posted March 03, 2006 07:26 PM              

Hit with 8 years, 4 months for taking $2.4 million in bribes

Friday, March 3, 2006

SAN DIEGO, California (AP) -- Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham was sentenced Friday to eight years and four months in federal prison for collecting $2.4 million in homes, yachts, antique furnishings and other bribes on a scale unparalleled in the history of Congress.

It was the longest term ever meted out to a congressman. He was immediately taken into custody.

Cunningham, who resigned from Congress in disgrace last year, was spared the 10-year maximum by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns.

Cunningham, a Republican who resigned last year in disgrace, accepted money from defense contractors and others in exchange for steering government contracts their way and other favors.

Federal prosecutors sought the maximum and his attorneys asked for mercy.

Cunningham, choking up as he addressed the judge, focused on accepting blame.

"Your honor I have ripped my life to shreds due to my actions, my actions that I did to myself," he said.

"I made a very wrong turn. I rationalized decisions I knew were wrong. I did that, sir," Cunningham said.

Before Cunningham's sentence, the longest term ever meted out to a congressman was the eight years former Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat received in 2002 for taking payoffs.

Cunningham's attorneys asked for six years for the former Navy "Top Gun" flight instructor and Vietnam War flying ace. Given Cunningham's age and history of prostate cancer, a 10-year sentence "would likely be a death sentence," Cunningham's lawyers wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

"His own misconduct has already left him penniless, homeless, estranged from those he loves and disgraced in the eyes of his countrymen," they wrote.

The 64-year-old Cunningham wrote to U.S. District Judge Larry Burns last month that in any case he was "ready to pay my debt to society."

"With God's grace, I will accept your sentence without complaint," he wrote.

The staggering details of Cunningham's wrongdoing surpass anything in the history of Congress, Senate and House historians said. His bribes included a Rolls-Royce, a yacht, homes, travel, meals, $40,000 Persian rugs and antique furnishings.

"In the sheer dollar amount, he is the most corrupt," said Deputy House Historian Fred W. Beuttler. "The scale of it is unprecedented."

posted March 04, 2006 02:56 AM              

...but my grandma used to say....

......"If ya wanna dance, ya gotta pay the fiddler."

posted March 04, 2006 03:01 AM              

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Gemini sun, Cancer rising, mercury in Gemini, moon in Taurus *29, venus in Taurus, mars in Libra

-I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind. I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time. But I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon. I feel there's nothing I can do.