Randall "Duke" Cunningham: From War Hero to Ordering Off the Bribery Menu

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Although he had already gotten his aviator nickname years earlier, Randall "Duke" Cunningham sometimes boasted that he might well answer to the name Maverick. The hotshot Navy pilot who served as the protagonist in 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, he boasted, had been based on his own exploits.

Cunningham had indeed had a decorated career as a Navy pilot, becoming the first American fighter ace of the Vietnam War and returning home to work for the elite pilot training program for which the film was named. He was invited to be an advisor during the production, during which he took a few photographs with lead actor Tom Cruise. Top Gun seemingly made a nod to him by referencing Maverick's father as a heroic Vietnam War pilot named Duke Mitchell.

However, those involved in the film would later push back on Cunningham's claims. "We didn't spend two minutes thinking about Duke Cunningham," said scriptwriter Jack Epps. When Cunningham ran for Congress and featured his photos with Cruise in his campaign brochures, Cruise's lawyer demanded that they be withdrawn. Cunningham nevertheless continued to enjoy the reflected glory of Top Gun's box office success, starting a company named Top Gun Enterprises and relying heavily on aviation metaphors when he launched a political career.

Enjoying widespread acclaim and recognition for his aerial feats well after the Vietnam War ended, Cunningham's acquaintances often described him as having a braggadocious demeanor. They would ponder whether his wartime success had led him to believe he was owed a luxurious life, or whether he had simply been tempted to misuse the power he acquired once he was elected to Congress.

No matter the circumstances, Cunningham would leave office in disgrace, his once celebrated legacy tarnished, after he was implicated in what was then the largest bribery scandal to ever hit the legislative branch.

Fighter ace

Randall Harold Cunningham was born on December 8, 1941 in Los Angeles. The son of a truck driver who later opened a Fresno gas station, he spent his early childhood in California before the family moved to Missouri. From the age of 12, Cunningham lived in the tiny community of Shelbina, where his parents ran a five-and-dime store.

Cunningham earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri in 1964, and a master's degree a year later. Aspiring to be a physical education teacher and coach, he assisted with the swimming program at the university before moving to Chicago to take on a coaching job.

The death of his best friend would set Cunningham's life on a new trajectory. In July 1966, Ronald Cullers was killed when his helicopter was shot down over Quang Tri Province during the Vietnam War. Shaken by the loss, Cunningham opted to enlist in the Navy. Graduating at the top of his pilot training class, he was assigned to the USS America for his first combat tour. He returned stateside to attend Top Gun training at Naval Station Miramar in San Diego, then returned to Vietnam in 1971 to serve on the USS Constellation.

Cunningham flew an F-4 Phantom, which was used throughout the war for numerous duties including ground attacks, combating enemy fighters, and surveillance. He initially started to use the nickname "Yank," but later switched it to "Duke" in honor of John Wayne. He bagged his first North Vietnamese MiG on January 19, 1972, while engaging two of the fighters at treetop level, and shot down his second enemy plane on May 8.

Cunningham became a more prominent figure quite suddenly on his 300th combat mission two days later. May 10 marked the commencement of Operation Linebacker, a massive bombing campaign targeting bridges, railroads, oil storage yards, and other strategic targets in North Vietnam in response to its invasion of South Vietnam. While flying to support the bombers, Cunningham's squadron came under attack by 22 MiGs.

During the intense combat that followed, Cunningham would down three North Vietnamese fighters. After destroying one MiG, he went to assist other Phantoms in his squadron and picked off one that was chasing his executive officer. While returning to the Constellation, he was able to shoot down another fighter. Cunningham would claim that this was the dreaded "Colonel Tomb," a North Vietnamese pilot who had reportedly shot down 13 American planes, although aviation historians have since concluded that no such aviator existed and that this was a myth that arose among American pilots.

Before he could make it back to the carrier, Cunningham's plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile. He managed to coax the critically damaged Phantom away from enemy territory and over the sea, where he and his radio intercept officer, Bill Driscoll, ejected. They were then rescued by a Navy helicopter. The feat made Cunningham the first fighter ace of the war, and he and Driscoll would remain the only Navy aces of the Vietnam War (although three Air Force airmen would also be recognized as having five or more kills). 

Duke Cunningham and his radio intercept officer Bill Driscoll (Source)

Eager to shore up flagging support for the war, and unwilling to risk losing the conflict's first aces, the Navy sent Cunningham and Driscoll back to the United States for a five-month public relations tour. Cunningham had no trouble sharing the spotlight with Driscoll, and would firmly insist that he and other "back seat" airmen accompanying ace pilots should be awarded the same recognition. Yet some of his fellow pilots also accused Cunningham of becoming more egotistical as a result of his newfound status. In one incident that proved particularly irritating, he posed for a Datsun dealership's advertisement featuring an automobile with a custom "MIG ACE" license plate.

Cunningham became one of the most decorated pilots of the Vietnam War, earning 15 Air Medals, two Silver Stars, and a Purple Heart. However, in what some colleagues later characterized as a possible early warning sign of greed or a sense of entitlement, he was bitterly disappointed that he did not receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. When Ronald McKeown, Cunningham's commanding officer, informed Cunningham and Driscoll that they would be receiving the Navy Cross, he was stunned when Cunningham informed him that they would decline it in order to "hold out" for the Medal of Honor.

McKeown responded by furiously dressing down the aviators. He informed them that the Navy Cross was the highest honor the U.S. Navy could bestow, ordered them to accept it, and warned them that there would be hell to pay if they did otherwise. He was annoyed to discover that Cunningham felt he had been promised the Medal of Honor, apparently after misinterpreting a remark from a Pentagon bureaucrat. 

McKeown also recalled that Cunningham was intent on getting the award because he was "counting on getting that money." In retrospect, McKeown pondered whether Cunningham may have been betraying a greedy side even in his younger days. Had he received the Medal of Honor, the most Cunningham would have received was a modest stipend from the Veterans Administration of $100 a month.

Navy career

Cunningham returned to an educational role within the Navy, becoming an instructor in the Top Gun program. He completed tours with the fighter squadron VF-154, nicknamed the Black Knights, and became the commander of the training squadron VF-126.

Some of Cunningham's superiors remained wary of his leadership abilities and resisted giving him a permanent commission, although he eventually earned one. In one incident, he was accused of breaking into his superior's office to review his fitness report and compare it to his colleagues. The Navy opted not to discipline him, reportedly because they feared that it would lead to bad publicity.

Cunningham was briefly back in the headlines in 1983 when he accompanied 11-year-old pilot Christopher Marshall from California as he attempted to complete a transatlantic flight along Charles Lindbergh's route. Cunningham, promising that he would leave the flying to Marshall unless an emergency occurred, said he hoped the trip would inspire young Americans to pursue careers in aviation. 

In 1985, Cunningham earned a master's degree in business administration from National University in San Diego. He retired from the Navy in 1987, having achieved the rank of commander. In addition to running Top Gun Enterprises, he began working as a public speaker and made frequent appearances on CNN as a commentator on military issues.

Congressional election of 1990

The unexpected vulnerability of a Democratic congressional candidate would usher in yet another turning point in Cunningham's life, this time pointing him toward a political career.

Jim Bates had first been elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, and had been comfortably re-elected three times to serve California's left-leaning 44th District. Yet he was facing stiffer resistance in the 1990 race as he struggled to overcome lasting reputational damage. Several aides had accused Bates of inappropriate conduct, and in 1989 he had become the first congressman to be disciplined for sexual harassment when the House formally reprimanded him. Although he had faced a primary challenge from Byron Georgiou, who ran with the message "The Democrat We Can Respect," Bates was able to retain the Democratic nomination.

At the urging of Representative Duncan L. Hunter, a fellow California Republican, Cunningham decided to challenge Bates for his seat. He faced a minor scandal during the five-way Republican primary when he issued a brochure depicting opponent Joseph Ghougassian, an Egyptian-born Armenian-American who previously served as U.S. ambassador to Qatar, as being "bought and paid for" by Arab oil interests. The brochure's imagery included Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafi, a Saudi Arabian prince, and an oil barrel dripping dollar bills. Facing accusations of racism, Cunningham issued an apology and explained that he had not meant to take a swipe at Ghougassian's ethnicity but rather criticize the contributions he had received from Middle Eastern businessmen and oil companies.

After earning the Republican nomination, Cunningham received endorsements from several high-profile members of the GOP, including Vice President Dan Quayle. He positioned himself as a social conservative who was opposed to abortion and gun control, sought improvements to the educational system, and stressed the curbing of illegal drug trafficking. Cunningham was particularly critical of Bates' support for a reduction in military spending, and frequently denounced Bates' character as well. He gruffly described his opponent as a "sexual pervert who's guilty as sin," as well as a "disgrace, unfit for any public office."

Cunningham during a congressional campaign in the 90s (Source)

Cunningham often leaned into his well-known wartime fame to prop up his character, to the point that his criticism of Bates sometimes equated the embattled congressman with the enemies he had faced over North Vietnam. He described Bates as "just another MiG, and an unethical one" and vowed to "knock him right out of the sky." The Bates campaign, criticizing Cunningham's intense focus on military issues and metaphors, shot back that Cunningham "might be happier in an F-14 than in Congress." 

Cunningham also faced considerable scrutiny over how sincere he was about wanting a job in Congress. He had been living outside the district he was vying to represent, and needed to move to an apartment in Chula Vista in order to meet the residency requirements for the contest. A review of his voting records revealed that he had not participated in any elections between 1966 and 1988.

Nevertheless, Cunningham narrowly prevailed over Bates in the general election. Of the approximately 108,000 votes cast, he earned just 1,659 more than the incumbent. Redistricting in 1992 established his district as a more solidly conservative one, and he would be easily re-elected to seven more terms.

