It’s looking nastier and nastier for San Diego’s U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, an up-until-now popular Republican Congressman who was pitchforked into the headlines in June when he sponsored a House amendment for a constitutional ban on flag burning.
The latest bombshell – scandal-plagued Cunningham who answered the prayers of staunch GOPers that had been down on their knees each night (praying to God) by announcing he wouldn’t run for re-election is this: prosecutors now accuse him of shaking down a constituent and taking a bribe…although they are avoiding the “b” word. Note this story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, TMV’s alma mater:
SAN DIEGO – U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham “demanded and received” a bribe from a Pentagon contractor who paid “an amount far greater” than market value for the congressman’s Del Mar Heights home in 2003, according to prosecutors.
The allegations contained in papers filed Thursday in San Diego federal court are the first in which the U.S. Attorney’s Office has publicly accused Cunningham of committing a crime.
Cunningham’s lawyers, in a statement, denied any wrongdoing by the Republican congressman.
“Duke Cunningham strongly denies these allegations and we will contest them in court as soon as the judge permits us to do so,” they said.
The legal papers were filed to support a lawsuit in which prosecutors are attempting to seize Cunningham’s Rancho Santa Fe house because they say it was obtained with tainted money – profits from the sale of the Del Mar house.
Thursday’s filing also outlines at least some of the criminal allegations that apparently are the focus of a grand jury that has been hearing testimony from witnesses in the case for several months.
One factoid. Before we get some readers saying “See, the liberal media is out to get a Republican Congressman” we point out that the San Diego UT is editorially Republican and formerly had some editors closely allied with Richard Nixon. This is too good a story for any newspaper to pass up (and the UT does separate its editorial page and reporting functions — as do most newspapers).
You can read more of the sordid details yourself by clicking on this post’s first link.
It’s clear that Democrats (here and across the nation) are enjoying the extravaganza of Cunningham political (and legally) writhing, dangling his feet as he hangs by a noose. GOPers locally want an end to it all. And some who don’t belong to any party can’t help but think how this ongoing saga undermines his believability on anything.
But if you cut away all of the partisan politics for a minute (and we know that is so impossible to do) you have a bigger issue. Realizing that the final charges (if they will be filed) haven’t been filed against him, you still can’t avoid thinking about how this underlines the different world that many elected officials live in.
Of course some of these folks can’t and won’t be sympathetic to problems facing people who don’t dine at the finest reataurants, or who struggle to get their kids through college, or with any of the other common day problems the BULK of Americans face. Elected officials live in their own world — a world that for some is vastly different than for even a typically upper middle class American.
They have perks. They have connections. They don’t have to worry about paying for their health insurance. They have plenty of money. It isn’t difficult to see, then, how there could be a disconnect between the reality “out there” and the reality they see in pitching their must-do, vital national priorities…such as flag burning.