Randy Cunningham, decorated vet convicted of accepting bribes as a congressman, dies
DEATH ELSEWHERE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Randy “Duke” Cunningham, whose feats as a U.S. Navy flying ace during the Vietnam War catapulted him to a U.S. House of Representatives career that ended in disgrace when he was convicted of accepting $2.4 million in bribes, has died. He was 83.
Cunningham died Wednesday at a hospital in a Little Rock, Arkansas, according to former Rep. Duncan L. Hunter, who spent time with him a week before his passing.
He “represented the very best of American heroes who go out to meet our enemies at the gates,” said Hunter, whose served alongside Cunningham in Congress.
Cunningham was one of the most highly decorated pilots in the Vietnam War, becoming the first Navy fighter ace in the war for shooting down five enemy aircraft. He received a Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, 15 Air Medals and a Purple Heart for his actions during the war.
“With complete disregard for his own personal safety he continued his attack through a hail of cannon fire to rescue his wingman,” read the citation for his second Silver Star.
He went on to serve eight terms in Congress before pleading guilty in 2005 to receiving illegal gifts from defense contractors in exchange for government contracts and other favors, in what was considered at the time to be the largest bribery scandal in congressional history.
The Republican congressman from San Diego admitted to accepting a luxury house, a yacht, a Rolls-Royce, lavish meals and $40,000 in Persian rugs and antique furniture from companies in exchange for steering lucrative contracts their way. He was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison in March 2006.
His corruption case was one of several that led to the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics in 2008.
“In my life, I have known great joy and great sorrow. And now I know great shame,” Cunningham said in his resignation statement. “I cannot undo what I have done. But I can atone.”
He took a less contrite tone as time went on, telling news organizations and others that he regretted his guilty plea and complaining that the Internal Revenue Service was draining his savings.
“A lot of these things that they say are bribes I can absolutely black-and-white prove 100% that they were reimbursement for things that I had already paid,” Cunningham said in a phone interview with KGTV while he was in prison.
In December 2012, Cunningham was released from a federal prison in Arizona to serve the remainder of his sentence in a federal halfway house in New Orleans.