Ex-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham had the exceptional opportunity of helping his California constituents and helping make things better in America and the world. Instead, Cunningham gave in to greed and hubris.
Cunningham’s runaway corruption netted him $2.4 million in luxurious ill-gotten gains we know about — yachts, fancy homes, antiques and such. And today, it brought him an eight-year sentence to a federal prison in Taft, Calif. It’s said to be the longest sentence ever given a former member of Congress.
Cunningham, who resigned from Congress in disgrace last year, was spared the 10-year maximum by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns but was immediately taken into custody.Cunningham also was ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution for back taxes. He must forfeit an additional $1.85 million for cash bribes he received, plus hundreds of thousands from the sale of a Rancho Santa Fe mansion.
Cunningham accepted money and gifts including a Rolls-Royce and $40,000 Persian rugs from defense contractors and others in exchange for steering government contracts their way and other favors.
Although he reportedly admitted his guilt forthrightly in court Friday, Cunningham last spring denied he was guilty and assured everyone he would be cleared of all charges.
Cunningham’s friends and supporters, and the right-wing propaganda machine, protested vehemently that the case against him was just a political smear campaign. But when the investigators and the prosecutor had done their job, Cunningham admitted his guilt, resigned his House seat in disgrace and prepared to face the music in court.
The judge is quoted as telling Cunningham:
“You weren’t wet. You weren’t cold. You weren’t hungry and yet you did these things,” (U.S. District Judge Larry) Burns said. “I think what you’ve done is you’ve undermined the opportunity that honest politicians have to do a good job.”
We will add that Cunningham has justified the cynicism millions of Americans feel — and pass along to their kids — that all politicians are crooks. In doing that, he’s done something evil to our system and victimized the honest, decent majority public officeholders.
An eight-year sentence that will be pared down to seven for good behavior hardly seems sufficient.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., issued a statement saying how Cunningham had let down voters and colleagues who placed their trust in him. We think Hastert should do more than that, although we can understand his desire to get this nasty bit of business behind him and the Republican Caucus as quickly as possible.
Maybe Cunningham could finally do Congress and the people a notable service by doing a closed-circuit TV interview session early next year, when a new crop of senators and representatives are taking up their duties. Cunningham could describe what it’s like to go from working in Congress and living in luxury to coexisting with the dregs of society in grubby prison surroundings.
After the newcomers have had their turn, Cunningham could do additional interview sessions for the rest of Congress. He could contrast the prison food with what’s served in Congress’ cafeteria, the difference between the prison library and the Library of Congress. He could describe the camaraderie, or lack of it, in the prison yard.
If Cunningham’s discourse were to prevent one member of Congress from going astray, he will have done something far more worthwhile than just vegetating for seven or eight years. And really, it’s the least he could do.
It’s kind of nice to see the system working.