"Gruff but authentic"

Several colleagues would describe Cunningham as a man of volatile emotions. He was prone to angry outbursts, which he would later follow up with tearful remorse. At one point early in his congressional career, he threatened to quit if he did not receive a committee assignment he desired. In 1992, he remarked that Democratic leaders in the House ought to be "lined up and shot." Yet others recalled him as being kind and empathetic, such as one incident where he sent an aide home as soon as he learned that her grandfather had died. One colleague described him as "gruff but authentic."

Cunningham dedicated much of his attention to military issues, with others in the Republican Party considering him a valued expert on national security issues due to his lengthy service in the Navy. In a later interview, however, Cunningham said he was most proud of his support of two laws on non-military issues. He was a sponsor of Megan's Law, which required the registration of child sex offenders, and legislation to outlaw shark finning.

On several occasions, Cunningham was criticized for callous remarks. During one debate on a water pollution bill in 1995, he criticized his political rivals as "the same ones that would put homos in the military." He was immediately denounced by Representative Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who declared, "You have insulted thousands of men and women who have put their lives on the line. I think you owe them an apology." Representative Patricia Schroeder of Colorado offered an irritated parliamentary inquiry: "Do we have to call the gentleman a gentleman if he is not one?"

As he had done in the 1990 primary, Cunningham denied that his remark was intentionally bigoted. In equating gays in the military to the water pollution bill, he said, he was trying to critique a general pattern of liberalism in the federal government to which he was opposed. Representative Barney Frank, a gay congressman from Massachusetts, was skeptical. "The defense of a bigoted remark, that it was one of several remarks, makes even less sense than I had expected," he said.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT political organization, responded by organizing a press conference to publicly repudiate Cunningham. He showed up to listen to the criticism and issued a belated apology when given a chance to speak. He admitted that he hadn't realized "homos" was considered a slur and promised not to use it again. 

Cunningham apologizes at a press conference called to denounce his remarks (Source)

However, Cunningham was again accused of homophobia in 1998 after remarks he made during a speech to prostate cancer patients. Having undergone a prostate exam himself, he quipped that the procedure was "just not natural, unless maybe you're Barney Frank." During the same event, he lost his temper when a 74-year-old man criticized his position opposing military spending cuts; Cunningham responded by cursing him and giving him the middle finger.

Frank responded to the renewed allegations of bigotry by remarking that Cunningham "seems to be more interested in discussing homosexuality than most homosexuals." Cunningham apologized for both the joke and his behavior at the event, which he said had not been appropriate for a member of Congress. "I was out of line," he said. "I just get upset when people start bashing our military"

Cunningham found himself in a quandary in 1997 when his son Todd was caught flying 400 pounds of marijuana across the country. Although he had supported mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug offenders, he tearfully pleaded with the judge to show his son leniency. He admitted that he had not been present for much of Todd's early life, and wondered if that had factored into his criminal behavior. Todd was sentenced to two-and-a-half years behind bars.

Starting in 1998, Cunningham began serving on the House Appropriation Committee and its subcommittee on defense, which provides funding for national defense and the armed services. He also served on various other appropriations committees, gaining significant influence over the awarding of federal contracts. This power would ultimately prove to be his undoing.

The bribe menu

At first, it seemed that Cunningham had refrained from the excesses that some of his colleagues had indulged in. One aide would later recall a joke that the congressman was so frugal that he stocked up on three of everything went to Costco. When a report came out in 2005 that congressmen had been receiving millions of dollars in corporate jet flights and hotel stays from special interest groups, lobbyists, and defense contractors, San Diego Union Tribune reporter Marcus Stern found that Cunningham had rarely received such perks - accepting only $25,572.04 from a Saudi businessmen living in the United States for trips between January 2000 and June 2005.

When Stern turned his attention to Cunningham's lifestyle, however, a much different picture emerged. He discovered that Mitchell Wade, head of the defense contracting company MZM Inc., had purchased Cunningham's house in the San Diego suburb of Rancho Santa Fe in 2003 for $1.7 million - hundreds of thousands of dollars above comparable sales in the neighborhood. Wade had sold it a year later for just $1 million. Reporters also discovered that MZM had received $150 million in defense contracts between 2002 and 2005, vaulting the company from having zero prime contracts into one of the nation's top 100 defense contractors. 

The ensuing investigation uncovered a staggering amount of corruption. Since 2000, Cunningham had collected $2.4 million in cash, goods, and favors from Wade as well as Brent Wilkes, the owner of a data processing company that did business with the Pentagon. In exchange, he had worked to steer defense contracts their way. Various methods had been used to conceal the transactions, including overpaying Cunningham for certain purchases, paying him for items he continued to own, selling goods to him for less than their market value, and funneling cash to him through a complicated set of bank accounts and corporate entities owned by co-conspirators. Cunningham had also kept such transfers off his congressional financial disclosure forms and tax returns.

Cunningham had taken the opportunity to revel in a luxurious lifestyle. Mitchell and Wade had been covering the mortgage payments on the Rancho Santa Fe home as well as his condominium in Arlington. They had coughed up the funds necessary for the purchase and payments of two yachts (the Kelly C and Duke-Stir), a Rolls-Royce, and a1999 GMC Suburban, along with their associated costs including repairs and yacht club fees. They had also helped Cunningham acquire thousands of dollars' worth of Persian rugs, an immense amount of antique furniture, and two laser shot shooting simulators.

The Duke-Stir and Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe home, both of which factored into bribery allegations

(Source 1 and Source 2)

The defense contractors had plied Cunningham still further by paying for his daughter's graduation, picking up the tab for meals at expensive restaurants, and setting him up with private flights and lavish hotel rooms. At Wilkes' trial, one witness testified that Wilkes had arranged for an escort service to send two prostitutes to meet with him and Cunningham during a trip to Hawaii in August 2003.

One damning piece of evidence found during the investigation, subsequently dubbed a "bribe menu," was printed on Cunningham's congressional stationery. Sketching out the terms of one corrupt deal, it contained two columns: the one on the left indicating the size a government contract that could be secured and the one on the right indicating how much money Cunningham should receive. This particular example promised $16 million in contracts in exchange for the title to a $140,000 boat, with another $1 million in contracts available for each $50,000 bribe thereafter. Cunningham offered a discount starting at $21 million, with the required bribes dropping to $25,000 per $1 million in contracts.

The "bribe menu" (Source)

The conspirators had largely managed to keep the scheme out of the public eye, though they occasionally raised suspicions. One staffer had approached Cunningham to discuss his concerns with the Suburban purchase, pointing out that Wade had sold it for just $10,000 when it had a fair market value of $18,000. Cunningham became infuriated, telling the man, "Stay the fuck out of my personal business."

As the long-running scheme unraveled, Cunningham made a last-ditch effort to cover his tracks. He asked a real estate letter to draft a letter falsely claiming that shifts in the San Diego real estate market were responsible for the drastic drop in the Rancho Santa Fe house's sale price, and forged a similar letter to Wade purporting to be surprised about the lower-than-expected transaction. He sent a $16,500 check to the rug dealer where he'd acquired the Persian carpets, along with a letter asking him to claim that he'd previously sent the check but that it had been returned due to a faulty address. He also tried to persuade the owner of an antique store he frequented to help him claim that he had compensated Wade for the items he'd purchased. 

One of Cunningham's friends suggested that he may have been trying to patch things up with his second wife, Nancy, to whom he had been married since 1974, by "paying her back for all the bad stuff she's ever done in her life." If this was the case, it backfired completely. Nancy declared that she felt deceived by his behavior, and the couple separated in July 2005, shortly after the FBI raided their house.

Cunningham, by contrast, would later claim that Nancy was fully aware of the corruption. "She actually signed papers that she was guilty," he said. "She didn't have to go to prison because I refused to testify against her and tried to protect her."

"Stunning betrayal of the public trust"

Cunningham initially maintained his innocence, although he declared that he would not seek re-election in 2006. However, he found few people willing to side with him. The Republicans were already reeling from other corruption investigations into their top congressional leaders, Tom DeLay and Bill Frist, and the evidence against Cunningham seemed incontrovertible. "The idea of a congressman taking money is outrageous," President George W. Bush commented. "And Congressman Cunningham is going to realize that he has broken the law and is going to pay a serious price, which he should"

On November 23, 2005, Cunningham pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy and tax evasion. He held a press conference on December 1 to announce his resignation from the House, tearfully apologizing for his actions. "The truth is I broke the law, concealed my conduct, and disgraced my office...In my life I have known great joy and great sorrow. And now I know great shame. I cannot undo what I have done. But I can atone," he said.

Cunningham breaks down in tears while reading his resignation statement (Source)

In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors issued a blistering rebuke of Cunningham that described his case as a "stunning betrayal of the public trust." Saying that he had exhibited "naked avarice" and "abused the public trust and ignored his solemn oath of office to illegally enrich himself on a scale never before seen in Congress," they recommended that he be given the maximum allowable sentence of 10 years in prison.

On March 3, 2006, Cunningham was sentenced to eight years and four months behind bars. The court also ordered him to forfeit the $1.85 million in bribes he'd received, along with the profits of the Rancho Santa Fe home sale and all of the antique furniture he had wrongfully acquired. In addition, he would need to pay $1.8 million in back taxes.

Seven other people would face criminal penalties for their roles in the sprawling bribery scheme to buy Cunningham's influence. Wade agreed to cooperate with the FBI in exchange for a reduced sentence, pleading guilty in 2006 to four counts of bribery and election fraud. He was sentenced on December 15, 2008, to 30 months in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Wilkes' case would plod on for several years after he was convicted on November 5, 2007, on 13 counts including wire fraud, conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering. He was sentenced to serve 12 years in prison and either pay a $500,000 fine or make a criminal forfeiture of $636,116. Wilkes was freed after an 11-month stint while his case was appealed, with his arguments raising the questions of whether one witness should have been granted immunity and whether he was due a new trial since the imprisoned Cunningham had made statements alleging that Wilkes wasn't involved in the bribery. An appeals court upheld the sentence, and Wilkes returned to prison in May 2014.

