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

(Source)

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ran for Congress and featured his photos with Cruise in his campaign brochures, Cruise's lawyer demanded that they be withdrawn.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

G. Harrold Carswell: representing the mediocre

(Source: Donn Dughi, Florida Memory)

When George Harrold Carswell's name was first put forward for a seat on the United States Supreme Court, some newspapers commented that his confirmation was all but assured. For one thing, he had no stocks or bonds at a time when financial conflicts of interest were affecting the high court. His decisions had not endeared him to labor groups, but observers considered their opposition to be little more than token.

The factor most in favor of Carswell's nomination, however, was the fact that the path had already been cleared for him. The Senate had already rejected President Richard Nixon's first nominee for the Supreme Court, and the chamber had not rejected a President's nominees twice in a row in 76 years. There was a perception that doing so would weaken the relationship between the President and Senate Republicans, and that it would delay decisions on important matters by leaving the Supreme Court deadlocked.

Carswell had already been confirmed by the Senate to three federal judicial posts over the course of his career. He had passed background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on each these occasions. And he perfectly fit the profile for Nixon's ideal nominee: a Southern judge with a constructionist view toward the Constitution, or interpretation that the founding document limited the role of the government.

When he learned of the nominee's credentials, Attorney General John N. Mitchell enthusiastically recommended Carswell to Nixon. The judge, he declared, was to be "too good to be true." The statement was more accurate than he realized.

Carswell was born on December 22, 1919, in Irwinton, Georgia. His father, George Henry Carswell, served for 30 years as a state legislator. The elder Carswell was also secretary of state at one point and twice ran unsuccessfully in Georgia's gubernatorial elections. Carswell earned a bachelor of arts degree from Duke University in 1941 before attending the University of Georgia Law School, but suspended his studies to join the Naval Reserve after the United States entered World War II. He sailed in the Pacific aboard the heavy cruiser Baltimore and attended several universities as part of his officer training, including six months of postgraduate work at the U.S. Naval Academy. When the war ended in 1945, Carswell left the service with the rank of lieutenant.

Resuming his studies, Carswell earned a bachelor of law degree from Mercer University and graduated from the Walter F. George School of Law in 1948. He immediately started a private practice, then sought to follow in his father's footsteps by running as a Democrat for the Georgia legislature. After this bid failed, he moved his practice to Tallahassee, Florida.

Prior to the 1952 election, Carswell sought to persuade his fellow Democrats in Florida to vote for the Republican candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He soon switched his allegiance to the Republican Party. After he was elected, Eisenhower rewarded Carswell by appointing him U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. Carswell held this post until March of 1958, when Eisenhower nominated him for a seat on the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Florida. The Senate confirmed the appointment, and Carswell began serving the role the next month. He was only 33 years old, the youngest federal attorney in the country at the time. In 1969, Nixon nominated Carswell for a new seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, located in New Orleans. He was confirmed by the Senate in June.

Carswell began his new job at the same time that the Supreme Court was going through an upheaval. Justice Abe Fortas of the Supreme Court had resigned in May of 1969 after it was discovered that he had a connection to a discredited financier. Fortas had agreed to perform services for the family foundation of Louis E. Wolfson, who had been convicted of stock manipulation.

Nixon's first choice to fill the vacancy left by Fortas' departure was Clement F. Haynsworth, Jr. The conservative Democrat and South Carolina judge had been serving on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Senators were concerned that Haynsworth had exhibited a conflict of interest in several cases where he owned stock in companies appearing before the court. Labor and civil rights groups added their voices to the opposition, saying Haynsworth had been biased against them in his decisions. On November 21, 1969, the Senate rejected the nominee with 55 senators opposed and 45 in favor; 17 of the 43 Republicans in the Senate broke ranks to vote down the President's first choice.

Unrepentant, Nixon blamed the defeat on an "anti-Southern, anti-conservative, and anti-strict constructionist" prejudice in the Senate, even though some constructionists had joined the opposition. He ordered an aide, Harry S. Dent, to "find a good federal judge farther to the South and further to the right." Carswell fit the bill, and Nixon put his name forward on January 19, 1970.

When the nomination went before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Carswell's attitude toward racial relations became an immediate point of concern. He had a distinctly mixed record on civil rights, applying Supreme Court decisions to his own district but showing less concern for equality if these precedents did not apply. In one case, he had ruled against his own barber in favor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, saying the shop could not deny service to black customers. He had also decided that the Tallahassee city commissioners could not make distinctions based on race in their decisions, and Yale professor James W. Moore credited Carswell with making the University of Florida Law School free of discrimination. However, he had also dismissed cases that sought to force a theater to sell tickets to black moviegoers and reopen swimming pools closed by a "wade-in" protest. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, charging him with a bias against blacks making civil rights claims, had formally opposed Carswell's promotion to the Court of Appeals.

