Bringing Down the Duke: How being a bully came back to bite Cunningham

http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=3834

Stern remembers an incident he witnessed in 1996 between Duke and Congressman Barney Frank, the gay congressman from Massachusetts, embroiled at the time in his own scandal involving a former male companion who had been caught running a prostitution ring from the congressman’s basement. The exchange happened at a meeting on immigration during which Republicans were maneuvering to prevent Democrats from commenting on a related bill. Frank objected to being steamrolled.

“When Barney started to make his plea, Cunningham cut him off and said, ‘Well, would you like to talk about prostitutes and basements,’” Stern remembered. “The room just fell silent.”

Cunningham’s comment, one among a litany of others just like it over the years, left Stern with an indelible impression that he says never squared with the congressman’s stated motive for visiting Saudi Arabia.

“It was not to improve relations, I promise you,” Stern said. “He’s not a peacemaker; he’s a bully.”

With that red flag on Cunningham’s travels, Stern, in May, filled a few idle hours at his desk by performing routine “lifestyle audits” of members of the California Congressional delegation. That’s when he stumbled upon the sale of Cunningham’s home....



<Brought to my attention by Kevin Drum.>

The asshole deserves a stiff jail sentence.

Maybe we will have to rely on the second tier of journalists as the "elites" from NYT and WaPo seem to have abandoned their curiosity and integrity.

(And a belated welcome to DU!)

:toast:

Stern was there in the meeting on "immigration" and how it all unfolded.

“All of a sudden I got very interested,” he said. “From the time I started looking at the house until the time I understood what was going on took about 15 minutes. I think that they thought they were covering it up, but they covered it up with Plexiglas.”

This particular Congressman who was brought down interests me because he represented the area of California where I used to live at one time. Before I was into politics.

TODD CUNNINGHAM--SON OF U.S. REP. RANDY "DUKE" CUNNINGHAM (R-CA): In Boston, Todd Cunningham, 29, was sentenced on November 17 to 2-1/2 years in federal prison for marijuana smuggling. Rep. Cunningham, who has supported the death penalty for drug traffickers, made a tearful plea to U.S. Judge Reginald C. Lindsay for leniency for his son. Prosecutors supported the sentence, which is half the mandatory five-year term for such an offense, because Cunningham provided information about other offenders involved in the smuggling operation. It was Cunningham's first conviction (Bill Murphy, "Son of lawmaker sentenced to prison," SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE, November 18, 1998).

Prosecutors had agreed to recommend a 14-to-18-month term in boot camp and a halfway house for Cunningham, but the Representative's son tested positive three times for cocaine while released on bail. On the day of the third failed drug test, Cunningham tried to escape authorities by jumping out a window onto a restaurant roof, breaking his leg. He is scheduled to participate in drug treatment while in prison, which, if successful, may reduce his sentence by as much as a year.

Todd Cunningham was arrested on January 17, 1997, by DEA agents for flying more than 400 pounds of marijuana into Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover, Massachusetts (see "U.S. Rep. Cun­ningham's Son Charged With Drug Trafficking," NEWSBRIEFS, February 1997, p. 30).

On August 14, 1997, Cunningham pleaded guilty to possession and conspiracy to sell marijuana. He also admitted to helping smuggle two other shipments of marijuana out of California (Bill Murphy, "Law­p;maker's son pleads guilty," SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE,, August 15, 1998).

http://www.sonic.net/~doretk/Issues/00-03-SPR/congress.html