""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."
duh- his mistake was getting caught. I wonder how many congressman could stand up to the scutiny he was eventually put under.
And the Clintons still walk free...
Shame Shame Shame Shame.
bump
This last paragraph plays right into the stated Democratic strategy for 2006 of painting all Republicans as corrupt. The media (and, apparently some Republicans) are all too willing to assist the Dems in their strategy.
Good Grief! "We" are supposed to be the good guys. I hope they punish him to the fullest extent of the law.
This is a heartbreaking betrayal. Cunningham was my rep for a while before districts changed. I was proud to have him as my rep then. Vietnam Ace, Top Gun instructor. What went wrong? How stupid to do these things and think that its ok. It is beyond my understanding. Term limits maybe the only real answer. Sickening to give the democrats ammo like this.
The F-4 Phantom in the San Diego Aerospace museum is painted as his warbird from Vietnam . I used to visit the museum and feel proud that it was there, next to aircraft my father worked on in WWII. I dont know what to feel now. Two different men I guess. The one who served the country in good ways, and the one who betrayed it. How did that journey happen? Where was the point of no return?
Who else is doing this?
As long as there is a government with the power to tax and spend at will, there will be politicians at its trough. The parties they belong to have no problem with it. Power corrupts.
You can tell without reading if he is a Republican or a Democrat.
A Republican, falling to temptation and getting caught, will resign.
A Democrat, falling to temptation and getting caught, will blame everyone else and cling to the job until it is too embarrassing to try removing them.
>>bribes
I'm reminded that Democratic congressman Nick Mavroules of
Mass. was convicted of bribery, tax evasion, and influence
peddling (1992; sentenced to 15 months). Turned in by his son-in-law. Used "code" of "bottles of wine" (5 bottles of
wine = $5,000), leading Howie Carr to play the Fireballs
classic tune (bottle of wine, fruit of the vine; when you
gonna let me get sober?) on his talk show, and to dub
Mavroules (who died in '03) as "Nicky Pockets"
That can't be. Like John Murtha, he is a veteran. There must be some mistake. (Extreme Sarcasm)
If he was smart he would have flipped to being a Democrat. Two advantages:
1) When he goes down he won't embarass Republicans...
2) Democrats always get a pass on graft.
Here is ANOTHER example of why each must be judged as the man they've become -- not the man they were....
Semper Fi
Sad to read the story. Usually there would be some rumors going around the media before this was announced?
Actually that's not quite the worst thing. The worst thing is Levying war upon the United States, giving Aide and Comfort to their enemies". But of course the folks who do that are rarely punished these days.
It darn well should have. If there's enough evidence to convict Cunningham, there should also be enough to at least indict the contractors who bribed him. Bribing a federal official is also a federal crime, is it not?
I'm the furthest thing from a GOP apologist and am getting a kick (what's that German word?) out of remembering how he was one of Hannity's favorites.
But federal law enforcement is so corrupt and politicized, that I get nervous when anyone cops a plea. You know the drill: they trump up a million charges that could put him away for life and be too expensive to fight in federal court. I don't have any reason to believe that happened here, but I wouldn't be surprised.
I saw a video on Fox of him resigning and apology. It was very sad. He was a great pilot in Vietnam, but you can't do what he did.