Representatives of civil rights groups expressed their concerns before the committee. They painted Carswell as a judge who was openly hostile to civil rights claims and any Northern lawyers representing them, saying he had shouted at black lawyers while acting cordial toward white ones, delayed civil rights cases without cause, and even turned his back on civil rights lawyers in the midst of their arguments. Rutgers University law professor John Lowenthal said Carswell was "extremely hostile" to a 1963 habeas corpus petition to free seven people charged with criminal trespass for urging black citizens to vote. He said Carswell had eventually granted the petition but refused to let the court marshal serve the release order, forcing Lowenthal to deliver it to the sheriff. LeRoy D. Clark, a New York University Law School professor who represented the National Conference of Black Lawyers in his appearance before the committee, declared Carswell to be "the most hostile federal district judge I've ever appeared before with respect to civil rights matters."

Statements that Carswell made in his 1948 legislative campaign raised the question of whether Carswell was being blatantly racist in this behavior. In a speech, he had endorsed segregation as "the only practical and correct way of life in our states" and further declared that he was committed to a "firm, vigorous belief in the principles of white supremacy." Surprisingly, these statements proved only a minor hurdle. Carswell denounced his former statements as "obnoxious and abhorrent to my personal philosophy" and said he had lost the race in part because he was considered too liberal in spite of such declarations. His supporters said Carswell shouldn't be judged for statements he had made 22 years before the confirmation hearings.

Carswell's record showed a high rate of reversal when it came to his decisions, especially on civil rights. A study by students at the Columbia University Law School found that 58 percent of his decisions had been overturned on appeal. Among all federal jurists, Carswell had the eighth most cases reversed by appellate courts. Supporters dismissed this finding, arguing that Carswell considered civil rights cases fairly and that the reversals came about after the high courts set precedents for the speed required in integration.

Senators opposed to Carswell also questioned whether his record qualified him for the highest judicial post in the country. At the time of his nomination, he had only been on the Circuit Court for six months. Frank Church, an Idaho Democrat, described Carswell's judicial record as "utterly pedestrian" and said that Nixon should have recommended a nominee that could meet a standard of "singular excellence." Louis Pollack, the dean of the Yale University Law School, also dealt a blow to Carswell by describing him as having "more slender credentials than any nominee for the Supreme Court put forth this century."

Despite these shortcomings, the Judiciary Committee delivered a 13-4 decision on February 16 to send the nomination to the Senate with a recommendation that Carswell be approved. The committee's majority report concluded that his record on civil rights showed him to be even-handed. Carswell's opponents were outraged. Clarence Mitchell, director of the NAACP's office in Washington, said the decision was "a kick in the teeth of those of us who have sought to quell the fires of racism among Negroes in the United States." Senator Birch Bayh Jr., an Indiana Democrat, warned that Carswell's nomination would "encourage violent extremists." Senator George S. McGovern of South Dakota, who would go on to face Nixon as the Democratic candidate in the 1972 presidential election, said of Carswell, "I find his record to be distinguished largely by two qualities: racism and mediocrity."

The opponents had taken a strategy of delaying the nomination process to allow more thorough vetting of Carswell to take place. After the Judiciary Committee's nomination, they won some extra time due to lengthy debates over amendments to the Voting Rights Act of 1970. It was enough to bring up more concerns regarding Carswell's character.

Additional racial issues surfaced. While acting as U.S. Attorney in 1956, Carswell had taken part in the transfer of a public golf club in Tallahassee—which had received $35,000 in federal funds for its construction—to a private organization that barred black members. It was a rather transparent effort to skirt desegregation. Carswell had also signed papers incorporating a "whites only" boosters club for the Florida State University football team and sold property in 1966 with a restrictive covenant forbidding a sale to a black buyer. One paper found that in a speech to the Georgia Bar Association only two months before the nomination, Carswell had opened by saying, "I was out in the Far East a little while ago, and I ran into a dark-skinned fella. I asked him if he was from Indochina and he said, 'Naw, suh, I'se from outdo' Gawgee.'"

Carswell won significant support from his fellow judges, but it was not unanimous. Only eleven of the 15 judges on the Court of Appeals expressed their support in March. A month later, 50 of the 58 active federal district judges in the Fifth Circuit supported him. Meanwhile, thousands of lawyers and hundreds of law professors sent letters to the Senate saying they did not think Carswell was qualified for the high court. One public statement, signed by 350 practicing lawyers and law school professors, said he did "not have the legal or mental qualifications essential for service on the Supreme Court." Former Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg admitted that he considered Carswell unfit for the post.