Another stiff sentence was dealt to Thomas Kontogiannis, a real estate developer who oversaw the money laundering in the scheme. After pleading guilty in February 2007 to one count of engaging in an unlawful monetary transaction, he was ordered to pay a $10.5 million fine and spend eight years and one month in prison. John T. Michael, a nephew of Kontogiannis's wife who actually carried out the transactions, was given five years of probation and a $100,000 fine.

Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, formerly the third top ranking official at the CIA, was convicted in 2009 of defrauding the government by helping to steer contracts to Wilkes, a childhood friend. As he had done for Cunningham, Wilkes rewarded him by paying for expensive vacations and meals. Foggo was sentenced to three years in prison.

Two MZM employees received lighter punishments. Robert Fromm, an Army contract official, admitted that he had been working to influence former subordinates to help the company acquire and keep contracts. Richard Berglund had made illegal campaign contributions under Wade's direction. Both men were given one year of probation and $2,500 fines.

Although she was not criminally charged, Nancy did not escape the scandal entirely unscathed. Prosecutors stated that she had benefited from Cunningham's misconduct even if she had not been directly involved in the transactions, in part because she had been filing joint tax returns that failed to account for the congressman's illicit revenue. The Justice Department filed a civil suit against her, and in an October 2006 settlement she was held liable for $1.7 million in back taxes and penalties, minus the $760,000 from the sale of the Rancho Santa Fe residence.

The San Diego Union Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize for its role in uncovering Cunningham's wrongdoing. In Congress, Cunningham's case and other prominent corruption scandals led to the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics in 2008. Cunningham's actions also contributed to a temporary ban on earmarking as part of the legislative process.

Later life

Cunningham's corruption, and the GOP's overall dismal prospects for the 2006 congressional races, left the outcome of his vacant seat in doubt. Yet when a special election was held on June 6, 2006, a Republican candidate still managed to retain control of the district, albeit in a closer than usual result. Brian P. Bilbray, a former congressman, prevailed over Democratic candidate Francine Busby by four points (compared to Cunningham's 20-point victory over the same rival in 2004). Bilbray would subsequently keep the seat in the November election and be re-elected to two additional terms.

When Stern sent a letter to Cunningham in October 2006 to check up on the jailed ex-congressman, he received a furious reply. Cunningham complained that the reporter had subjected him and his family to "constant cruelty" due to the frequent articles he had written about the matter, and declared, "I am a human not an animal to keep whipping." Although he apologized again for accepting the bribes, he also denounced Wade as "the absolute devil."

Four years later, Cunningham had backed away from the contrition he had displayed at his resignation. In a 2010 interview, he claimed that he had not knowingly accepted bribes and that he hadn't been in the right state of mind to assess his plea agreement, since he was battling cancer at the time. If he could do it again, he said, he would fight the charges at trial. Cunningham further complained that the IRS was being overzealous in their confiscations, seizing funds that he claimed were legit reimbursements rather than bribes.

During his imprisonment, Cunningham once again returned to his educational training and began helping his fellow inmates earn GEDs. His experience with incarceration also caused him to do an about-face on his previous support for tough punishments for criminal offenses. He wrote to his former colleagues expressing his support for prison reform, admitting, "I didn't know jack weenie about what people were going through in here." 

Cunningham at his new home in Arkansas (Source)

Cunningham was released in December 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence in a halfway house near New Orleans. He later moved to Arkansas, with his brother and sister-and-law helping him to get settled. He remained largely out of the public eye, although he stayed active with aviation and veterans' groups such as the Experimental Aircraft Association and the American Fighter Aces Association, which he led from 2020 until his death. Seeking to "pay back and give back to society for some of the things that I took," he started volunteering at the local fire department.

Cunningham did some modest work in politics in his later years, joining the local Tea Party chapter and aiding the campaigns for Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson and presidential candidate Donald Trump. On January 13, 2021, just one week before he left office after his first term, Trump granted Cunningham a conditional pardon.

Cunningham died of an unspecified illness in Little Rock, Arkansas, on August 27, 2025.

Sources 

Biographical Director of the United States Congress, Gathering of Eagles Foundation, Experimental Aircraft Association, "'Top Gun' Sets His Sights on an Unruffled Bates" in the Los Angeles Times on Aug. 27 1990, "Homos' Reference in Debate Denounced on House Floor" in the Washington Post on May 11 1995, "Water-Bill Debate Turns to Name Calling and Slurs" in the New York Times on May 12 1995, "GOP Lawmaker Apologizes for Using the Term 'Homos'" in the Spokesman-Review on May 13 1995, "Cunningham Apologizes for Curse, Gesture, Rude Remark" in the Washington Post on Sep. 7 1998, "When Duke Was King" in the San Diego Reader on Dec. 15 2005, "Duke Cunningham, War Hero Turned Corrupt Congressman, Dies at 83" in the San Diego Union Tribune on Aug. 28 2005, "GOP Leaders Condemn Ex-Lawmaker Who Took Bribes" in the Gainesville Sun on Nov. 29 2005, "Bluster Marked Career of Bribe-Taking Cunningham" in the Seattle Times on Dec. 4 2005, "The Meaning of Bilbray's Win in California" on NPR on June 7 2006, "Cunningham's Wife Says She Felt Deceived" in the Los Angeles Times on Aug. 19 2006, "Top Gun's Tailspin" in Newsweek on Dec. 11 2005, "Ex-Congressman's Wife Left Broke by Bribery Scandal" in the Press Democrat on Oct. 7 2006, "Ex-Rep. Cunningham Lashes Out in Letter" in the Denver Post on Oct. 7 2006, "Financier Guilty, Aided Lawmaker on Land Deals" on NBC News on June 15 2007, "Prostitutes Take the Stand in Bribery Trial of Contractor Linked to Rep. Cunningham" in the Arizona Daily Star on Oct. 18 2007, "Defense Contractor Gets 30 Months in Bribe Scandal" on ABC News on Dec. 15 2008, "Disgraced Senior CIA Official Heads to Prison Still Claiming He's a Patriot" in ProPublica on Feb. 27 2009, "Cunningham Blames Lawyers for Plea" on NPR on Nov. 22 2010, "Cunningham's Briber Reports to Prison" in the San Diego Union-Tribune on May 16 2014, "Watch Bernie Sanders' Fervid Denunciation of an Anti-Gay Congressman in 1995" in Slate on Feb. 23 2016, "Former Congressman Randy 'Duke' Cunningham Dies at 83" on NBC News on Aug. 29 2025, "Duke Cunningham, 'Top Gun' Inspiration, Dead at 83" in Newsweek on Aug. 29 2025, "Former San Diego Congressman and Navy Ace Randy 'Duke' Cunningham Dies at 83" on KPBS on Aug. 29 2025, "Randy 'Duke' Cunningham, Naval Aviator and Corrupt Appropriator, Dies at 83" in Roll Call on Aug. 29 2025, "Randall Harold 'Duke' Cunningham" obituary at Memorial Gardens Funeral Home, United States of America v. Randall Duke Cunningham, "The Bloodiest Day" on the History Channel's Dogfights, Check Six: The Duke Cunningham Story by Ninette Del Rosario Sosa, The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught by Marcus Stern et. al., Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, History's Most Corrupt Congressman by Seth Hettena, Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade by Andrew Feinstein, USA v. Randall Harold Cunningham, USA v. Brent Wilkes

Edwin Edwards: How Gambling Brought Down Louisiana's "Cajun King"

 

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Reporters covering the 1985 trial of Governor Edwin Edwards were treated to an unusual photo opportunity one day as Louisiana's chief executive arrived for the proceedings. Instead of pulling up in the governor's official car, Edwards had opted to ride a mule-drawn carriage to the courthouse. He joked to reporters that he "was looking for some mode of transportation that was indicative of the pace of the trial," which would plod on for 14 weeks.

The incident was just one of the many folksy ways Edwards endeared himself to Louisiana's citizens and annoyed those who sought to hold him to account for his widely suspected corruption. He had figured into numerous grand jury investigations, but 1985 trial on improperly awarding state contracts would be the first time he faced actual charges. Edwards responded with decided nonchalance, offering 2-1 gambling odds on his acquittal and suggesting that his health was good enough that he might just be able to endure the maximum potential prison sentence of over 250 years.

Edwards was a deft politician whose ability to present himself as a man of the people made him perhaps the most popular figure in Louisiana since Huey Long. Although his underlying flaws and corruption would begin to catch up to him later in his career, he still managed to stage an unprecedented comeback to the governor's mansion against an unlikely foe. It was only in his later years, with his political career behind him, that prosecutors were finally able to decisively pin charges against him.

From the church to the House

Edwin Washington Edwards was born on August 6, 1927, on a sharecroppers' farm in Avoyelles Parish, near the town of Marksville. His father was half-Cajun and his mother was a descendant of Louisiana's French settlers, a heritage which established Edwards' strong Creole identity at an early age.

Edwards was raised in the local Nazarene Church, which advocated for discipline, austerity, and assisting the poor, along with refraining from vices like drinking, smoking, and extramarital sex. This religious upbringing had a substantial impact on Edwards, as he would become strongly committed to supporting those in need and would frequently quote from the Bible during his political career. He was more skeptical of the church's dogmatic beliefs, and only partly influenced by its position on moral behavior; while he never partook in drinking or smoking, Edwards would later become known as a notorious gambler and womanizer.

Nevertheless, Edwards considered becoming a preacher, and did some preaching in a Protestant church in his youth. While he opted against following this career path, he ultimately decided to become a Catholic at the urging of his first wife, Elaine Schwartzenburg, whom he married in 1949.

Edwards attended Louisiana State University for one year, but left to enlist in the Navy during the closing months of World War II. He was trained as an aviation cadet but never saw combat, as Japan surrendered shortly before he was to be deployed to the Pacific. He was discharged in 1946, returned to LSU, and received his law degree in 1949.

