TRAGESER: Cunningham already got off easy

By JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Sunday, July 27, 2008 12:18 AM PDT ∞

If there's so much as a shred of justice in the fabric of the universe, Randall "Duke" Cunningham will serve every second of his prison sentence.

Cunningham is the one-time war hero who forever surrendered any gratitude his fellow citizens owed him when he traded his vote in Congress for cash from a defense contractor.

Last week, Cunningham had the gall to petition President Bush for clemency ---- asking to be released from prison before his eight-year sentence is up.

But the fact is that he betrayed not only his constituents in the North County congressional district who sent him to Washington as our representative, but the men and women in uniform he once served with.

Cunningham was convicted of steering government contracts to businesses that paid him under the table ---- but not just any government contracts: defense contracts.

I think most of us would agree that when purchasing equipment and services for our military service members, the government should select those businesses that provide the best gear or service at a fair price.

When we send our Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Coast Guardsmen into harm's way on our behalf, they deserve our best effort at equipping them.

And when a powerful member of Congress uses his influence to steer contracts not to the provider of the best equipment, but to the folks who are bribing him?

Well, I'd argue that Cunningham is fortunate he didn't face charges of treason in addition to the accepting bribes.

As a decorated Navy combat pilot, a man who was shot down over Haiphong Harbor and barely evaded capture by the North Vietnamese, Cunningham was someone whose opinions on defense matters carried great weight in Congress. Other members of Congress who didn't have his military background looked to Cunningham for guidance on defense matters.

So for him, of all people, to sell out on defense matters was such a betrayal of those who wear our nation's uniform that he deserves no mercy whatsoever.

Those readers with long memories will recall that Cunningham was once defended in this space against those who questioned his environmental record as a member of Congress.

While I was the editorial pages editor of this paper, I met with Cunningham several times. Visited him in his Washington office while on vacation with my family. I admired his military service. I even voted for him several times (although I never admitted that to him, in the interests of journalistic independence).

Once he betrayed our nation, once he put his own greed ahead of the best interests of our fellow citizens who put life and limb on the line every day for salaries a fraction of what they could make in the business world, Cunningham became a traitor in my book.

Eight years for giving our military service members second-class gear and infrastructure?

He got off too easy.

Would that the Constitution gave the president the authority to increase Cunningham's sentence. Because he deserves to spend the rest of his miserable life behind bars for his crimes.

Contact staff writer Jim Trageser at (760) 740-5408 or jtrageser@nctimes.com.

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