Some of Carswell's supporters also blundered in their embarrassing defense of the nominee. Speaking to reporters about Carswell's record, Republican Senator Roman Hruska of Nebraska sought to justify what detractors were calling a lackluster record. "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers," Hruska said. "They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't all have Brandeises and Frankfurters and Cardozos and stuff like that there."

Senator Russell Long, a Louisiana Democrat, also advocated for Carswell in a backhanded way, saying the Supreme Court already had enough "upside-down, corkscrew thinkers." He asked, "Would it not appear that it might be well to take a B or a C student who was able to think straight, compared to one of those A students who are capable of the kind of thinking that winds up getting us a 100 percent increase in crime in this country?"

When the vote went before the full Senate on April 8, Carswell proved to be more popular than Haynsworth. However, he did not get enough support for approval. The final tally was 51 against the nominee and 45 in favor; 13 Republicans had joined 38 Democrats in the opposition. For the first time since Grover Cleveland's second term, a President's Supreme Court nominees had been rebuffed by the Senate twice in a row.

Nixon again blamed the rejection on regional bias, commenting that he didn't think the Senate would approve any Constitutional constructionist from the South. Carswell and Haynsworth had both endured "vicious assaults on their honesty and their character," he said, and he would not nominate another Southerner if it would submit him to "the kind of malicious character assassination accorded to both Judges Haynsworth and Carswell."

Critics condemned the remarks as inaccurate and indicative of Nixon's own biases. Bayh said Nixon's determination to get a Southerner in the Supreme Court was "the most damning evidence of a Southern Strategy that we've had," referencing the President's appeasing the pro-segregation groups in the South to help him win the 1968 election. Some Southern senators who had voted against Carswell also disputed Nixon's accusation, saying he could have found better constructionist nominees from the South. Nixon would subsequently nominate Harry Blackmun, a Minnesota judge on the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; he would be approved unanimously in May.

Less than two weeks after Carswell was turned down, he made a surprising decision. Though he had lifetime tenure on the Court of Appeals, he resigned on April 20 to pursue a Senate bid in the 1970 election. He had agreed to do so at the urging of Florida's Republican governor, Claude Kirk, who hoped he would take the place of retiring Democratic Senator Spessard L. Holland. Carswell said he would support Nixon's policies, agree to a withdrawal of troops from Vietnam if an "honorable settlement" could be reached, and advocate for "common sense and conservative approaches to problems of education, crime control, and fiscal matters." He also had an ax to grind with the chamber that had rejected him, saying the Senate needed "more deliberation and less ultra-liberalism."

The effort was for naught. Representative William C. Cramer defeated Carswell by a nearly two-to-one margin in the Republican primary, earning 220,553 votes to Carswell's 121,281. Cramer would ultimately lose to Lawton Chiles, the Democratic candidate whose campaign had included a lengthy hike through Florida to meet with residents across the state. Carswell resumed work as a private attorney.

Later in the 1970s, two incidents emerged suggesting that Carswell was a closeted homosexual. The first occurred in Florida in June of 1976, after vice officers staked out a men's room in a Tallahassee shopping mall following complaints from merchants that homosexual liaisons were taking place there. After meeting with a male vice officer at the mall, Carswell drove him to a wooded area north of the city. He was promptly arrested on charges of battery and attempting a lewd and lascivious act.

Carswell was briefly hospitalized for a nervous condition after the incident. He allegedly told the officers, "I'd rather be dead than in the clutches of vice officers under such circumstances. I may just kill myself tonight. This is not true. You've got it all wrong." Four months later, he pleaded no contest to the battery charge and was fined $100.

The second incident occurred in September of 1979. After meeting a man in the skating rink of an Atlanta hotel, Carswell invited him up to his room. Carswell told police that he was then attacked and struck several times with a sharp object.

Carswell continued practicing law until his death, of lung cancer, on July 13, 1992.

