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Randy Cunningham convicted, to hard time too!

[Font size=2 face=v color=Blue]Crooked congressman going to prison
Cunningham sentenced to 8 years, 4 months for taking bribes

Friday, March 3, 2006; Posted: 9:09 p.m. EST (02:09 GMT)

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Former GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in federal prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from at least three defense contractors.

The sentence is the highest ever for a former member of Congress, prosecutor Jason Forge said. Cunningham was taken into custody after sentencing, he said.

The 64-year-old Cunningham, a former U.S. representative from California, pleaded guilty November 28 to conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. He also pleaded guilty to a separate tax-evasion violation for failing to disclose income in 2004. (Watch Forge applaud the prison time handed down to Cunningham -- 4:36)

Hours after entering the pleas, Cunningham resigned from Congress in tears.

He could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Larry Burns shortened his time because of Cunningham's military service, age and health, Forge said. If he continues to cooperate with authorities, his sentence could be reduced further, the prosecutor said.

Cunningham is a former Navy fighter pilot who shot down five MiGs during the Vietnam War.

"We're absolutely satisfied," said Forge, adding that he hoped the sentence "will help restore the public's confidence in our system and respect for our laws."

Cunningham sat on the powerful subcommittee that approves spending for defense programs. He has admitted accepting cash and gifts aimed at influencing the Defense Department while serving in that capacity.

The bribes enabled the congressman -- whose salary was about $160,000 a year -- to buy a mansion, yacht, Rolls-Royce and condo in suburban Washington, prosecutors said.

Perhaps the most audacious of Cunningham's purchases was a $2.5 million home he bought after selling his home in San Diego to defense contractor Mitchell Wade for $1.6 million. (Read about Wade's guilty plea)

Wade, in turn, sold the San Diego house for about $900,000, sparking allegations that Wade bought the home at a higher price to scratch Cunningham's back for steering Pentagon contracts his way.

Wade pleaded guilty last month to two counts of conspiracy, one count of using an interstate wire facility for bribery and one count of election fraud. He faces sentencing in August.

House Speaker and fellow Republican Dennis Hastert issued a statement after Cunningham's sentencing stating that he hopes the congressman's prison term sends "a strong message" that nobody is above the law.

"It is my hope that Congressman Cunningham will spend his incarceration thinking long and hard about how he broke the trust of the voters that elected him and those on Capitol Hill who served with him," Hastert said.[/font]


http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/03/03/cunni ... index.html - cnn.com'

deepseas,

or either start singing like birds. he didn't get probation, but hard time. and the reality of it is now sinking in. he could very well die in there.

and if we're lucky may need social security when he gets out and he'll be up against the same folks he hustled with while not giving a shit about "the people"

tamra,

GOOD! 'Bout damn time one of them foolz did some time.

astonamous,

how sad is this? we invade another country to develop democracy but forgot what it is here. well, WE didn't. our congressional leaders have.

the other problem is Bill Frist is so far up Bush's ass they'll both have to go. unless he'll just be a yes man and go along w/the next one in charge. Frist is setting the tone for the congressional leaders. notice how QUICKLY he backed down from the ports challenge. first it was shock and outrage then after a "talk", it's oh, ok, there's something in this for me too so I don't see an issue w/it.

never in my lifetime would have I thought I'd see this era: abortion ban passed, and lack of democracy while invading another country. what's next? prohibition or stopping cars w/our feets?

astonamous,

yeah but whennnnnnnnnn..... a sistah is tapping fingers waiting until they are sore

see this is what I'm talking about.

Tom Delay wins GOP nomination - while on trial for fraud

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11715225/ - Tom Delay wins'

this is what Texans want, and this person will still be involved in major decisions. go figure!

[Font size=2 face=v color=Green]DeLay wins Texas GOP nomination
Ex-House leader turns back three challengers

Updated: 11:16 p.m. ET March 7, 2006

SUGAR LAND, Texas - Rep. Tom DeLay won the GOP nomination to the House on Tuesday, beating three challengers in his first election since he was indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader.

With 14 percent of precincts reporting, DeLay had 10,005 votes, or 64 percent. His closest challenger, environmental attorney Tom Campbell, had 4,049 votes, or 26 percent.

“I have always placed my faith in the voters, and today’s vote shows they have placed their full faith in me,” DeLay said in a statement. “Not only did they reject the politics of personal destruction, but they strongly rejected the candidates who used those Democrat tactics as their platform.”

