there," U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said. The statement did not identify the conspirators.
The case began when authorities started investigating whether Cunningham and his wife, Nancy, used the proceeds from the $1,675,000 sale to defense contractor Mitchell Wade to buy the $2.55 million mansion in Rancho Santa Fe. Wade put the Del Mar house back on the market and sold it after nearly a year for $975,000 _ a loss of $700,000.
He drew little notice outside his San Diego-area district before the San Diego Union-Tribune reported last June that he'd sold the home to Wade.
Cunningham's pleas came amid a series of GOP scandals. Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas had to step down as majority leader after he was indicted in a campaign finance case; a stock sale by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is being looked at by regulators; and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff was indicted in the CIA leak case.
I believe you're thinking of Schadenfreude
I have heard my last Hannity show. He's worse than Casey Kasem with all the 'coming up' and 'big show today' nonsense. His arse-licking interviews would shame Don Imus and that's saying something.
That last paragraph says it all about the Dems, the AP and this imbecile Elliot Spagat that wrote the article. To try to string all these 'scandals' together is a fool's errand but Elliot seems willing to have a go.
Now, does Arnold call a special election early like the party wants so there's an incumbent for next fall or does he wait 10 days putting him in the 180 day window allowing him to combine it with the state-wide primary coming next June.
Folks known to be running include ex-Congressman Brian Bilbray (carpet-bagging for his old district), State Senator Bill Morrow (battled to hold an illegal immigration forum in Carlsbad), State Rep Howard Kaloogian (from the most extreme right).
At the outset I'm supporting Morrow for his moral courage. I haven't liked Bilbray since he was on the San Diego city counsel in the late 80's. He's a mushy RINO surfer enviromentalist. Howard's style, though perhaps not his platform, is too extreme for my tastes.
Cunningham's pleas came amid a series of GOP scandals. Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas had to step down as majority leader after he was indicted in a campaign finance case; a stock sale by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is being looked at by regulators; and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff was indicted in the CIA leak case.
The media of course had to link all of this to these other "scandals." The double standard is barely even disguised anymore.
DeLay's situation appears politically motivated. Doesn't matter until he's cleared.
The fact is there is corruption or unethical behavior occuring among highly placed Republicans.
The Dems should not be blamed for using this. The Republicans would do the same. And any political opposition would be foolish not to.
However, I agree that Republicans/Conservatives in high elective office should keep their skirts as clean as Ceasar's wife was required to!!!
I also believe that Cunningham was a good man that stupidly let some smart-alec idiots seduce him into a scheme that he should have shot down like those enemy planes he shot down in airial combat!!!
Now he's going to turn age 65 and spend the rest of his life in disgrace instead of so-called "golden years!" Supremely sad...
What? Did you sigh when he signed it for you?
Just how do you mistakenly accept bribes when you're a US Congressman? He knew what he was doing and denied it until he knew they had the goods on him. I sat on a court martial once where we sent a kid to prison for offenses far less serious than what Cunningham has confessed to. He's dirty and he needs to go to jail.
it's the congressional lifers who are probably most corrupt.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/images/051128cunningham_plea.pdf
What kind of Time is he looking at?
Survived Vietnam and in the end, shot himself down.
Pay particular attention to the parties' joint sentencing recommendations at pages 23-27.
135 to 168 months is a long time (11¼ to 14 years). The only way he will realistically be able to get any less jail time will be "substantial assistance" in the prosecution of other individuals, that is, the corporate bribers. See U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1; Plea Agreement at page 26, line 7 and pages 29-31.
And if you and I stole a couple million from the Federal Government how much time would we do?
Prost1,
He is not my congressman, and I admired him for what he did in his service to his country.
That said, he has thrown it all away on greed. I don't like using that word, but that is the only thing that comes to mind.
Duke didn't "make a mistake". It wasn't like he forgot to declare something, use the right form, deposit something in the wrong bank account or have some kind of obscure financial holding that got lost in the shuffle.
From what I have seen, this just plain sounds like out and out corruption.
The reason people are upset and "spitting" on him is because conservatives have a higher standard they have to live up to than liberals. See my post at #76, but basically, conservatives do not enjoy the shield that is provided by the liberal-friendly people in the MSM.
Conservatives KNOW the scumbag liberals are gunning for them. They KNOW they can be set up. They KNOW every move is being watched by the barking moonbat liberals (see the hate site they set up out there at dukecunningham.org)
As a former sailor in the USN, and a father who was a 30 year veteran of three wars and is buried in Arlington, I am pissed that he has brought such dishonor on his service in this way. I am pissed that he has given ammunition to critics of conservatism who wrongly malign conservatives as the crooked party of the rich.
Do a Google search on corrupt politician. You won't find Clinton or any of his associates in there. You will find Delay, Bush, Gingrich et al. We know how inaccurate and slanderous this portrayal is, but what Cunningham has done so that he can live in a nice new home full of expensive antiques and have a yacht at the marina is a crime against all of us, pure and simple.
We aren't picking on him because he "made a mistake".
Please don't take this personally, because I see where you are coming from, but he has done more damage than you think. HIs criminal, unethical, greedy behavior will make it easier for the enemies of rational government to paint everyone in Cunningham's party with the same brush. And whether deserved or not, they are damned sure going to do it with the help of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, The New York Times and the Boston Globe.
Yes, I am damned angry.
I hear you Ash. I feel the same way. Duke is an American hero. He has betrayed the people who elected him.
I know what it is like to fall---hard. Only God can pick you up. May Duke find Him.
"Where do you get off?"
Probably one of the few American heros of Vietnam. Many have medals because the military started handing them out like candy. But few really earned the medals.
"Where do you get off?"
In seeing a war hero cancel his respect for the corruption that is endemic in Washington and Politics? With some, there never was courage or character (ie. Kerry). In others, there is claimed courage (McCain). But here, we have a man who sold out to the corruption of Washington. Why? I cannot say. I find it sad. Deplorable.
But I have to think, if the system stinks this bad to harm a good man, how can we hope to ever have good government?
You may feel free to call him names. I think we need to demand more our "system" so that good men are not so tempted. I hope it goes beyond Duke. I hope he rats on lots of people. I hope the backers of MoveOn take notice and something is done. I hope it is not one-sided.
You obviously feel betrayed.
That is a difference between a conservative and a liberal. A liberal only feels betrayed when someone does not cheat on their behalf.
I am just sad....
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