Sources: Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, "Floridian Picked by Nixon for Post on Supreme Court" in the Daytona Beach Morning Journal on Jan. 19 1970, "Carswell Abides by High Court Rulings" in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Jan. 20 1970, "Supreme Court Nominee Carswell Rejects White Supremacy Speech" in the Observer-Reporter on Jan. 22 1970, "Judge Carswell Deeply Rooted in Old South" in the Milwaukee Journal on Jan. 25 1970, "Carswell Hearings Recessed" in the Daily News on Jan. 29 1970, "Senate Panel Ends Hearing on Carswell" in the Toledo Blade on Feb. 3 1970, "Supreme Court Position Carswell Likely to Win" in the Rome News-Tribune on Feb. 8 1970, "Senate Judiciary Panel Approves Judge Carswell" in the Rome News-Tribune on Feb. 17 1970, "Carswell's Confirmation Looks Certain" in the Rome News-Tribune on Feb. 26 1970, "Goldberg Says Carswell Unfit for High Court Justice Post" in the Observer-Reporter on Mar. 23 1970, "High Court Takes a Beating in Talk About Mediocrity" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Mar. 25 1970, "Eleven Judges Support Carswell" in the Prescott Evening Courier on Mar. 29 1970, "Fifth Circuit Judges Back Carswell" in the Toledo Blade on April 5 1970, "Court Nominee Harrold Carswell Rejected by 51-45 Senate Vote" in The Bulletin on April 8 1970, "Nixon Charges Anti-South Bias" in the St. Petersburg Times on Apr. 10 1970, "Carswell Runs 'On Own Merit'" in the Evening Independent on Apr. 25 1970, "Harrold Carswell" in the St. Petersburg Times on Sep. 3 1970, "Faubus Loses Contest; Carswell Defeated" in the Eugene Register-Guard on Sep. 9 1970, "Carswell Returns to a Life of Private Law Practice" in the Ocala Star-Banner on Dec. 30 1970, "Carswell to Face Battery Charge, State Attorney Says" in the St. Petersburg Times on Jun. 29 1976, "Carswell Arrested on Morals Charge" in the Morning Record on Jul. 1 1976, "Carswell Reports Beating" in the Tuscaloosa News on Sept. 12 1979, "G. Harrold Carswell, High Court Nominee" in The Hour on Aug. 1 1992, "G. Harrold Carswell, 72, Rejected as Nixon's Nominee to High Court" in the Seattle Times on Aug. 1 1992, Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of U.S. Supreme Court Appointments from Washington to Bush II by Henry J. Abraham, The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court by John W. Dean, Encyclopedia of the United States Congress by Robert E. Dewhirst

Jim West: surfing wipeout

Image from nytimes.com

Some eight years before voters kicked him out of office for ethical issues, James West weathered a criminal charge to keep serving in the Washington state senate. In 1998, the Building Industry Association of Washington ran in ad in a local newspaper suggesting that West wasn't supportive of education. In response, West phoned up the lobbying group's leader, Tom McCabe, and left a message seething, "McCabe, you son of a bitch, you better get me 'cause if you don't you're dead."

When the message was made public, West tried to argue that he meant McCabe would be politically deceased, not physically killed. McCabe brought a criminal harassment complaint against the legislator, and West ended up paying $500 to an Olympia charity. He also paid $250 in court costs, served nine months of probation, and apologized to McCabe and the Spokane community in general. It wasn't the first time West's temper got the better of him. In 1995, he swore at fellow senator John Moyer and his staff after Moyer implied that West didn't support a $2 million appropriation for Spokane's Cheney Cowles Museum. West kicked Moyer's office door during the outburst, and apologized for that incident as well.

West was born in March of 1951 in Salem, Oregon, and attended school in Spokane. After going to the University of Nevada and its Reserve Officer Training Corps, he served in the Army as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He moved to North Carolina to work as an assistant manager in a retail scuba diving store, returning to Spokane in 1974 to pursue a career in law enforcement. He joined the Medical Lake Police Department as a patrolman in 1975, transferring to the Spokane County Sheriff's Office at the end of the year. He opened his own scuba shop in 1977, graduating from Gonzaga University the next year with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. He was later sued for wrongful death when a student on a dive he was supervising died, but the case was thrown out since the student had signed a consent form.

In 1979, West became the sergeant-at-arms for the Washington house of representatives. The next year, he went into politics himself, becoming the youngest member of the Spokane City Council at age 28. He won an election to fill a vacancy in the house of representatives in 1982, and four years later he moved over to the senate. He spent 20 years in the state legislature, but made a few efforts to get out. He ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1996 and mayor of Spokane in 2000. West gained a good deal of influence in the legislature. He successfully proposed extending the state's motorcycle helmet law to all riders, not just juveniles, and helped to create the state's Department of Health. Earning more mockery was a 1990 suggestion that teenage sex be criminalized. One prosecutor jokingly suggested that a bill preventing legislators from procreating with each other would be more beneficial.