In the other big Texas primary race, a former Democratic congressman from Houston won the right to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Perry in a state where the GOP holds every statewide office.

Chris Bell prevailed over Bob Gammage, a former Texas Supreme Court justice who jumped into the race in December after a decade out of politics. Perry won his primary easily, collecting 85 percent of the vote against three little-known opponents.

Bell said the victory was “exactly the boost my campaign needed” heading into what could be a historic four-way race for governor in November. Two independents with considerable political charisma — Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and musician and professional wiseacre Kinky Friedman — are seeking enough signatures from voters who do not vote in the primary to get onto the fall ballot.

In a third contest Tuesday, Democratic voters in a congressional district stretching from San Antonio to Laredo had to decide a rematch between freshman Rep. Henry Cuellar and Ciro Rodriguez, who served 3½ terms in before losing to Cuellar in 2004 after two recounts and a court challenge. With no Republican running in the district, the winner will take the seat.

Rodriguez seized on a photo of President Bush affectionately cupping Cuellar’s cheeks at the recent State of the Union address to portray Cuellar as a stealth Republican.

In early returns, Rodriguez took the lead with 64 percent of the vote to Cuellar’s 28 percent, but votes from Cuellar’s base along the U.S.-Mexico border were still being counted.

Awaiting trial
DeLay, 58, was indicted last year and is awaiting trial on charges he illegally funneled corporate donations to GOP candidates for the Texas House in 2002. The Republicans won a majority in the Legislature that year, and then pushed through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that sent more Republicans to Washington in 2004.

DeLay has also come under scrutiny over his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud in January and is cooperating in an investigation of influence-peddling on Capitol Hill.

Tuesday’s contest was DeLay’s first serious primary challenge in the 22 years since he took office.

Campbell, a lawyer who was general counsel for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration during the first Bush administration, was considered the front-runner among DeLay’s Republican challengers, who also included Mike Fjetland and Pat Baig. Campbell portrayed himself as a man of integrity and branded DeLay “unelectable.”

While no independent polls were taken for the primary, a poll taken in January by the Houston Chronicle found that DeLay’s support in his district was 22 percent. Only about half of those who voted for him in 2004 said they would do so again.

But Republican strategist Allen Blakemore predicted DeLay would win with at least 60 percent of the vote. “We have awakened the sleeping giant,” Blakemore said.

DeLay cast his ballot in his hometown of Sugar Land, then headed to Washington for a House vote on the Patriot Act and an evening fundraiser for his campaign hosted by lobbyists.

‘Abuse of power’
“My constituents get it. They know what a leftist abuse of power this is,” he said of the charges brought by District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat.

A documentary about Earle’s investigation, “The Big Buy: How Tom DeLay Stole Congress,” was set for release on Tuesday by a Hollywood producer whose last movie, sponsored by unions, took a critical look at Wal-Mart.

“I welcome it. As long as they spell my name correctly,” DeLay said.

The Democratic nominee in the fall will be Nick Lampson, a well-financed former congressman ousted from office in 2004 under the new congressional map engineered by DeLay. Lampson had no primary opponent Tuesday.

Bush traveled nearly 1,500 miles from Washington to cast a primary ballot in Crawford. White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not say whether Bush had to make the trip because he wanted to vote in person or, as some suspect, because aides forgot to get him an absentee ballot.

The state’s top election official predicted only 13 percent of the 12.7 million registered voters would cast primary ballots, so Strayhorn and Friedman should not have much trouble finding the 45,000-plus voters they each need to sign their petitions over the next two months.

Strayhorn, who calls herself “one tough grandma,” got elected comptroller as a Republican but is running for governor as an independent, avoiding a primary against the popular Perry. She is the mother of White House press secretary Scott McClellan. Friedman is a cigar-chomping cowboy musician whose backup group on the road was called the Texas Jewboys.

At least two veterans of the Iraq war are running for Congress from Texas. David T. Harris, a Democrat, is expected to take on Rep. Joe Barton in November, and Van Taylor, a Republican, sought the nomination Tuesday to go up against Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards in the Crawford-area district that includes Bush’s ranch.[/font]

deepseas,

well it's only the primary, but even still that's scary! an indicted man, and indicted FOR CORRUPTION, in the running for a major PUBLIC office.