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November 28, 2005
A Fall From Honor
ALERT: Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham-R from California, just plead guilty to a charge of bribery. This is disturbing on a number of levels, he was a very popular Congressman, and he was Vietnam War hero, a former Naval Officer and fighter pilot. His air combat exploits made him a role model to youngsters and even among his peers in politics. When a guy like Cunningham falls it's a long drop. His disgrace is almost beyond our ability to imagine because his life has been so completely destroyed. Those national honors that were bestowed on him throughout his otherwise illustrious career have been ground into dust. He has been stripped of his dignity and every great deed he has ever done is for naught. And for what, a few lousy bucks?
So often as a criminal investigator, I had people charged with crimes of theft sitting in my private office at the police station, looking across a big gray steel desk. In their moment of despair and humiliation I would ask them, "What would you sell your reputation for, would you take $100? How about a $1000, $10,000, what’s your price?" Remember your reputation is the most valuable thing you will ever own in your entire life, so it better be worth it.
In almost all cases the answer was the same, "I just wouldn't do it." Then I reminded them that’s exactly what they did when they stole from someone. They were selling their most valuable possession (their reputation) for the value of whatever it was they had stolen or done. That thought often made them sick and added to their humiliation, especially for the younger ones.
I wasn't trying to be cruel, but I was trying to make a point. This was just the first step to making them face what they had done to themselves and their families. If they had only thought about this before they did their crime, who knows, maybe in most cases it wouldn't have happened? But, people do incredibly dumb things when tempted on the spur of the moment don't they?
Someone once said, the test of your character comes not when people are looking at you, but when they're not. Cunningham had a gross lapse of [character] when nobody was looking and he sold his reputation cheaply. There's a lesson in this story for anyone with half a conscience left, especially those who hold the public trust.
Cunningham has resigned from Congress with a tearful apology and now faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
Posted by Post Scripts at November 28, 2005 12:15 PM
Comments
First of all, Jack, it wasn't for just a few lousy bucks. Cunningham pled guilty to accepting 2.4 million bucks in bribes for doing favors for contractors. And you can bet that if he pled to 2.4 million, the true amount is probably 10 times that over the years. I also do not agree that he just suddenly woke up one day and decided to sell his reputation. With politicians, accepting bribes for favors is not really a big step across the line from taking campaign contributions from special interest groups, which they all do. Of course, those groups expect and do get something in return. It is just finessed in such a way that you can't prove the quid pro quo. As you know, I am also an experienced criminal investigator, and my experience in interviewing suspects, especially high-level white collar crime people, is that they don't really think they have done anything wrong until you prove otherwise. They know what they did. They just don't believe it is a criminal offense. With most of them, it is not a sudden departure from their moral base. It is a gradual thing. For example, the bank official who just takes a little bank money home with him for the weekend in Las Vegas. He does not think of it as stealing. He fully expects to win and pay it all back on Monday. No harm, no foul. If he doesn't win, then he just has to do it again to cover his losses. But he expects to win. These guys do not suffer from low self-esteem like your junkies and petty criminals. They have too much self-esteem. They think they are better than everybody else. They think they deserve the money because they are more clever than you. They think that is the way of the world. In fact, what are you doing with their money in the first place?
Posted by: Javert at November 28, 2005 03:20 PM
I was upset when I read earlier today about Cunningham. I was unaware that he is the Naval aviator Cunningham. Now I feel like I have been kicked in the gut.
I am glad to see he took the high road and admitted what he did. He didn't drag us all through his disgrace. He didn't look us all in the eye and deny his wrongdoing. He didn't try to slime his way out with wordplay like "what does IS mean?"
He will with a lot of hard work, maybe hard time, recover from this dark time of his life.
Posted by: Toby Stahler at November 28, 2005 04:20 PM
"A few bucks".....No, you're right, it was not a few bucks. However, my point was that whatever amount, it was trivial by comparison to the loss of his honor and reputation.
I'm just thankful he admitted it and didn't drag us through the muck anymore than was necessary. Thank you Toby for pointing that out.
Posted by: Jack Lee at November 28, 2005 05:47 PM
Actually, he did lie but he changed his story once he couldn't get away with it. Earlier this year, he stood there (as Tom Delay recently did) and said that the evidence would exonerate him. But it didn't. So, don't call him honorable.
Posted by: Dave at November 29, 2005 03:20 PM
Dave, nobody here is calling him honorable, so I am a bit confused by your comment.
Let me say it again as clearly as I can, what he did was dishonorable and he is disgraced. Cunningham pled guilty and will soon be sentenced to jail for his crimes.
What more is there to say about him?
Posted by: Jack Lee at November 29, 2005 07:34 PM
I was responding to Toby's comment, but you're right, he didn't say honorable, he said that Cunningham "took the high road", which I disagree with. Thanks for the clarification.
Posted by: Dave at November 30, 2005 09:05 AM