California Congressman, Vietnam Ace Pleads Guilty
Representative Randy
"Duke" Cunningham has pled guilty in Federal Court in San Diego to
two counts of conspiracy and tax evasion. Immediately afterward he
resigned from Congress, saying at an emotional press conference
that he "...misled my friends, family and myself. The truth is, I
broke the law and disgraced my office and myself."
Prosecutors charged in August that Cunningham, a Vietnam fighter
ace who was awarded the Navy Cross, had used his position on
Pentagon oversight committees to advance the interests of a defense
contractor who was a personal friend -- and to line his own
pockets. He was charged with taking at least $2.4 million in
bribes, and with his plea-bargain admitted this and agreed to hand
over $1.8 million in cash, as well as his Del Mar home. The plea
agreement even specifies which of the furnishings and rugs must be
disgorged as illegal gains.
The bribes took a variety of forms, everything from cash and
checks to complicated mortgage swap deals, underpriced SUVs, and
other sweetheart deals that were, if not too good to be true,
definitely too good to be legal.
The news sent dismay through Cunningham's conservative
supporters; comments on the conservative Free Republic bulletin
board ranged from upset to disappointed to vengefully angry.
"Cunningham is a fool, a corrupt fool," one wrote. "As one of his
constituents I'm PISSED. Damn you, Duke!" another vented.
And one tied this to his most celebrated fight, on May 10, 1972:
"Just damn. And another one of my heros shot down... the Duke goes
down in flames, again!!!"
On that date Cunningham and his RIO, Lt JG Willie "Irish"
Driscoll, shot down three North Vietnamese MiG-17s in one day to
become the first US aces of the Vietnam war (the team had downed a
MiG-21 in January and another MiG-17 two days before). They also
lost their airplane, being hit by a SAM and having to eject over
the South China Sea. The best story of this air fight is arguably
in Jeff Ethell's "One Day in a Long War;" the version at
acepilots.com is also good. (Note that some Cunningham detractors
have suggested that he and Driscoll weren't shot down, but ejected
because they ran out of fuel; Cunningham has always denied that,
and there's no concrete evidence in favor of it).
By the end of the war Cunningham was arguably the most famous
pilot in any service, highly decorated with the Navy Cross, two
Silver Stars, fifteen Air Medals and the Purple Heart. He later
taught at the Fighter Weapons School ("Top Gun") and retired from
the Navy in 1987 with over twenty years' service.
Cunningham seemed to realize that he has burned his bridges with
his former supporters. "In my life I have great joy and great
sorrow, and now I know great shame," he said. Indeed, how do you
characterize a guy who's been by turns pilot, ace, hero,
politician, crook and convict?
While his supporters were gloomy, Cunningham's enemies were
gloating. One of them maintains a website, that tracks all the
convoluted ups and downs of the scandal as well as every other bit
of misconduct by Duke and his family members (his son Todd went to
prison, it turns out, for smuggling drugs in an
airplane).
There will be a special election to replace Cunningham. It is
unlikely to change the balance of Congress -- his very
conservative, well-to-do district leans Republican -- but his loss
may be felt by military aviators and by the defense contractors
that support them -- even the ones that weren't bribing Cunningham.
The former Tailhook Association board member was a strong voice for
military aviation programs, and especially, as one might expect,
for naval aviation. The naval F-35 program, for instance, just lost
a vocal defender in beltway budget battles. The companies involved
may miss him how that he's gone -- or they may just be glad that
they weren't among the contractors that got caught paying him
off.
The charges, all felonies, stem from Cunningham's dealings with
a variety of defense contractors. "Conspirator No. 1" is not
instantly identifiable in the plea document, but paid Cunningham
over $100,000 in checks in 2000. "Conspirator No. 2" appears to be
Mitchell Wade of MZM Inc., an intelligence systems firm doing
mostly classified work.
Wade overpaid for Cunningham's old house in California, and
provided Cunningham with a yacht to live aboard in Washington. The
yacht was named -- you couldn't make this up -- the Duke Stir. Now
it is Duke who's expected to land "in stir" -- he could receive a
prison sentence of up to 10 years at his sentencing, February
27th.
Indeed, it might be longer: the plea agreement suggests that
sentencing guidelines would require 135 to 168 months'
incarceration.