Edwards during his brief time in the Navy (Source)

Learning from his sister that there were few French-speaking attorneys in the city of Crowley, where she had moved with her husband, Edwards opted to move to the community as well and establish a private practice. He began his political career here as well, serving on the city council from 1954 to 1962 and acting as the ad hoc city court judge during the 1950s.

In 1964, Edwards scored a major upset victory when he defeated Bill Cleveland, who had been in the Louisiana state legislature for two decades, to win a seat in the state senate. He would only serve here for one year before winning a special election as a Democrat to the House of Representatives to fill a vacancy left by Representative T. Ashton Thompson, who had died suddenly in a car accident. 

Edwards would remain in the House until 1972, and earn distinction as one of the few Southern congressmen to back the Voting Rights Act of 1965, voicing his approval for five-year extensions of the legislation in 1966 and 1970. This was particularly unusual as 80 percent of the voters in Edwards' district had cast their ballot for segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace in 1968.

Governor of Louisiana

In 1971, Edwards entered Louisiana's convoluted race for governor. At this point, the race involved a closed Democratic primary, followed by a runoff among the top Democratic contenders. The ensuing general election was little more than a formality, as the Democratic Party had solid control of the state and the Republicans had not held the governor's office since Reconstruction.

Edwards managed to win strong support among the Cajun, Creole, and Black populations in Louisiana. He placed first among 17 contenders in his party's primary, then cruised to an easy victory at the general election. When he was sworn in on May 9, 1972, Edwards became the first Catholic governor in the United States and the first with Cajun ancestry.

Returning the support he had received from the state's minorities, Edwards named several Black residents to key political posts. He was also openly supportive of many Black politicians in Louisiana, which helped to expand his base and establish a more welcoming and inclusive environment in the state.

During his first term, Edwards pledged to help the downtrodden people of his state. One of the most important changes he made to fulfill this promise was pushing for legislation that changed the severance tax on the extraction of crude oil from a flat rate of  26 cents per barrel to 12.5 percent of the market price. When oil prices soared during the energy crisis of the 1970s, the change allowed revenues to pour into the state coffers.

The income allowed Edwards to close budget deficits, reduce state income and sales tax, and completely eliminate a state property tax. In addition, it enabled the governor to direct more investments in public improvements, including education, state parks, tourism, and state hospital and welfare programs. 

Edwards also supported a constitutional convention to update Louisiana's 1921 governing document. The convention took place in 1973, with the new constitution going into effect in 1975. It gave the governor broader leeway to reorganize the executive branch, which Edwards consolidated by boiling 258 independent agencies down into a cabinet-style government. The new constitution also had the effect of changing the election process to an open primary, doing away with the clunky old system by allowing all candidates (regardless of political party) to run for office, with a runoff taking place if no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. 

The impetus for this change was an effort to minimize the expense of a general election campaign, something the Democratic Party in Louisiana considered to be an annoyance and a waste given the party's dominance. Ironically, it would help strengthen Republican influence in the state since it gave the GOP the opportunity to mount a stronger campaign from the outset. It would also set the stage for Edwards' unexpected return to power 16 years later.

Early scandals

Although Edwards easily won re-election in 1975, his second term was clouded by accusations of wrongdoing. Clyde Vidrine, who had served as Edwards' bodyguard and later his executive aide before being fired due to a questionable real estate deal, published a salacious book in 1977 about Edwards' conduct. Just Takin' Orders accused the governor of trading government posts for campaign contributions and described wild trips to Las Vegas, where Edwards ran up gambling debts and, on one occasion, took five women to bed in a row.

Edwards responded to the accusations with his trademark wit and charm. He joked that the campaign contributions were "illegal for them to give, but not for me to receive." He offered a few quips to the charge of infidelity, suggesting that Elaine knew it wasn't true because he was "only good for four-and-a-half times," or that Vidrine had neglected to mention a sixth woman he slept with after his aide left.

Vidrine's accusations were still enough to spark several investigations into the governor. While these inquiries didn't result in criminal charges, one did conclude that Edwards owed $5,000 in back taxes.

Vidrine also tipped off the IRS about cash Edwards received from Tongsun Park in 1971 while he was in the House. A known South Korean intelligence agent, Park had been accused of trying to bribe congressmen to pressure President Richard Nixon to reverse his decision to remove ground troops from Korea. Several congressmen would be reprimanded in the "Koreagate" scandal, and Edwards' fellow Louisiana  congressman Otto Passman was one of two who received criminal charges in the matter.

Edwards denied Vidrine's claim that Park had delivered $20,000 to him, but admitted that Elaine had received money from the agent. He claimed he knew Park as a businessman, but only became aware of the money he had paid his wife when the IRS questioned him on his revenues.

Vidrine continued to nurse a grudge against Edwards, and would later update and reissue his book after Edwards' trial in 1985. In a strange coda, the governor's former aide was gunned down outside a federal courthouse in Shreveport in December 1986, the victim of the enraged ex-husband of a woman he had been dating.

Return to office

Louisiana's constitution limited governors to two terms, so Edwards returned to private practice after leaving office in 1980. In the 1979 election, voters backed David C. Treen, the first Republican to become governor of Louisiana in more than a century.

Treen was dogged by poor economic conditions throughout his term in office. The recession of the early 1980s caused unemployment to soar, with the state's oil and gas industry being hit especially hard. The governor and legislature struggled to balance the state budget amid declining revenues. Louisiana residents waxed nostalgic about the boom times under Edwards; the former governor noticed, and announced his intention to run for a third term.

Edwards launched a lively campaign, delivering fierce attack's on Treen's administration. One campaign brochure, criticizing a reduction in human services to pay for a 33 percent tax cut, shouted, "Edwards Giveth; Treen Taketh Away!" Edwards declared his opponent "so slow it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes" and, during one debate, responded to Treen's accusation that he talked out of both sides of his mouth by saying it was so "people like you with only half a brain can understand me." Confident in his chances of being returned to office, Edwards crowed, "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy."

The Treen campaign zeroed in on suspicions of Edwards' corrupt nature. They brought up Park's gift to Elaine, and pointed out how either Edwards or his associates had been the targets of 27 grand jury investigations. Treen also noted how Edwards had been particularly lenient with his pardon power, granting 1,181 requests during the last four-and-a-half years he was in office. 

Voters were content to excuse Edwards' questionable character if it meant there was a chance to bring back the good old days. When the results came in, Edwards had trounced Treen with 62 percent of the vote.

Faced with $4 million in campaign debt, Edwards mounted a lavish victory celebration to break even. He chartered a trip to France in January 1984, charging $10,000 a person. A total of 618 people attended, including 60 from the Louisiana state legislature. During a trip to the palace at Versailles, he commented, "I've wanted all my life to be a king, and now I can be."

Edwards during his celebratory trip to Paris (Source)

There were also lingering signs of corruption within the Edwards administration. Commissioner Charles E. Roemer, the father of his future gubernatorial opponent Buddy Roemer, was implicated in scandals involving overpayments to state computer contracts and mismanagement of the state employees' hospitalization insurance program. Michael O'Keefe, a state senator and one of Edwards' strongest allies, was convicted on various corruption charges.

Then, on February 28, 1985, one of the many grand jury investigations against Edwards finally returned an indictment.

1985 corruption charges

Edwards was charged with 50 counts in total, his alleged crimes including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and racketeering. Prosecutors charged that he had received $1.9 million from hospitals and nursing homes while out of office in exchange for the promise that he would grant them the state permits necessary to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid payments if he was returned to office. Charged alongside the governor were his brother Marion, his nephew and real estate broker Charles David Isbel, business partners Ronald Falgout and James Wyllie, businessman Gus Mijalis, and architect Perry Segura.

The state said that the defendants had crafted an elaborate scheme to rake in funding. Isbell would secure the land for new hospitals and nursing homes, Segura would draft their plans, and Marion would send developers in need of permits to Isbell to purchase the land. Prosecutors said that some of the defendants had also established the entity Health Services Department Corporation but concealed Edwards' role in it to outsiders, then promised that Edwards would be able to use his power and influence to give preferential treatment to those who paid the corporation. Once he had returned to office, Edwards had indeed approved five of the corporation's proposed projects despite a moratorium that had been established on granting the necessary permits.

Edwards during his 1985 trial (Source)

Prosecutors charged that Edwards' gambling habits had motivated the crimes, since he had racked up $2 million in debts at Las Vegas casinos. Edwards admitted that he had been a partner in Health Services Development Corporation and that he had made about $2 million in the venture, but claimed that this had been the result of shrewd business practices rather than corruption. Several newspapers and state officials had called for him to resign in response to the indictment, but Edwards said he would only do so if he was found guilty.

During the trial, state witnesses testified to the group's business dealings. Health Services Development Corporation had made about $10 million through dealings with 16 corporations, including five that prosecutors defined as shell corporations defined only by their state permit. Kathryn Lichtenberg, a New Orleans lawyer who had formerly worked for Wyllie, said he had boasted that there would be a "gravy train" once Edwards was returned to office. 

Prosecutors also brought in casino executives, who confirmed Edwards' severe gambling debt and the suspicious way he paid it off. After being returned to office, Edwards had summoned the executives to the governor's mansion and handed over suitcases stuffed with cash to pay down what he owed. The state also showed how Edwards had gambled under multiple names to try to hide his losses, and had never declared the gambling losses on his taxes despite incurring them between 1982 and 1984.

Edwards testified in his own defense, reiterating his claim that he had earned money honestly rather than by exerting influence. The defense team also managed to undermine the prosecution's claim that Edwards' role in the corporation was a conflict of interest due to the possibility that he might return to office, noting how he was fully ensconced in the private sector when the alleged crimes occurred.

Deliberating the matter, the jury wound up deadlocked for six days. Eleven jurors favored acquittal while one considered Edwards to be guilty. The judge eventually declared a mistrial, and acquitted three defendants for lack of evidence.