In 2003, West was elected mayor of Spokane over Democratic candidate and journalist Tom Grant. In April, West had announced that he had colon cancer. After his victory, he was frequently absent due to surgical procedures. While in office, he managed to pull together support for a $117 million bond issue to repair the city's streets, despite a recent defeat of a similar measure. He also helped get the city out of a failed venture to create a parking garage, advocated a downtown wireless network, worked to prevent the closure of Fairchild Air Force Base, and cut down on city jobs to trim the budget.

Two years after his election, the Spokane Spokesman-Review assessed the mayor as having a fairly successful political record; it also had him on the ropes, fighting calls to resign. An 18-year-old man told the paper that he met the mayor through Gay.com, a homosexual online dating site. His date confided that he was the mayor of Spokane and, after a dinner date, the two had consensual sex. To test the claim, the Spokesman-Review hired a forensic computer expert to set up a sting. Using a profile to pose as an 18-year-old man, reporters chatted with the mayor online, where he identified himself as Cobra82nd and RightBi-Guy. “Remember, I’m very closeted. No one knows I like guys. Except the few guys I’ve been with and highly trusted,” West said in recorded instant message conversations. He offered the nonexistent teen a few perks to try to get him to city hall, including an internship, trips to sporting events, and autographed sports memorabilia.

On May 5, 2005, the newspaper published a major report detailing their findings. Prominently featured were accusations by two men who said West molested them when he was a sheriff's deputy and they were boys. They accused another man, David Hahn, of the same conduct. Hahn also served as a deputy, but didn't have anything to say for himself; similar accusations had already come up over two decades before the scandal, and Hahn had committed suicide with his service weapon in 1981. West knew he was caught, and admitted to reporters that he had been looking for men on Gay.com for a year. "I can't tell you why I go there, to tell you the truth...curiosity, confused, whatever, I don't know," he said of his online dating. Though he did not admit that he was gay, West didn't shy away from a suggestion that he was bisexual. He firmly denied that he ever abused any children, and the accusers' claims were compromised somewhat by the fact that they were both convicted felons and drug addicts.

Within a couple of days, two more men came forward with allegations that West sexually abused or made passes at them in 1980 and 2001. Some politicians said that West's sexuality was something of an open secret, with his proposal to a woman on the floor of the legislature and subsequent five-year marriage working as a ruse to combat such allegations. Past opponents had never used the issue for political fodder, feeling it didn't relate to the political issues at hand. The publicized charges crossed into ethical territory, however; a city councilwoman said that West had admitted to her that he used city computers for the chat rooms and masturbated to them in his City Hall office. When the Spokesman-Review printed this charge, West called them up to deny her account. "I'm being destroyed because I am a gay man, which is fine. I've been in public life, I can accept that. Because I am a gay man, because of this double life, it has been hell," he said. "It's OK to destroy me, but stop destroying this city." The mayor also complained that the newspaper had "brutally outed" him.

West's plight didn't earn him much sympathy in the gay community, as the scandal also exposed him as something of a hypocrite. While in the legislature, he was a conservative Republican well-known for his focus on moral issues. Besides his proposal to criminalize teen sex, he was also opposed to the distribution of information packets on AIDS and was strongly against any measure related to gay rights. He co-sponsored an unsuccessful bill in 1986 to bar homosexuals from employment in schools, day care centers, and some state agencies; the bill was a retaliatory measure against a gubernatorial Christmas order in 1985 prohibiting such discriminatory practices in state hiring. He supported the Defense of Marriage Act to ban gay marriage, and in 1998 Washington became the 27th state to adopt the measure. West explained that he wasn't necessarily opposed to gay rights, but didn't want to create "special classes" for any minority.

One of the more immediate effects of the scandal was West's removal from affiliation with the Boy Scouts of America. He had been volunteering for the organization for over 30 years, but chose to resign from the Inland Northwest Council of the Boy Scouts and the board of directors for Morning Star Boys Ranch, which serves 18-year-olds from troubled backgrounds. One official with the Boy Scouts bluntly said that West would have been kicked off the council if he hadn't resigned, due to the organization's stance against homosexuality and immediate revocation of such offices if there are allegations of sexual abuse. West announced that he would take a leave of absence to prepare a defense, and left deputy mayor Jack Lynch in charge. "Finally, I hope that you and the people will reserve judgment on me until the newspaper is done persecuting me and allow me to have the fair opportunity to respond to each of the allegations in due time," he concluded as he left office. By the end of the month, however, West was back in City Hall. Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking into his computer records.

