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The Post's "The Fix" on Rep. Duke Cunningham's guilty plea, resignation, and the upcoming special election for his seat. The San Diego Union-Tribune offers these snippets from Cunningham's biography:
...Jan 17, 1991: During a news conference at Lindbergh Field, Cunningham says he had received intelligence that Iraqi-sponsored terrorists were operating in San Diego County. The incident aggravates tensions left over from his primary campaign, when he outraged local Arab-Americans with a brochure bearing the picture of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that accused his Egyptian-born opponent of having been influenced by oil interests. ...
Oct 6, 1992: Cunningham makes the Washington Post's "Reliable Source" column by suggesting the liberal leadership of the House should be "lined up and shot.".
Oct. 9, 1992: The Los Angeles Times quotes Cunningham as urging President Bush to attack Bill Clinton's patriotism, telling him: "This is an issue that will kill Clinton when people realize what a traitor he is to this country. In some countries, if something like this came out, he would be tried as a traitor. Tokyo Rose had nothing over Clinton.".
May 11, 1995: A House debate over water pollution erupts in furor when Cunningham declares that lawmakers backing an amendment he opposed were the same people who support "homos in the military." Later, he calls Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo., a "socialist.".
Nov. 17, 1995: Colleagues and Capitol police break up a scuffle that starts after Cunningham, a former Navy fighter pilot, tangles with Rep. James Moran, D-Va., who used to be an amateur boxer, during the debate on a Republican-sponsored resolution that would bar President Clinton from sending American troops to Bosnia without prior congressional approval.
Feb. 26, 1998: When acting Army Secretary Robert Walker told a House subcommittee about efforts to combat sexual harassment and discrimination in the military, Cunningham calls the efforts "B.S." and asserted that "our kids don't like. . . political correctness." He also insists that some members of Congress openly promote communism and that France has a Communist government. ...
Sept. 5, 1998: At a forum for prostate cancer sufferers, Cunningham makes a crude reference to a fellow congressman who is gay and, in a fit of temper, directs an obscene gesture toward an audience member telling him, "(expletive) you." .
Jan. 23, 2001: Cunningham is named to the House Select Committee on Intelligence for the 107th Congress.
Oct. 9, 2002: Cunningham cries on the House floor as he argues that President Bush should have authority to use military force against Iraq. ...
November 2003: Sells his Del Mar house for $1,675,000 to a company owned by Mitchell Wade of MZM Inc., a defense contractor. Purchases a home in Rancho Santa Fe for $2.55 million. ...
June 12, 2005: Copley News Service and The San Diego Union-Tribune reveal that a defense contractor with ties to Cunningham took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of the congressman's Del Mar house while the congressman, a member of the influential defense appropriations subcommittee, was supporting the contractor's efforts to get tens of millions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon.
June 14, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that the Realtor who Cunningham said had set a fair and independent price for the November 2003 sale of his Del Mar home to a defense contractor was a longtime campaign contributor.
June 17, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report Cunningham has been living aboard a 42-foot yacht along the banks of the Potomac River in a yacht, named the Duke-Stir, owned by Wade. ...
July 5, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that Cunningham made roughly a $400,000 profit by selling a boat he lived aboard from 1997 to 2002 to a businessman convicted in a bid-rigging scheme. The man said he subsequently got advice from the congressman about how to pursue a presidential pardon. ...
Aug. 5, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that Cunningham – and other prominent passengers including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay – has taken jet flights provided by Group W Transportation, owned by Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes.
Aug. 16, 2005: Agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service and Department of Defense seize documents from Poway headquarters of ADCS Inc. and the home of Wilkes, the company's president. ...
Update: My friend JR, a former US Air Force fighter pilot, writes:
...I didn't "know" Cunningham, but I flew with him.
In 1983 I was in the Phillipines for an exercise and then-CDR Randy Cunningham was there flying in it as well. He was revered as a national hero for being one of only two pilot aces of the Vietnam War. (The USAF ace was basically "set up" with repeated trips to Hanoi until he got five kills).
Later, in 1984 Cunningham was squadron commander of an A-4 aggressor squadron in a huge exercise in the California-Nevada desert that was a practice for a showdown with the Soviets in Iran. Our two squadrons, based at Nellis AFB, were the "Red" air simulating the bad guys, and again we Air Force fighter pilots lionized this legend.
I have no sympathy for him, given what he has done, and it has been a long time coming. However, it is a national tragedy nonetheless, that someone who performed so heroically in combat could allow himself to become so corrupted by Washington. I think it speaks to the corrupt environment as well as to the man. ...