The matter went to a second trial, where the defense opted not to present arguments due to the belief that the state had not shown sufficient evidence of guilt. Edwards was acquitted on May 11, 1986. Appearing before supporters on the courthouse steps after the decision, he accused the prosecution of being politically motivated and boasted that "this courthouse is a citadel of justice, not a cesspool of Republican politics."

Nevertheless, Edwards' reputation had been badly tarnished. A poll taken two weeks after the indictment showed that just one in three respondents supported the governor, and political analysts opined that Edwards was unlikely to run for a fourth term even if he emerged triumphant from the trial. A cloud of suspicion still hung around the governor; he had been under investigation for potentially illegal ties with oil companies at the time of his indictment, and was later scrutinized for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' purchase of land owned by people who contributed to Edwards' campaign.

Edwards' third term was also proving not to be the miracle cure voters might have expected. Edwards was facing the same challenges that had dogged Treen. With the plunge in oil prices severely constraining the funds that had been available during his first two terms, Edwards was forced to implement new taxes, substantially reduce state departments, and cut several programs to make up a $700 million budget deficit. His popularity took an immediate hit. 

The administration suffered another black eye with the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. The event had attracted only 7 million guests, 4 million fewer than expected, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. Edwards backed a decision to bail out the World's Fair with $65 million in state funds to keep it solvent.

During the first round of the gubernatorial primary in 1987, Edwards faced a stiff challenge from Rep. Buddy Roemer, who accused Edwards of trying to turn Louisiana into a "banana republic." When the results came in, Roemer had earned 33 percent of the vote to Edwards' 28 percent. Certain that he wouldn't emerge as the victor, Edwards decided to drop out of the race.

Challenge from a grand wizard

Roemer was saddled with unpopularity from the start of his term. Under the primary rules, Edwards' withdrawal as the candidate receiving the second most votes made Roemer the winner by default, despite having the support of only one-third of the electorate. 

Roemer's rise had been driven in part by Edwards' falling star and in part by his promotion of several reform measures, including investing more in educational spending, getting tough on polluters, cutting taxes and reducing wasteful spending, confronting crime, and cleaning up corruption in state politics. However, his progress on these promises was decidedly slow as he faced ongoing fiscal crises as well as stiff opposition in the state legislature. His foes also accused him of being arrogant, antisocial, and inaccessible, as he tended to prefer working in private to the boisterous gladhanding favored by Edwards.

As the 1991 election approached, Roemer made the shortsighted decision to switch his allegiance to the Republican Party. He wound up being contested by Rep. Clyde Holloway, who rallied Louisiana's fundamentalist Christian wing to challenge Roemer's pro-choice stance. The state GOP convention ultimately endorsed Holloway despite Roemer's attempt to get the gathering canceled. Roemer had also failed to notice an upswell of support for an unlikely challenger.

David Duke during his 1991 gubernatorial campaign (Source)

David Duke's youth had been defined by his vocal and unabashed support for white supremacy. He had espoused his love of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during his time as a student at Louisiana State University, joined the Ku Klux Klan, and become the grand wizard of a similar organization - Knights of the Ku Klux Klan - which he had established to try to cloak his cause in a more legitimate facade.

Duke ran for office several times during the 1970s and 1980s, though the odds of his victory were so slim that several supporters denounced them as little more than attempts to bilk gullible racists out of their money. Yet he won a surprise victory in 1989 when he was elected as a Republican to the Louisiana state legislature from the New Orleans suburb of Metamie. He served a single term, where his signature achievements were authoring a bill to limit affirmative action in Louisiana and leading opposition to Roemer's proposed reform of the state tax system.

By this time, Duke was trying to cast himself as a reformed and respectable man, a born-again Christian whose radical days were behind him. Nevertheless, many of his political positions were thinly rebranded versions of the racist views he had trumpeted as a Klansman. He fiercely criticized affirmative action and social welfare programs, raising the specter of minorities being placed in jobs they were not qualified for or lazily benefiting from the tax dollars of hard-working citizens. Despite the promise of self-reform, critics pointed out how he continued to sell anti-Semitic literature out of his state legislator's office.

Duke's arguments nevertheless resonated with many white voters in Louisiana. When he mounted a race for the U.S. Senate in 1990 as an unendorsed Republican, he performed surprisingly well against Bennett Johnston, the Democratic incumbent who had first been elected in 1972. Johnston won the race with just 53.9 percent of the vote, while Duke earned a majority of the white vote.

As the 1991 gubernatorial election approached, Roemer was unconcerned by potential challenges from both Edwards and Duke. He had already bested Edwards once despite his strong presence in the state, and figured that Duke's unsavory past would fail to make him a strong contender. Early polls showed that 35 percent of the electorate supported Roemer while 25 percent favored Edwards and only 15 percent planned to vote for Duke. By the eve of the October 19 primary, Edwards and Roemer were neck and neck in the polls (31 percent to 30 percent) while Duke trailed at 20 percent.

The primary results were a major shock. Edwards had been the top candidate with 523,096 votes, but voters had also turned out in force for Duke. He was barely 30,000 votes behind the former governor, earning 491,342 ballots in total. Roemer had fallen about 80,000 short of Edwards, knocking him out of the race.

Showdown with Duke

The runoff now came down to Edwards and Duke, and the Louisiana governor's election soon gained international attention. Many onlookers were disgusted by the implications of the race. Barely two decades after the civil rights movement had endured bloodshed and terrorism to topple segregation and advance equal rights reforms, a former grand wizard of the KKK now had a fighting chance to be the top elected official in a Deep South state.

The Democrats mounted a massive campaign against Duke, zeroing in on his long record of hatred and bigotry. The effort attracted a groundswell of support from business owners fearful that tourists would boycott Louisiana if Duke were to be elected, as well as civil rights groups and local newspapers. National GOP leaders, including President George H.W. Bush, also denounced Duke and disavowed his connection with their party. One anti-Duke advertisement featured a World War II veteran in full military uniform, declaring, "I joined the Army in 1944 to fight the Nazis. And I'm going to fight the Nazis in this election." 

Faced with such an unsavory alternative, Edwards' former opponents publicly backed him. Treen and Roemer encouraged voters to cast their ballots for the former governor. Edwards concentrated on appealing to the voters who had backed Roemer in the first primary vote; like Duke, he promised that he had reformed himself. "I don't want to live the rest of my life with a legacy of bad marks I had eight years ago, six years ago," he said.

For many voters, the choice between a Klansman and an ex-governor who had been tried for corruption was an easy one to make, if not exactly palatable. The attitude was reflected in bumper stickers reading "Vote For the Crook. It's Important" and "Vote for the Lizard, Not the Wizard." Edwards got in on the fun, delivering the bawdy remark that he and Duke were "both wizards under the sheets."

Duke's campaign suffered some additional blows in the last days of the campaign. In a fiery debate between Edwards and Duke on Tim Russert's Meet the Press, Duke was unable to answer questions about Louisiana's top industries or how much of the population lived below the poverty line. On November 5, 11 days before the election, Duke campaign staffer Bob Hawks quit and publicly charged that Duke's conversion to Christianity was a hoax.

When the runoff election was held, Duke still managed to win 671,009 votes, including the majority of the white and GOP vote. Yet the overall result was a landslide victory for Edwards. He had pulled 61 percent of the vote, or 1.06 million ballots, to win an unprecedented fourth term as Louisiana governor. 

Fourth term and riverboat gambling scandal

Following his previous rocky time in office, Edwards enjoyed more success in his fourth term. He managed to balance the state budget and oversee modest increases in state funding for public programs in health, education, and welfare, as well as funding for a new arena in New Orleans and investments in existing sports facilities. Edwards also remarried during this term; following his 1989 divorce from Elaine, with whom he had four children, he tied the knot with Candy Picou, a nurse nearly four decades younger than him.

Seeking to diversify the state's revenues, Edwards also worked to bring casino and riverboat gambling to Louisiana. The state struck a deal with Harrah's to establish a casino in the heart of New Orleans, although this venture nearly collapsed when Harrah's declared bankruptcy in 1995; Edwards' successor, Governor Murphy Foster, subsequently renegotiated the contract and the casino opened in 1999. Riverboat gambling had already proved to be a successful tourist attraction and source of income in neighboring Mississippi, and Louisiana established the Riverboat Gaming Commission to grant licenses for similar ventures. 

This process would prove to be Edwards' undoing, although his reckoning would not come until several years after he left office in 1996. The Riverboat Gaming Commission considered 43 applications for 15 available licenses, and all of them had ultimately gone to Edwards' political backers. When investigators looked into the matter, they soon charged Edwards and several associates with a scheme similar to the one the governor had been accused of years earlier: accepting payments in exchange for preferential treatment.

Similar to the 1985 case, Edwards was accused of partnering with others in a moneymaking scheme that rewarded those who paid the price. Prosecutors also accused his son Stephen, former Edwards aide Andrew Martin, Baton Rouge businessman Bobby Johnson, and cattleman Cecil Brown of partaking in the shakedown. 

At the trial, one key witness was Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers. DeBartolo said that he had visited Edwards in the governor's mansion one night before the commission's final meeting, and that Edwards had slid him a piece of paper with the figure $400,000 on it. "This has to be taken care of by next week or there's going to be a serious problem with your license," he declared. Edwards had also demanded a 1 percent stake in the profits from DeBartolo's casino.

DeBartolo testified that he had subsequently met Edwards in San Francisco to turn over a suitcase full of money. Asking how Edwards planned to get the suitcase past scrutiny at the airport, Edwards showed him a hidden money belt he intended to use to smuggle the cash back home.

The payoff had ultimately not been worth it for DeBartolo. Once his misdeed was discovered, he was convicted of failing to report a felony, sentenced to two years of probation, and fined $1 million. He had also been ordered to relinquish his casino license and turn over control of the 49ers to his sister.

