Eight-term Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (63, R-CA, 50th), who had announced in July that he would not run for re-election, resigned from Congress Monday after pleading guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes, primarily from defense contractors. Cunningham was a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
This is the latest in a series of Republican party scandals, inside and outside the beltway. Ohio is plagued by Coin-Gate: Gov. Bob Taft pleaded guilty in August to state ethics-law violations, "becoming the first governor in the state's history convicted of a crime." Tom Noe, the Coin-Gate mastermind, was central to Taft's violations and was indicted in October "on charges that he illegally funneled $45,400 in campaign contributions to President Bush's re-election campaign."
In DC, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) has been indicted in a campaign-finance case and was forced to step down from his role as majority leader; Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is under a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation for stock trades; and Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted in the Plamegate investigation.
News about Cunningham from Google. Blogs covering these stories include Basie!, Better Living, Blogs of War, Bluegrass Report, Bulldog Manifesto, HolyCoast, Preemptive Karma
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Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
Happens all the time... while I'm not condoning taking brides, it's called U.S. politics - accepting donations is pretty much taking brides. Your ideals and judgments are compromised.
2 - Christopher Rose
Can I get some of these brides you write of, Tan?
3 - Alethinos
Yes, unfortunately bribes cannot spell, hence they cannot tell the difference between Republicans and Democrats...
Alethinos
4 - GoHah
took me a bride once--big-boned gal with child-bearing hips ...
5 - Nancy
I derive considerable entertainment from watching the entire Hill & WH/administration running for cover like a whole covey of chicken littles, as the various bribery/corruption investigations slowly but surely creep higher, and higher, and higher ... can't wait til they frog march Tricky Dick Cheney & Dumb Dubya out in 'cuffs. It's only a matter of time, I figure....
6 - Silas Kain
I know I should be happier about Cunningham's resignation and fall from grace but there is this thought that keeps gnawing at my brain. Cunningham is just a clam in the political seas inside the Beltway. Sure, he got a bit more than most but it's not like the perks of the job aren't there for the taking. The special interests, defense contractors, blah, blah, blah all have money in their budgets to wine and dine our representatives in Congress. Sometimes the wining and dining turns into sixty-nining if you catch my drift. So, how many members of Congress were spared by Cunningham's falling upon his sword?
7 - Nancy
The hopeful thing is, perhaps once he's actually in jail, Cunningham will find it even more appalling than he imagined it, and will be even more willing to in turn expose more of his capitol hill collegues on the take in return for leniency on the balance of his sentence. Then, of course, there's always the plight of the perpetrator's family to put additional pressure on him to to turn State's Evidence.
I have no compassion for any one of these scum. They KNOW what they do; they KNOW what they shouldn't do; and every single one of them skates as close to the line as they think they can & get away with it. They're all a bunch of friggin' lawyers themselves, or they have access to hordes more. They are all also very well aware that while the law may 'allow' them to buddy up to lobbyists ("continue receiving additional information", as they put it) & other special interests, ethics & common sense dictate they should bar every single lobbyist & S.I. from setting foot within 100 feet of a congressman or his/her staffers - just like judges. No exceptions. Until then, I rejoice to see the convicted weep. Trust me, Cunningham isn't weeping because he's sorry he stole; he's only sorry he got caught & convicted.
8 - Kathy
It remains to be seen what, if any, impact this will have on the Abramoff investigation. The standard line from the Rs has been "this is just how Washington works" ... I haven't seen the details of the Cunningham cause -- to see if it fits the pattern or is more egregious. The house buy-sell bit was over the top, IMO.
9 - Christopher Rose
Comment #4 above is one of two comments GoHah made on the same day that earned him the accolade of second ever Comment of the Day.