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Randall Harold Cunningham (born December 8 1941 ), usually known as '''Randy''' or '''Duke''', was a Republican member of the United States House Of Representatives from California's 50th Congressional District . He served from 1991 to 2005. Cunningham resigned from the House on November 28 2005 after pleading guilty to accepting at least $2.4 million in Bribes and underreporting his income for 2004. He pleaded guilty to federal charges of Conspiracy to commit bribery, Mail Fraud , Wire Fraud , and Tax Evasion . On March 3 2006 , he received a sentence of eight years and four months in prison and an order to pay $1.8 million in Restitution . A Special Election to fill the vacancy left by Cunningham took place on April 11 2006 . No candidate obtained the majority necessary to win outright, so a runoff election will be held on June 6. Family Cunningham was born in Los Angeles to Randall and Lela Cunningham, who both moved there from Oklahoma during the Depression . His father was a Union Oil Station Attendant.California Birth certificate 41-118503 His father's family moved to Fresno, California then to rural Shelbina, Missouri when he was 12. In Shelbina, he loved to hunt pheasant and deer with his father and graduated from high school. Cunningham married his first wife, Susan Albrecht in 1965; they met in college and had one adopted son, Todd. Susan filed for divorce and a restraining order in January of 1973 based on her claims of emotional abuse, and the divorce was granted nine months later.1 Cunningham later stated that at that point, his life hit "rock-bottom." In 1973 he met Dan McKinnon, a publisher and son of former Congressman Clinton D. McKinnon . Dan McKinnon encouraged him to turn his life around, and Cunningham became a Born-again Christian .23 Cunningham met his second wife, Nancy D. Jones, at the Miramar Officer's Club and they were married February 16 1974 .Defendant Cunningham's Sentencing Memorandum, Case 05-CR-2137 (LAB), February 2005" Nancy was born in 1952 and is also previously married. In 1976, she filed for divorce and a restraining order, stating that he "is a very aggressive spontaneously assaultive person, and I fear for my immediate physical safety and well being." Nancy later had a change of heart, so at her request, the court dismissed the divorce in January 1977. Nancy's declaration justifying the restraining order has been sealed by court order since 1990, when Duke first ran for congress. They have two daughters, April and Carrie. Dr. Nancy Cunningham is an educator for the Encinitas school district. MILITARY SERVICE After receiving his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University Of Missouri in 1964 and 1965, Cunningham spent a year as a high school swimming coach in Hinsdale, Illinois before joining the United States Navy in 1966. During his service, Cunningham became the first Navy Ace in the Vietnam War , flying an F-4 Phantom from aboard Aircraft Carrier s, and recording five confirmed kills, making him one of two U.S. pilots to "ace" in that war. It has been alleged that Cunningham downed a MiG-17 piloted by Vietnamese Fighter Ace Col. Nguyen Toon , although "Col. Toon" is now considered to be a myth. Cunningham was reportedly almost Court-martial ed while still in flight school for breaking into an office to compare his records with those of his colleagues—a charge denied by Cunningham, but supported by two of his superior officers at the time.4 Regardless of the controversy, there was little doubt about Cunningham's piloting abilities. He was one of the most highly decorated U.S. Navy pilots in the Vietnam War, receiving the Navy Cross once, the Silver Star twice, the Air Medal 15 times, and the Purple Heart for wounds he received under enemy fire. After returning from Vietnam in 1972, he became an instructor at the Navy's TOPGUN school for fighter pilots at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego . Cunningham says many of his real-life experiences in combat and as an instructor were depicted in the popular 1986 movie Top Gun ,5 although the movie's producer says it was not based on any specific aviator.6 Cunningham was a commentator on the History Channel program "Dogfights: The Greatest Air Battles", in the Vietnam War segment, where he discussed his experiences as a fighter pilot. In 1985 Cunningham earned an MBA from National University , a San Diego night school. He retired from the Navy in 1987 as a Commander , settling in Del Mar , a suburb of San Diego. However, success eluded him in business or teaching. He became nationally known as a CNN commentator on naval aircraft in the run-up to the Persian Gulf War . POLITICAL CAREER Cunningham's visibility as a CNN commentator led several Republican leaders to approach him about running in what was then the 44th District, one of four that divided San Diego. The district had been held for eight years by Democrat Jim Bates , and was considered the most Democratic district in the San Diego area. However, Bates was bogged down in a Scandal involving charges of Sexual Harassment . Cunningham won the Republican nomination in 1990 and hammered Bates about the scandal, promising to be "a congressman we can be proud of." He won by just one percentage point, meaning that the San Diego area was represented entirely by Republicans for only the second time since the city was split into two districts after the 1960 census. Congressional freshmen usually do not get much media attention outside of their home districts or states, but Cunningham's status as a Vietnam War hero made him an exception. Colleagues and the media admired him for his special knowledge of the armed forces: he played an important role in the debate on whether to use military force to make Iraq end its occupation of Kuwait . Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan , longtime chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee , said that Cunningham had considerable "drawing power" and was treated as a celebrity by his fellow Republicans.7 After the 1990 census, redistricting renumbered the 44th District as the 51st and created the 50th District, splitting off a significant portion of San Diego County. At the same time, the 44th added several areas of heavily Republican North San Diego County . Cunningham ended up in the new 51st District, as did Bill Lowery , a Republican who had represented most of the other side of San Diego for the past 12 years. They faced one another in the Republican primary. Despite Lowery's seniority, his involvement in the House Banking Scandal hurt him. As polls showed Cunningham with a substantial lead, Lowery dropped out of the primary race, effectively handing Cunningham a second term. Even though the 51st District (renumbered as the 50th after the 2000 census) is only the third most Republican-leaning district in the county, Cunningham was reelected six times with no less than 55 percent of the vote. Cunningham was a member of the Appropriations and Intelligence committees, and chaired the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Human Intelligence Analysis and Counterintelligence during the 109th Congress . He was considered a leading Republican expert on national security issues. He was also a champion of education, using his position on the Appropriations Education Subcommittee to steer federal dollars to schools in San Diego. After surgery for Prostate Cancer in 1998, he became a champion of early testing for the disease. Cunningham was known for making intemperate outbursts, examples of which follow:
While Cunningham said that "I cut my own rudder" on issues, he had a very conservative voting record.11 He is often compared by liberal Interest Groups to former congressman Bob Dornan , with some justification; both are ardent conservatives, both are former military pilots, and both have become infamous for outbursts against perceived enemies. In 1992, Cunningham, along with Dornan and fellow San Diego Republican Duncan Hunter , challenged the patriotism of then-Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton before a near-empty House chamber. In September 1996 Cunningham attacked President Clinton for appointing "soft on crime" judges. "We must get tough on drug dealers," he said. "Those who peddle destruction on our children must pay dearly." He favored stiff drug penalties and voted for the death penalty for major drug dealers. Four months later, his son Todd was arrested for helping to transport 400 pounds (181 kg) of Marijuana from Massachusetts to California. At his son's sentencing hearing, Cunningham fought back tears as he begged the judge for leniency (Todd was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, in part because he tested positive for Cocaine three times while on bail). Cunningham's press secretary responded to accusations of double standards with: "The sentence Todd got had nothing to do with who Duke is. Duke has always been tough on drugs and remains tough on drugs." In the '' Washingtonian '' feature "Best & Worst of Congress" of 2004, Cunningham was rated (along with four other House members) as "No Rocket Scientist" by a bipartisan survey of Congressional staff.12 Legislative achievements Cunningham was the lead sponsor of the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, which banned the practice of Shark finning in all US waters and pushed America to the lead on efforts to ban shark finning worldwide. For his efforts Cunningham was named as a "Conservation Hero" by the Audubon Society and the Ocean Wildlife Campaign. Cunningham co-sponsored, along with Democrat John Murtha , the so-called " Flag Desecration Amendment ", which would add the following sentence to the Constitution Of The United States :"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the Flag of the United States." The proposed amendment has passed the House many times, but narrowly missed the requisite 2/3 majority vote for passage in the Senate. SCANDALS AND CORRUPTION Allegations Arise ). The document relates the costs of bribes to their payoffs. The left column represents the amount (in millions) of government military contracts to be awarded, and the right column represents the costs of the bribes (in thousands of dollars) required to secure those contracts. (The figure in each row's right column is relative to the row above and represents ''additional'' bribe money; for example, $50,000 would mean the difference between $18 million and $19 million of awarded contracts.) "BT" is an abbreviation for "Buoy Toy"- making reference to a yacht owned by Wade with an estimated valuation of $140,000, noted as "140" to the right. Once it came into his possession, Cunningham named this boat the "Duke-stir".]] In June 2005 it was revealed that a Defense Contractor , Mitchell Wade , founder of the defense contracting firm MZM Inc. (since renamed Athena Innovative Solutions Inc. ), had bought Cunningham's house in Del Mar for $1,675,000. A month later, Wade placed it back on the market where it remained unsold for 8 months until the price was reduced to $975,000. Cunningham was a member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee; soon after the purchase, Wade began to receive tens of millions of dollars worth of defense and intelligence contracts. Cunningham claimed the deal was legitimate, adding, "I feel very confident that I haven't done anything wrong."13 Later in June, it was further reported that Cunningham lived in a Yacht while he was in Washington that was owned by Wade, paying only for maintenance.14 It is said Cunningham liked to invite women to his yacht. Two of them said that he would change into Pajama bottoms and a turtleneck Sweater to entertain them with chilled Champagne by the light of his favorite Lava Lamp .15 The Federal Bureau Of Investigation launched an investigation regarding the real estate transaction. His home as well as MZM Corporate Offices and Wade's home were all simultaneously raided by a number of federal agencies with warrants on July 1 2005 .16 On July 14 , Cunningham announced he would not run for a ninth term in 2006, saying that while he believed he'd be cleared of any wrongdoing, he could not defend himself and run for reelection at the same time. He admitted to displaying "poor judgment" when he sold his house to Wade.17 Besides Wade, the three other co-conspirators are: Brent Wilkes , founder of San Diego-based ADCS Inc.; New York businessman Thomas Kontogiannis (whom U.S. Coast Guard records show was involved in a questionable boat deal with Cunningham); and John T. Michael , Kontogiannis' nephew (the owner of a New York-based mortgage company Coastal Capital Corp. Property records show the company made $1.15 million in real estate loans to Cunningham, two of which were used in the purchase of his Rancho Santa Fe mansion. Court records show that Wade paid off one of those loans). |
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