Other witnesses described similar arrangements through Edwards' associates. Robert Guidry, a Louisiana businessman, described leaving large sums of cash in trash receptables for Edwards or his associates to collect. Guidry said he had struck an agreement in which he would pay Martin $100,000 a month in exchange for the approval of a riverboat gambling license. Like DeBartolo, the conduct had gotten him in trouble with the authorities; in 1998, he had pleaded guilty to an extortion charge for paying a total of $1.5 million to the Edwardses and Martin.

The defense argued that the state's case was too flimsy to stand, saying it was based on secret recordings, misinterpreted conversations, and testimony from people who were trying to give evidence in exchange for reducing the punishment for their own crimes. Edwards remained unflappable, quipping to reporters that he could cover any punishment with time served if the judge considered all the time he had spent before grand juries and trials. 

The jury found all defendants guilty on May 9, 2000. Edwards was convicted of 17 counts of racketeering, extortion, and conspiracy. 

Sentencing in the case did not take place until January 8, 2001. All five defendants were ordered to split a forfeiture of $1.8 million to give up any gains they had realized from the scheme. The judge ordered Stephen to spend seven years behind bars and pay a $60,000 fine. The other defendants were ordered to pay $50,000 fines. Martin was given a prison sentence of five years and eight months, while Brown received a five-and-a-half year term and Johnson received four months.

The stiffest punishment was reserved for Edwards. The ex-governor was given a hefty $250,000 fine and ordered to spend 10 years in prison. He began serving his time in 2002.

Many observers, even those who had previously criticized Edwards, felt this penalty was excessive. Treen became one of Edwards' staunchest advocates, pushing for his early release until he passed away in 2009. Those calling for a presidential pardon for Edwards included former President George H.W. Bush.

Later life

Despite the calls for leniency, Edwards served the bulk of his term. He was released from prison in January 2011.

One surprising result of his imprisonment was a new relationship. Edwards divorced Picou in 2004 and wound up striking up a pen pal relationship with Trina Grimes Scott, a woman 51 years his junior. Six months after he was freed, Edwards and Grimes were married. He joked that he would have gone to prison a happy man if he had known he would find new love as a result, saying, "As you know, they sent me to prison for life. But I came back with a wife." 

Edwards and Trina Grimes Scott on the couple's wedding day (Source)

Edwards remained a fairly popular figure in Louisiana, despite the stain of corruption. In the fall of 2011, he was the grand marshal of the International Rice Festival in Crowley. A year later, he was crowned king of the Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade in Baton Rouge. 

Edwards' new marriage to a much younger wife briefly earned the couple a spot in the national limelight, as they were featured on the short-lived A&E series The Governor's Wife in 2013. That same year, Edwards became a father again at the age of 85 as Trina gave birth to a son.

In 2014, Edwards made one last bid for elected office when he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. The bid was widely viewed as quixotic given his age, his scandalous history, and the shift in the state's political climate that had granted the Republican Party more solid control of its political offices. Although Edwards secured the Democratic nomination, he was trounced in the general election when GOP candidate Garrett Graves came away with 62 percent of the vote. 

Edwards died of respiratory failure in Gonzales, Louisiana, on July 12, 2021.

Sources

National Governors Association, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Louisiana Secretary of State's Office, Acadian Museum, "Louisiana Governor Says His Wife Was Given $10,000 by South Korean" in the New York Times on Oct. 26 1976, "Ex-Aide Testifies Edwards Given Cash by Park" in the Washington Post on Jan. 24 1977, "The Healer Returneth" in The New Republic on Oct. 31 1983, "618 Louisianans Go to Paris for 'Biggest Single Fund-Raiser'" in the New York Times on Jan. 30 1984, "Gov. Edwards Today Reviewed..." in the UPI on Mar. 1 1985, "Louisiana Governor Going to Trial" in the Christian Science Monitor on Sep. 16 1985, "Louisiana Governor's Trial Hears Co-Defendant Saw a 'Gravy Train'" in the New York Times on Oct. 4 1985, "Ten Grand Juries Investigate Edwards" in UPI on May 10 1986, "Louisiana's Governor Acquitted in 2d Trial on Fraud Charges" in the New York Times on May 11 1986, "DeBartolo: Edwards Got $400K" on CBS on March 27 2000, "Ex-Edwards Friend Clyde Vidrine Slain" in The Town Talk on Dec. 17 1986, "Louisiana Governor's Mixed Legacy" in The Oklahoman on Mar. 9 1995, "Casino Operator Details Alleged Kickback Scheme in Louisiana Trial" in the Las Vegas Sun on Jan. 31 2000, "Former La. Governor Sentenced to 10 Years" in the Las Vegas Sun on Jan. 9 2001, "J. Bennett Johnston: The Rappahannock Resident Who Defeated White Supremacist David Duke" in the Rappahannock News on Sep. 11 2017, "Edwin Edwards, Flamboyant Louisiana Governor, is Dead at 93" in the New York Times on Jul. 12 2021, "Edwin Edwards Has Died" in Avoyelles Today on Jul. 12 2021, "Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards Has Died" on 4WWL on July 12 2021, "Populist Edwin Edwards, a 'Cajun King,' Loved His Louisiana" in the Associated Press on Jul. 12 2021, "Edwin Edwards Dies; Knew Power and Prison" in Biz New Orleans on Jul. 12 2021, "The Epic Lives of Edwin W. Edwards" in Bayou Brief on Jul. 18 2021, Louisiana: A History edited by Bennet H. Wall and John C. Rodrigue, Louisiana and Its People by Sue Eaton and Manie Culbertson, Louisiana Almanac, 2006-2007 Edition edited by Milburn Calhoun and Jeanne Frois, The Rise of David Duke by Tyler Bridges, Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right by Jeffrey Kaplan, Wizards: David Duke, America's Wildest Election, and the Rise of the Far Right by Brian Fairbanks, Reforming New Orleans: The Contentious Politics of Change in the Big Easy by Peter F. Burns and Matthew O. Thomas, How the South Joined the Gambling Nation: The Politics of State Policy Innovation by Michael Nelson and John Lyman Mason

George V. Hansen: The "Dragon Slayer" Repeatedly Brought Low by Financial Scandals

(Source)

On the morning of October 1, 1985, protestors gathered in Boston to hurl boxes of tea into the city's harbor. Although it clearly called to mind the Boston Tea Party, one of the events that helped kick off the American Revolution, it wasn't a historical reenactment. Rather, it marked the start of a nationwide campaign by a coalition of groups calling for reforms to the Internal Revenue Service.

George Vernon Hansen, a former Republican congressman from Idaho, was part of the effort. He had headed the political consultancy group New Continental Congress since leaving the House of Representatives, and said it planned to run advertisements on IRS abuses in a bid to raise public awareness.

"We came up to kind of kick off the other side of tax reform," said Hansen. "The President has been pushing structural change in the tax system. We're saying you're not going to have real tax reform unless you reform the IRS. They're intimidating and abusing the taxpayer in the process of collecting taxes."

While the protest took place decades before the creation of the Tea Party movement of the early 21st century, it exemplified how Hansen would be a forerunner the vocal conservative movement and what it regarded as government waste or overreach. He would remain a stubborn foe of the IRS for decades, and routinely accuse it and other federal powers of persecuting him for his beliefs.

The protest came as Hansen's political career and influence were waning. He had twice been convicted of skirting financial disclosure and ethics laws, and was fighting jail time related to the most recent charges. He would later say the difficulties he encountered from these run-ins with the law would contribute to his decision to commit another, more serious financial crime.

Early life and early political career

Hansen was born in Tetonia, Idaho, on September 14, 1930. His early life was marked by a tumultuous turnover in educational, career, and military experiences. He managed a grain elevator beginning in 1950, and would return to this work briefly in 1954. He served in the U.S. Air Force between 1951 and 1954; his military experience would also include graduation from the Army Language school and time as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve between 1964 and 1970.

Graduating from Ricks College in 1956, Hansen completed graduate work at Idaho State University between 1956 and 1957 as well as 1962 to 1963. He also earned a degree from Grimms Business College in 1958.

Hansen balanced some of this educational work with a stint as a junior high school teacher, undertaking this profession between 1956 and 1958. He worked in the life insurance business from 1958 to 1965.

One of Hansen's children would later recall that his father entered politics for a simple reason: his community of Alameda didn't have sidewalks like the neighboring city of Pocatello. This motivation helped launch a successful campaign for the mayor of Alameda, with Hansen holding the job from 1961 to 1962. When Alameda was consolidated with Pocatello, he became a city commissioner between 1962 and 1965. He also served as the director of the Idaho Municipal League from 1961 to 1963.

Early congressional bids

After an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1962, Hansen turned his attention to the House of Representatives in the 1964 race. Although it was a strong year for the Democrats, who won the White House and made gains in Congress, Hansen's grassroots campaign was able to unseat incumbent Ralph Harding with 52 percent of the vote. 

Hansen distinguished himself by his strong disdain for the federal government, including opposition to President Lyndon B. Johnson's civil rights and social welfare programs. He took a hawkish stance on the turmoil in Southeast Asia, saying that Johnson's "lackadaisical prosecution" of the Vietnam War was emboldening the Communists. When the spy ship USS Pueblo was captured by North Korea in January 1968, Hansen declared it an "act of war" and called for a swift response to recover the vessel and its crew, though he also said the situation should not be handled in a way that would lead to the United States being involved in two simultaneous conflicts in the region.

While he was re-elected in 1966, he was less successful when he again tried to capture a seat in the Senate two years later. Frank Church, the Democratic incumbent, comfortably kept the position with 60 percent of the vote.

With the Republicans retaking the White House in 1968, Hansen remained in the nation's capital from 1969 to 1971 after he was appointed the deputy administrator for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. He would also serve as vice president of the Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation.  

Returning to Pocatello, Hansen resumed his work in life insurance and opened a printing and copying company, the Pocatello Copycat, with his wife Connie. He again launched a Senate campaign in 1972, but failed to earn the Republican nomination. 