West's colleagues weren't exactly happy to see him return, and the calls for his resignation increased. Business leaders said such an action would limit any potential damage to tourism and the city's image. The city council tied 3-3 in a vote to ask him to take administrative leave, failing only because the members opposed wanted a stronger motion. Not long after, in June, the council voted unanimously to recommend his resignation, a first step toward possible impeachment. A few days later, West made an apology but vowed to stay in office. He said former Democratic President Bill Clinton and former Democratic Washington Governor Mike Lowry both survived sex scandals. "I did things in my private life that I should have known if they became public would cause embarrassment…everyone makes mistakes. I do, too," he said, adding that the ordeal "has been an embarrassing, humiliating and painful experience. But it doesn't need to distract this city." The Lowry example only gave more ammunition to those who saw West as a hypocrite. Investigators found insufficient evidence to prosecute Lowry after a female aide accused him of sexual harassment, but the governor chose not to run for re-election in 1996; at the time, West sent a letter to the speaker of the state house of representatives demanding a swift impeachment process. There was some speculation that West was reluctant to give up the office due to its lucrative $136,000-a-year salary, and even more so for the health benefits covering his cancer treatments.

West also fought an ongoing recall effort against him, which charged that the offers made to the phony 18-year-old represented "an improper exercise of an official duty." His lawyers argued that the recall lacked legal justification and that the judge who first heard the case got personally involved by rewriting the recall proposition. The state supreme court upheld the recall effort, saying the recall process could proceed if it gathered enough signatures. It eventually collected 17,121, a healthy margin greater than the minimum amount at 12,567. A recall election was scheduled for December.

Two months prior to the election, it was determined that West used city computers to browse gay profiles for men in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., when he went to the cities on business. Ironically, one of the people he met in D.C. was Larry Craig, the Idaho senator who would get caught up in his own gay sex scandal in 2007. Around the same month, West said he was contemplating filing suit against the Spokesman-Review based on allegations that they broke federal and state laws regarding privacy issues and computer trespass. "Basically, the reason I'm bringing a lawsuit is, nobody, public or private, should go through what the Spokesman-Review has done to me as far as invading my privacy," he said. The suit never materialized.

In late November, a private investigator hired by the city council reported that West broke the law by hiring a man for the city's Human Rights Commission and then pursuing him sexually, and broke city policy as well by browsing online for gay men. As the countdown to the recall proceeded, West fought to keep his computer records private. He argued that some of the images from Gay.com were automatically downloaded to his computer's browser cache. Only a few days before the recall election, the findings were publicized. They showed that in three months, West spent hours on the site; 6,626 images were downloaded from Gay.com, and some of them were explicit.

Sixty-five percent of the voters agreed to kick West out of office. Dennis Hession, the city council president, took over the mayor's duties. "There have been a lot of lessons out of this, to tell you the truth," West said. "It's helped me straighten out my personal life." Curiously, West said that he stood by his previous anti-homosexual stances, with the exception of the one to prevent homosexuals from working in schools and other institutions involving children. Gay and lesbian groups saw the scandal a different way, saying it had the effect of encouraging openness rather than closeted lives. West said he was resigned to the vote, but the next day he sniped, "I think there are people in this community that could do a better job [as mayor] than anyone on the city council."

In February of 2006, the FBI wrapped up their probe and concluded that there was insufficient evidence to file any charges against West. Their investigation looked only into fraud related to whether he offered jobs or internships in exchange for sex. State charges remained an option, with the city's investigation alleging a violation of a state law that officials could not use municipal computers for personal use. Local prosecution got bogged down, with the county prosecutor having a conflict of interest due to a past $50 contribution to West's campaign, the local police unwilling to proceed, and the city officials not keen on pressing the issue. West ultimately ended up getting a job selling advertisements for a Seattle magazine, and chatted with a radio station about a possible talk show.

West said he wasn't ruling out another bid for office, but his recall came when he had less than a year to live. His cancer spread to his liver while in office, and he died in July of 2006 after complications from surgery.

