Bush ally faces years in jail for $2.4 million in bribes

A Republican congressman pleaded guilty on Nov. 28 to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering lucrative military contracts to business associates–the latest scandal to hit President Bush's party. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a California Republican and decorated Vietnam War veteran, tearfully resigned from the House of Representatives, where he had served since 1988. "I can't undo what I have done but I can atone," Cunningham, 63, said, wiping away tears. He faces 10 years in jail after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004. Cunningham was chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Human Intelligence and had substantial links to the defense industry. Suspicions that he used his position as an elected official illegally to influence Pentagon contracts surfaced last June. It emerged that he had sold his California house for $1,675,000, an artificially inflated price, to Mitchell Wade, owner of the defense contracting company MZM Inc. Wade put the house back on the market and sold it after nearly a year for $975,000, a loss of $700,000. Cunningham used the profits from the sale to buy a $2.55 million mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. Around the same time, MZM, based in Washington, began getting large government contracts. Cunningham also stayed on a yacht owned by Wade and docked in Washington. Wade has not been charged with any crime. Prosecutors said that Cunningham had admitted to receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes paid to him by several unnamed conspirators through a variety of methods, including checks for more than $1 million, cash, rugs, antiques, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations. "He did the worst thing an elected official can do–he enriched himself through his position and violated the trust of those who put him there," US Attorney Carol Lam said. Cunningham agreed to forfeit to the government his Rancho Santa Fe home and more than $1.8 million in cash, together with assorted antiques and rugs. Asked by US District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted bribes from someone in exchange for his performance of official duties, he replied: "Yes, your honor." After the hearing, Cunningham was led away to be fingerprinted and released until a sentencing hearing on Feb. 27. He had already announced in July that he would not seek re-election next year. Cunningham's guilty pleas came amid a series of Republican scandals, most notably the indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff of Dick Cheney, over his role in the CIA leak affair. Tom DeLay had to step down as House leader on being indicted for money-laundering, and Bill Frist, the Senate leader, is being investigated over a stock sale. All deny wrongdoing.