In 1974, Hansen mounted another House campaign against the similarly named but unrelated incumbent Orval Hansen. Orval had filled George's seat after his unsuccessful Senate bid, and had distinguished himself as a popular moderate. Yet in an upset result, George retook the Republican nomination and went on to defeat the Democratic candidate, Max Hanson. 

"Stupid but not evil"

Hansen took office under a cloud, having become embroiled in a scandal over his financial disclosures. He admitted that he had engaged in a "freewheeling" campaign and hadn't been especially careful in tracking how money was coming in or being spent. Charged with violating a 1971 law regulating campaign financing, he pleaded guilty on February 19, 1975 to two misdemeanor counts of filing late and incomplete reports, failing to disclose $16,150 in contributions.

The charges initially resulted in a sentence of one year in jail with all but two months suspended, which would make Hansen the first congressman to be put behind bars in 19 years. However, he denied that the omissions on his disclosures were intentional. He attributed them to bookkeeping deficiencies made in error by his staff, and apologized for the trouble that had resulted.

This explanation was enough to persuade Judge George L. Hart Jr., who on April 25, 1975, opted to reconsider the punishment. "I assumed when I sentenced him to jail he was evil," said Hart. "Now, I am not so sure. Stupid, surely." He waived the prison sentence, instead imposing a $40,000 fine on the congressman.

The judge's mercy would have a mixed effect. While his statement was a rephrasing of Hansen's lawyer, who argued that the congressman was "stupid, but he wasn't evil," it was a backhanded compliment that provided easy fodder for Hansen's critics. He would later say that some of his subsequent financial woes were attributed to efforts to rehabilitate his reputation as the "stupid but not evil" moniker stuck.

The conviction prompted calls for Hansen to resign from some Democrats and Republicans in the House, but the Idaho Republican State Central Committee offered a vote of confidence. The committee chairman accused the Justice Department and House Government Operations Committee of "selective reprisal," saying that Hansen was the only person charged out of some 7,000 complaints. He also alleged that Orval Hansen had leveraged the issue for political purposes during the primary season by referring the matter to the Justice Department while he served on the committee.

Second stint in Congress

Hansen went on to win re-election four times. He would distinguish himself by his opposition to most major federal agencies and programs, though his ire was concentrated most strongly against the IRS. He asserted that the agency was planning armed raids in Idaho, and in 1985 would accuse it of singling out taxpayers for audit based on their religious or political affiliations. 

Part of this consternation likely stemmed from Hansen's own repeated run-ins with the IRS. He was reportedly late filing his taxes in every year between 1962 and 1975, although this tardiness never resulted in any legal action. In 1980, Hansen published a book entitled To Harass Our People: The IRS and Government Abuse of Power and would claim that a million copies had gone into print.

Hansen also accused the Immigration and Naturalization Service of being involved in a conspiracy to shuttle illegal immigrants across the border and then arrest the farmers who hired them. After a constituent refused to let inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration enter his electrical contracting business, Hansen launched a nationwide campaign to field complaints against the agency.

Admirers saw Hansen as someone willing to take on big government and fight for the common man, giving him the nickname "George the Dragon Slayer." Detractors suggested that Judge Hart's moniker was more appropriate, portraying Hansen as a buffoon who was more interested in grandstanding than passing meaningful legislation.

Hansen became one of the most vocal critics of the Panama Canal treaties. These agreements, signed by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos Herrera at the end of 1977, provided that the American-controlled canal would become a neutral passageway open to all vessels, be jointly administered by the U.S. and Panama, and be transferred to Panamanian ownership in the year 2000.

(Source)

While Congress debated whether to ratify the treaties, Hansen launched a mail campaign to try to convince American citizens in the Panama Canal Zone to oppose the treaties. He also commissioned a stunt where friends in Idaho loaded up a flatbed truck with two-by-fours made to look like bars of gold and drove it to Washington, D.C. as a visual representation of the money he felt was being squandered through the agreements.

As Hansen calculated, the treaties would forfeit property worth $20 billion, incur $4 billion in transfer costs and $2 billion in contingency costs, and result in an annual expense of $200 million to taxpayers after Panama took control of the canal. A report from the House Committee on Foreign Affairs dedicated an appendix to these figures, asserting that Hansen's estimates were "enormously exaggerated."

The "big American cowboy" abroad

Hansen would spend a considerable amount of time traveling in 1978 and 1979, embarking on quixotic one-man diplomatic trips aimed at improving foreign relations. In January 1978, he traveled to Taiwan and assured the Chinese republic that they would receive the equipment they needed to pursue a nuclear program, despite Carter's opposition to such an effort. In July of that year, he visited President Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua, praised the country as a "peaceful and pastoral private enterprise nation," and assured Somoza that he had American support; Somoza was overthrown by Sandinista rebels two weeks later.

Hansen's most notable mission came in November 1979, after the U.S. embassy in Tehran was taken over by student militants and dozens of American citizens were held hostage. Flying to Iran in an effort to "build some bridges and open some doors," Hansen was permitted to visit some of the captives on November 24 and reported that they were being held "in relatively comfortable circumstances." He was the first American allowed into the embassy since its fall.

Despite the virulent anti-American sentiment that had developed in Tehran, Hansen reported that he had received a surprisingly warm welcome from the militants. One, impressed by the congressman's height and bravado, dubbed him a "big American cowboy."

While many of Hansen's Republican colleagues in Congress said he was courageous for making the trip, few considered it a wise endeavor. Millicent Fenwick, a Republican from New Jersey, denounced it as "dangerous" and "irresponsible." One Democratic lawmaker described Hansen as "the last guy in the world to send on a diplomatic mission."

The trip also incensed the Carter administration, with White House officials saying it could generate confusion, inhibit official negotiations, and prolong the situation. However, at least some of irritation may have stemmed from the fact that Hansen had managed to gain access to the hostages when the presidential envoy had not been allowed such a visit. 

Hansen was unrepentant about the mission, and even threatened to introduce an impeachment resolution against Carter over his handling of the crisis. He made another trip to Tehran a month later, but made little progress in resolving the situation. The hostages would be held for 444 days before their release.

Ethics violation

The foreign travel, made at his own expense, did little to improve Hansen's financial standing. His assets had also been dinged by legal battles and campaigns seeking to defend his reputation. He also voiced a complaint commonly uttered by congressmen: maintaining residences in D.C. and in their home district was too challenging on a representative's salary, which amounted to $57,500 in 1977.

In this year, Hansen asked the Federal Election Commission if he could solicit contributions from his supporters to pay down his personal debts. While the FEC said this would be legal, the House Ethics Committee informed him that it would violate the chamber's rules.

In response, Hansen divided his assets with his wife, who also worked as his office manager. Under this arrangement, Connie would be left with the debts and could ask for contributions. She promptly established the Connie Hansen Fund and pleaded for hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay these liabilities and "save my family from financial disaster."

The syndicated newspaper columnist Jack Anderson mocked the effort, nicknaming the congressman's wife Tin Can Connie. Even supporters of the Hansens offered only tepid support. While a 1979 article reported that Connie had raised over $50,000, the couple still owed some $300,000 to nine banks two years later.

This financial shell game ultimately ran afoul of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, which had been set up after the Watergate scandal. This legislation sought to improve the transparency of official dealings by requiring major government officials to disclose their financial holdings, transactions, and liabilities. Hansen was indicted in 1983 on four charges of violating the law.

The charges stated that Hansen had failed to disclose a total of $333,978 in personal loans and other transactions. One of the largest unreported loans, for $135,000, had come from three men, including one accused of bank fraud. Other undisclosed loans were made to Connie by billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt, and Hansen had failed to make note of $87,475 in profits his wife had made on silver investments.

Hansen angrily denounced the charges as "selective and bogus prosecution," again saying he was being targeted due to his "opposition to federal intrusion into all our lives." He claimed that he had simply filled out the form incorrectly and that the issue was being blown out of proportion.

The defense took a similar tack when the matter went to trial, focusing on the Hansens' separation of accounts and saying that the congressman's attorneys had advised him that he didn't have to report the transactions due to the arrangement. They also suggested that the $135,000 loan did not need to be reported because it did not go directly to Hansen but rather to an advocacy group he had formed, the Association of Concerned Taxpayers. Prosecutors countered that Hansen had essentially been using Connie's account as a front to conceal transactions.

In April 1984, Hansen was found guilty on all counts. He was the first congressman convicted under the 1978 ethics law and the first congressman since Thomas J. Lane, nearly three decades earlier, to be convicted on a felony charge. On June 15, he was sentenced to serve between five and 15 months in prison and pay a $40,000 fine.

Hansen with wife Connie after being sentenced in 1984 (Source)

The House of Representatives also addressed the issue on July 31, taking up the question of whether to reprimand Hansen. This was the mildest form of punishment available, falling short of a censure or expulsion. Those in favor of the action said Hansen's actions to conceal his transactions were intentional, and that a reprimand was necessary to demonstrate that the House would hold its members accountable for wrongdoing. Hansen's supporters backed his contention that he was being singled out, arguing that there were numerous examples of government officials making errors on their disclosure forms and needing to rectify them.

Speaking before the chamber, Hansen brought up several examples of current officials who faced controversy over their financial disclosures, including Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Attorney General William French Smith, and Attorney General-designate Edwin Meese III. At one point, Hansen quipped that he should have robbed a bank since it would have yielded more money and a smaller penalty than the ethics violation. He warned that financial disclosure violations were common enough that other members would "become the victims of a similar nightmare" if the voted to punish him. The final vote was 354-52 in favor of a reprimand.

Despite the conviction, Hansen had won the Republican nomination for his office. He confidently declared that he would win re-election despite the conviction, saying his constituents would "vote for me if I were chained in the Bastille." Yet on Election Day, Hansen was bested by Democratic challenger Richard Stallings, though it was by a margin of just 170 votes out of more than 200,000 cast.