Sources: "Senator Settles Charge Filed By Lobbyist" in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News on Nov. 10 1998, "Race To Lead Spokane" in the Spokesman-Review on Oct. 19 2003, "West Tied To Sex Abuse In '70s, Using Office To Lure Young Men" in the Spokesman-Review on May 5 2005, "West's Public Policy Conflicts With Private Life" in the Spokesman-Review on May 5 2005, "Online Relationships" in the Spokesman-Review on May 5 2005, "West Has Brought New Tone, New Success To City Hall" in the Spokesman-Review on May 5 2005, "After Spokane Childhood, West Leads Life Of Service" in the Spokesman-Review on May 5 2005, "Spokane Mayor's Accusers Are Felons" in the Ellensburg Daily Record on May 6 2005, "West Resigns From Scout Post, Boys Ranch Board" in the Spokesman-Review on May 6 2005, "West Faces New Allegations" in the Spokesman-Review on May 7 2005, "Rodgers: West Used City Office" in the Spokesman-Review on May 8 2005, "West Denies Having Online Sex In Office" in the Spokesman-Review on May 8 2005, "Mayor Says Sex Act Happened At Home" in the Spokesman-Review on May 9 2005, "Mayor To Take Leave" in the Spokesman-Review on May 10 2005, "Spokane Mayor Urged To Resign" in the Eugene Register-Guard on May 15 2005, "Council Split On West" in the Spokesman-Review on May 16 2005, "It's 'Awkward' With Mayor Back At City Hall" in the Spokesman-Review on May 20 2005, "Spokane Finds It Tough To Get Rid Of Mayor" in the Ellensburg Daily Record on May 28 2005, "Council Wants West Out" in the Spokesman-Review on Jun. 1 2005, "'Everyone Makes Mistakes'" in the Spokesman-Review on Jun. 4 2005, "West Urged Quick Justice In Lowry Sex Scandal" in the Spokesman-Review on Jul. 14 2005, "West Recall Advances" in the Spokesman-Review on Aug. 25 2005, "17,121 Urge West Recall Vote" in the Spokesman-Review on Sep. 22 2005, "West Accessed Sex Sites On Trips" in the Spokesman-Review on Oct. 15 2005, "Spokane Mayor May Sue Paper For Privacy Invasion" in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Oct. 22 2005, "West Says Downloads Automatic" in the Spokesman-Review on Nov. 16 2005, "Spokane Mayor's Offer Broke Law, Report Says" in the Seattle Times on Nov. 21 2005, "West Spent Hours Online At Gay.com" in the Spokesman-Review on Dec. 3 2005, "Voters Recall West" in the Spokesman-Review on Dec. 7 2005, "Spokane Mayor, Caught In Gay Sex Sting, Is Ousted In Vote That May Advance Gay Rights" in the New York Times on Dec. 8 2005, "West Challenges Successor" in the Spokesman-Review on Dec. 8 2005, "No Federal Charges" in the Spokesman-Review on Feb. 17 2006, "No Charges After Investigation Of Ex-Mayor's Online Scandal" in the New York Times on Feb. 17 2006, "Prosecution Of Former Spokane Mayor Appears Unlikely" in the Seattle Times on Mar. 22 2006, "Former Spokane Mayor Jim West Dies" in the Seattle Times on Jul. 22 2006

Jon C. Hinson: southern exposure

Image from The Ledger

With a little luck on his side, Jon Clifton Hinson was able to win a second term in Congress despite admitting that he'd visited a couple of homosexual hangouts. It was only a matter of months, however, before he was once again caught with his pants down.

Hinson was born in Tylertown, Mississippi in 1942. After graduating from the University of Mississippi in 1964, he served as an aide to Mississippi congressmen Charles Griffin from 1968 to 1973 and Thad Cochran from 1973 to 1977. From 1964 to 1970, he was also a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

In 1978, Cochran moved on to the Senate and Hinson was chosen to run for his seat. His conservative platform included support of lowering taxes and increased military growth, as well as opposition to affirmative action, socialized medicine, deficit spending, and the ceding of the Panama Canal to Panama. Running as a Republican, he successfully took over for his former boss.

The first scandals befell Hinson in his run-up to the 1980 elections. In a press conference in August of 1980, he admitted that he'd been arrested in September of 1976 on a charge of committing an obscene act near the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington, D.C. He later pleaded to a reduced charge of creating a public nuisance and was fined $100. Hinson also revealed that he had been in Cinema Follies, a pornographic theater, in October of 1977 when a devastating fire broke out. Nine people died in the blaze, and Hinson, one of four survivors, was rescued from beneath a pile of bodies. Both the memorial and the theater were known sites of homosexual activity.

Hinson said he'd given the information as a preemptive measure against any attempt by political opponents to use the incidents against him. He had recently given a deposition to lawyers handling civil suits related to the theater fire, and his involvement could easily have been discovered. He argued that he had not committed an obscene act at the memorial, and that his innocence on that charge was demonstrated by his ability to plead to a reduced charge. A friend said the incidents were a result of emotional problems Hinson had been having, and that he had resolved those issues by 1978.

Media reports after Hinson's revelations unearthed more details than Hinson had been willing to admit. The arrest at the memorial had occurred after Hinson had exposed himself to an undercover agent and allegedly tried to get the agent to perform oral sex on him. He failed to show up at court on the charge on multiple occasions until the threat of a second arrest. Reporters also found out that the theater had 22,000 members and multiple uses, including empty rooms where members could have sex. Hinson had also managed to delay giving his deposition until after the Republican primaries.

