December 2, 2005
And the Voters Act Surprised by Duke Cunningham?
By Froma
Harrop
Randy "Duke"
Cunningham was more than a criminal. He was a head case. And the
astounding thing about the California Republican's career is that
federal prosecutors had to take him down. The voters didn't have
the self-regard to do it themselves.
Any number of politicians
could have this conservative congressional district in and around
San Diego. The people didn't have to be represented by a total
screwball.
Some might forgive,
even enjoy, crusty candor in a decorated Navy pilot, which Cunningham
was. But the man's outbursts overshot any rough charm and landed
in lunatic city. That his constituents now express shock that
he could do bad things makes you wonder.
Where do we start
with Randy Cunningham? How about the time in 1998 when, while
visiting a hospital, he gave the finger and threw the "F"
word at an elderly cancer patient? It seems that the patient,
a World War II veteran, had challenged Cunningham's assertion
that the defense budget was too low. In 1984, Cunningham had dared
Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., to a fistfight for opposing one of his
pet pieces of legislation. But for all his tough-guy bluster,
Cunningham fell apart at the smallest sign of dissent.
He also loved to
make menacing statements, and not just to Democrats. "Your
son is dead meat," he told Rep. Nick Smith in 2003, after
the Michigan Republican voted against the Medicare drug benefit.
Smith's crime was turning down a $100,000 bribe that the Republican
leadership had offered him for voting "yes." Smith's
son was running for Congress, and the money would have gone into
his campaign. The son, Brad Smith, lost in the GOP primary.
"I have flown
an F-14 over this Capitol with a 20-millimeter gun that could
shoot 6,000 rounds a minute," Cunningham told Congress, while
purportedly discussing an assault-weapons ban. "I could disintegrate
this hall in half a second." In 2004, he made a similar comment
to a high-school history class in Encinitas, Calif. "I could've
disintegrated this whole school in half a second," Cunningham
said.
One month later,
the voters elected him to an eighth term.
Like many bullies,
Cunningham could dish it out but he couldn't take it. In 1994,
he supported retaining the death penalty for drug kingpins. Four
years later, his son was convicted of helping smuggle 400 pounds
of marijuana from California to Massachusetts. At the sentencing,
Cunningham cried and asked the court for leniency. "He's
never been in trouble before," the congressman said, ignoring
that his son had tested positive for cocaine three times while
out on bail. The son got 2-and-a-half years. Cunningham generated
enough hypocrisy to light up San Diego, but the voters always
looked the other way.
Even his corrupt
conduct -- taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors
-- was off the wall. A sane man would have buried that money in
the backyard or hidden it in the Cayman Islands. He instead turned
up with a Rolls-Royce, a yacht, Persian rugs and two antique French
commodes.
Cunningham sold his
house for $1.7 million to a defense contractor, who then unloaded
it at a $700,000 loss. The lawmaker subsequently bought a $2.6
million house and let another contractor pay off his $500,000
second mortgage.
The House Ethics
Committee wasn't very interested in this, but any decent investigative
reporter could have seen the oddities of this lush lifestyle.
Several did, and so here we are, marveling at Cunningham's blatant
disregard for appearances.
Some readers may
note that the man is mentally ill, a point I would concede. They
may take me to task for using such insensitive terms as "head
case," "lunatic" and "screwball." But
my heart is hardened. I'm not working on any insanity defense
for Cunningham. Nor have I been moved by his latest round of blubbering.
Cunningham is now out of Congress and needs to be taken out of
general circulation, as well.
The mystery remains:
What on earth was in the voters' minds, year after year? Set aside
the recent revelations of official corruption. Cunningham made
the sort of violent remarks, threats and references to his weaponry
that would have gotten a high-school student expelled and the
police notified. Yet the voters are now surprised that he cheated,
too. I just don't get it.
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