Hansen appealed his conviction, saying that his offenses should have subjected him to a civil penalty rather than a criminal one. This argument gained more traction among his colleagues, with 122 House members lending their support. However, his conviction was unanimous upheld by a three-judge appellate panel on Aug. 30, 1985. The panel, which included future Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, noted how the financial disclosure forms explicitly said that violators could be subject to either a civil or criminal penalty.

After exhausting further appeals, Hansen began his sentence in June 1986. At one point, he launched a hunger strike in protest of prison conditions, while also claiming that he usually ate as little as possible because he believed his food was tainted with urine and nasal mucus. Connie sought the Republican nomination to challenge Stallings in the 1986 election, but came in second in a five-way contest; Stallings would ultimately retain Hansen's former seat until 1992.

Hansen was paroled after six months, and released shortly before Christmas.

Short-lived freedom

After leaving Congress, Hansen had turned his attention to political lobbying. He became the chairman of the New Continental Congress, a D.C. consulting firm assisting people with complaints against the federal government. After he completed his prison term, he returned to this work.

However, Hansen predicted that his new career would likely send him back behind bars. His parole terms included stipulations that he not travel outside of Virginia without permission, complete monthly financial reports, and not associate with other ex-felons. Hansen complained that these terms would prevent him from running the firm, since he traveled frequently and worked with people who had earned criminal convictions from tax protests. He said the financial reporting requirement would also be impossible, since he received money from people who didn't want their names turned over to the federal government.

Hansen resumed his tax protests and gave speeches around the country. These activities quickly resulted in a charge of violating his parole. On April 15, 1987, he was arrested at the Omaha airport while awaiting a flight back home. Agents brought him back to Virginia in shackles aboard a chartered flight.

The conditions of the arrest won Hansen sympathy from conservatives as well as many liberals, as it was seen as an excessive response to a nonviolent offense. Critics also charged that the chartered jet was a waste of money, since Hansen had already purchased a plane ticket and could have easily been detained at his destination.

Hansen served another six months in prison. At one point, he called a press conference where he dubbed himself a political prisoner, railed against prison bureaucracy, vowed to sue the Attorney General, and denounced prison conditions, suggesting that every judge and congressman should spend some time behind bars to see what it was like. He also used the prison's pay phone to coordinate a campaign demanding presidential pardon.

Check kiting scheme

Beginning in the late 1980s, Hansen began soliciting loans from individuals to support his political advocacy efforts. He was joined in the endeavor by John Scoresby, a business associate and former regional chairman of the Idaho Republican Party. The duo used a business named Ideal Consultants to oversee the transactions.

Individuals were typically promised a high return on investment and told their money would support organizations with names like the Congressional Accountability Project and Free America Revolution. A typical promise held that investors would be repaid within 30 days at an interest rate of 10 to 20 percent, and could earn a finder's fee of 5 to 10 percent for referring Hansen and Scoresby to other people willing to invest. The duo sometimes offered $1,000 to exchange checks.

It was all an elaborate check kiting scheme, where the passing of worthless checks between individuals allowed Hansen and Scoresby to build up false bank balances and establish lines of credit. A federal indictment would charge that it had involved more than 300 checks and drawn about $29 million from five Idaho banks. 

On Oct. 31, 1990, Hansen filed for bankruptcy for Ideal Consultants as well as the Pocatello Copycat. By this point, the Ideal Consultants account at the Bank of Commerce in Idaho Falls was overdrawn by $2.1 million. Investors who had been duped by the scheme lost $18 million. On March 24, 1992, Hansen and Scoresby were charged with 49 counts of bank fraud.

Not surprisingly, Hansen again argued that the charges were part of a broad vendetta by federal officials. However, his justifications for the fraud were slim. He argued that he had not actually defrauded any of the investors because they had willingly given him money in support of his anti-government efforts. He also contended that he had been motivated by the financial struggles brought on by his previous troubles, and that he would have been able to repay the money if the operation hadn't been discovered and shut down.

Both Hansen and Scoresby were found guilty of 45 of the counts against them on December 12. Surprisingly, Hansen won considerable support among those he had swindled, bolstering his argument that he hadn't truly victimized anyone. About half of the people who had lost money in the scheme filed affidavits with the court urging leniency.

George Hansen in front of a federal courthouse in March 1993 (Source)

While prosecutors sought a 16-year prison sentence for Hansen, the affidavits persuaded Judge Edward Lodge to impose a much lighter term. At sentencing on March 16, 1993, he ordered Hansen to spend four years behind bars and pay a $12,500 fine. Scoresby was sentenced to 21 months in prison and a $6,000 fine.

During the sentencing, Lodge marveled at how many people still supported Hansen even after they were duped out of considerable sums of money.

"I've never seen people who are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars, who don't know how much they are owed, who are willing to eat those losses," he declared. "I've never seen that kind of blind allegiance. The victims are offended that the court would take them as victims."

Later life

Hansen appealed the conviction, arguing that the banks had knowingly participated in his transactions and thus were not deceived. The argument was rejected by a federal court in 1994.

While serving this latest prison sentence, Hansen received some good news. He had been continuously fighting his 1984 ethics conviction, and an obscure Supreme Court ruling in 1995 delivered a belated victory on this front. In Hubbard v. U.S., the court ruled that the 1978 ethics law applied only to members of the executive branch. This vacated Hansen's conviction, restored his federal pension, and resulted in the return of the $40,000 fine he had paid.

After 40 months, Hansen was paroled. He made some headlines in 1997, renewing his criticism of the IRS and calling for its abolition in favor of states collecting the income tax and passing it on to the federal government. He maintained that the agency had engaged in retaliatory behavior against him, including launching an audit after he fielded complaints from his constituents about their federal reimbursements following the Teton Dam disaster in 1976.

Hansen also headed the Utah-based US. Citizens Human Rights Commission, which sought an investigation into the death of federal prisoner Kenneth Trentadue in 1995. Trentadue's death was officially ruled a suicide, but there were allegations that he had been mistaken for a suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing and beaten during his interrogation, with the assault either causing his death or instigating his suicide.

Hansen was still struggling financially at this point. He discounted the idea that he would return to politics, in part because of Connie's opposition and in part because he considered politics to be "for the rich." 

Shortly after his conviction, Hansen was ordered to repay Ann and James Meyers the $299,350 he had taken as part of the check kiting scheme. A default judgement was ordered against him, but Hansen would claim that he did not remember being served in the civil suit and was unaware of the judgement until 2007. He also said he did not have the money to pay this settlement.

The issue persisted until 2009, when the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that he was still obligated to repay the couple. By this point, the interest collecting on the unpaid debt over 16 years had ballooned the sum to $723,927.

Following cardiac problems, Hansen died in Pocatello on Aug. 14, 2014. His obituary sought the last word in establishing his legacy, declaring him a "dedicated champion in fighting for the good people of Idaho and taxpayers all across the country who were subject to abusive federal agencies" whose efforts resulted in him "being on the receiving end of having to defend his good name against the retribution of federal agencies in which he waged the good fight for his constituents."

Sources

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "George V. Hansen 1930-2014" at Legacy.com, "Representative Hansen Pleads Guilty to Violation of Election Campaign Act" in the New York Times on Feb. 20 1975, "Judge Saves Hansen From Jail, Terms Representative 'Stupid'" in the New York Times on Apr. 26 1975, "Rep. Hansen Gets Vote of Confidence From Idaho GOP" in the New York Times on Apr. 28 1975, "Hansen's Tehran Trip Fits His Style" in the Washington Post on Nov. 24 1979, "Unorthodox Idaho Congressman" in the New York Times on Nov. 27 1979, "Rep. Hansen Came Here to Battle and Does - Defending Himself" in the Washington Post on Jan. 4 1983, "George Hansen is Found Guilty in Ethics Trial" in the Washington Post on Apr. 3 1984, "Hansen Gets Prison Term for Ethics Act Violation" in the New York Times on Jun. 16 1984, "Hansen Punished by House" in the Washington Post on Aug. 1 1984, "IRS Uses Religion-Politics to Single Out Audit Candidates, Hansen Says" on UPI on Jan. 29 1985, "Ex-Rep. Hansen's Conviction of Ethics Breaches Upheld" in the Washington Post on Aug. 31 1985, "Boston Tea Party Reenacted to Protest IRS" on UPI on Oct. 2 1985, "Ex-Rep. Hansen to Be Paroled" in the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Dec. 20 1986, "Jailed Former Congressman Continues Hunger Strike Over Treatment" in the Associated Press on Apr. 22 1987, "Hanson Parole Revoked" on UPI on May 12 1987, "Hansen Unchained" in the Washington Post on Dec. 13 1987, "Ex-Idaho Congressman Files for Chapter 11" in Deseret News on Nov. 26 1990, "Congressman Who Left in '85 Accused of Fraud" in the Buffalo News on Mar. 25 1992, "Former Congressman is Found Guilty" in the New York Times on Dec. 13 1992, "Hansen to Serve Four Years in Prison for Check-Kiting" in the Deseret News on Mar. 17 1993, "IRS Hasn't Forsaken Ugly Tactics, Former Idaho Congressman Says" in the Deseret News on Nov. 30 1997, "Free and Fired Up, George Hansen Back in a Scrap, Leading Group Probing Inmate's Death" in the Spokesman-Review on Dec. 7 1997, "Former Congressman George Hansen Loses Idaho Supreme Court Appeal" in the Spokesman-Review on Nov. 30 2009, "An Idaho Political Story Extraordinaire" in the Spokesman-Review on Dec. 1 2009, "Former U.S. Rep Hansen Dies" in the Idaho State Journal on Aug. 15 2014, "'George the Dragon Slayer' Dies at 83" in the Lewiston Tribune on Aug. 16 2014, "Idaho Congressman Sentenced to Federal Prison, Dies at 83" in the Washington Post on Aug. 17 2014, "George Hansen, Idaho Congressman and Convicted Swindler, Dies at 83" in the New York Times on Aug. 20 2014, Congressional Record Vol. 114 Part 1, Panama Canal Implementing Legislation, Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, United States v. George v. Hansen and John F. Scoresby