reality-based educator

Randy Cunningham - an American hero. From the LA Times:

WASHINGTON — Bombastic and prone to speak first and think about it later, Randy "Duke" Cunningham was never known for understatement or the subtle approach in Congress. But the rampage he went on in the spring of 2000 was something else, even by his standards.

Three years earlier, using his position on a House defense subcommittee, he had bulldozed the Pentagon into buying a $20-million system it didn't want for digitizing paper documents. Predictably, the military dragged its feet on implementing the system, and Cunningham exploded.

During a subcommittee hearing, the California Republican demanded that the Pentagon official he blamed for the delays be fired.

"I want Lou Kratz removed from office," Cunningham thundered. "I think he's incompetent. And I'm calling for his removal. I've had it."

At the time, Cunningham's harsh rhetoric and extreme advocacy for a relatively minor program attracted virtually no attention.

More than five years would pass before it became clear exactly why Cunningham had gone to such extremes: The small information technology company involved with the digitization project was allegedly one of two obscure defense contractors that secretly showered Cunningham with an estimated $2.4 million in cash and expensive gifts — including a Rolls-Royce, money to buy a posh 8,000-square-foot house, and a cornucopia of antique furniture, Oriental rugs and jewelry.

Last Monday, in a move that left many of his friends and colleagues professing shock and bewilderment, Cunningham, 63, pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges and announced he was resigning from Congress.

...

Cunningham came to Washington from the San Diego area 15 years ago with the campaign slogan "A Congressman We Can Be Proud Of." He was replacing a Democrat who had been driven from office by charges of sexual harassment. Two years later, in 1992, when Cunningham was redistricted out of his first seat, he took over a seat from a Republican incumbent who had been tainted by the House banking scandal.

A Vietnam War hero who shot down five enemy planes and received the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, 15 Air Medals and a Purple Heart as a Navy fighter pilot, Cunningham was one of the most decorated fliers from that war. In Washington, he was an instant celebrity, sought out by the news media and admired by colleagues for his heroism and his special knowledge of the armed forces.

Nor was the political market value of a good-looking, outspokenly patriotic military hero lost on Republican leaders at the time.

"I already consider him a treasure who I could send out anywhere in the country and be confident of his drawing power," former Rep. Guy Vander Jagt (R-Mich.) told The Times in 1991 when he was chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

"The older members treat him more like a celebrity than a freshman," Vander Jagt said. "In the short time he's been here, Duke's captured more attention than any other freshman I've ever seen."

...

In the House, he was seen as an amiable colleague, the kind of man who listened appreciatively when someone had a joke and was more comfortable working a room than discussing the fine points of policy.

"I never heard anybody say a bad word about Duke. I think he was an easy guy to like," said Patrick J. Toomey, a former GOP congressman from Pennsylvania. "He always did have a special status — as a war hero."

Cunningham had an emotional streak too, especially if the subject was Americans in uniform. During a 1995 debate, he choked back tears recounting the experience of an American POW in Vietnam who, Cunningham said, had painstakingly sewn a flag onto the inside of his shirt.

In recent years, Cunningham was best known for advocating a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag from "physical desecration."

Sometimes he got into trouble for his blunt remarks. In 1995, criticizing Democrats for supporting defense budget cuts, he called them "the same ones who would put homos in the military." (Later, when a gay rights group held a news conference to condemn him, Cunningham showed up and declared, "If the term 'homos in the military' is offensive, then I apologize and I will not use it again.")

What a sweet guy. Hope he looks good in orange.