Nevertheless, Hinson maintained that he was straight. "I am not, never have been, and never will be a homosexual," he said at a news conference with his wife of one year. Whether or not his constituents believed him, Hinson was re-elected in the 1980 election. Some analysts said that the Mississippi voters simply preferred a conservative in Congress, no matter what his sexuality was. However, Hinson was also helped by a three-way contest, in which independent candidate and Jackson State University professor Les McLemore outperformed Democratic candidate Britt Singletary. Hinson came away with 39 percent of the vote for the victory.

Hinson had barely returned to office when he blew any chance of a quiet second term. In February of 1981, Capitol Police had a busy night at the Longworth Building, a House of Representatives office building on Capitol Hill. Tipped off that a bathroom in the building was being used for homosexual activities, police staked out the location. They arrested a consultant and a member of the Democratic Study Group on charges of sodomy. Two hours later, they arrested another two men engaged in oral sex: Hinson and Harold Moore, a black Library of Congress clerk 10 years his junior.

Hinson was originally charged with felony sodomy, which was punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, with the prosecuting attorney saying consensual homosexual acts could be prosecuted as such. Hinson pleaded innocent to the charge and, following the lead of Walter Jenkins, checked himself into the hospital "in order to have the benefit of professional care, counseling, and treatment," according to a statement from his office. The statement blustered on that the care was "necessitated by the onset of an episode which he termed a dissociative reaction attributed to a two-year period of intense emotional and physical exertion." He remained hospitalized for two months.

Hinson immediately faced calls to resign from Mississippi and Republican Party leaders. "I think we gave him the benefit of the doubt on the other charges," said Clarke Reed, national Republican committeeman from Mississippi. "I feel strongly he should resign if found guilty on the charges." Mike Retzer, the Mississippi GOP chairman, said he thought the party had been fooled into supporting Hinson in the 1980 election and added, "It's unfortunate Jon has serious, substantial problems that are ongoing." Hinson agreed to resign, and later pleaded no contest to attempted oral sodomy. He was given a suspended 30-day jail sentence and one year of probation. In April of 1981, he resigned, saying it was "the most painful and difficult decision" he had ever made.

Democrat Wayne Dowdy, the mayor of McComb, was chosen to face off against Republican businessman and strong supporter of President Ronald Reagan, Liles Williams. Though Williams had the majority of the vote in these selections, it was not enough to forgo a special election. In an upset, Dowdy, who had spent one-third as much on his campaign as Williams, narrowly won Hinson's seat. He credited a strong turnout in black voters, though some saw it as a repudiation of Reagan.

Hinson later admitted that he was gay. In an article he wrote shortly before his death, he said that he was "still closeted and into heavy denial" when he was first elected. He and his wife separated in 1987, and divorced in 1989. In a tragic parallel to Hinson's miraculous escape from death in 1977, his parents were killed in 1984 when their house was destroyed by fire.

Remaining in the Washington, D.C. area, Hinson became active in gay rights issues. He opposed a ban on gay servicemen in the military and was a founder of the Fairfax Lesbian and Gay Citizens Association in Fairfax County, Virginia. In 1994, he attended a fund-raising event for a gay community center in Biloxi in his home state. The next year, Hinson died of respiratory failure from AIDS.

Sources: The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Rep. Hinson Facing New Sex Charge" in The Bulletin on Feb. 5 1981, "Hinson Pleads Innocent; Congressman Faces Charge of Sodomy" in the Eugene Register Guard on Feb. 5 1981, "Lawmaker is Facing Sex Charge" in the Rome News-Tribune on Feb. 5 1981, "Hinson Enters Plea; Admitted to Hospital" in The Ledger on Feb. 6 1981, "Lawmaker Pleads Innocent to Sex Charge" in the Sunday Star-News on Feb. 6 1981, "Aide Says Hinson Planning to Quit" in The Bulletin on Feb. 9 1981, "Businessman, Mayor Win Mississippi Runoff Spots" in the St. Petersburg Times on Jun. 24 1981, "Mississippi Democrat Says Blacks Helped" in the Ellensburg Daily Record on Jul. 8 1981, "Democrat Wins Mississippi Race" in the St. Petersburg Times on Jul. 8 1981, "Jon Hinson, 53, Congressman And Then Gay-Rights Advocate" in the New York Times on Jul. 26 1995, Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2006 by Jere Nash and Andy Taggart, Men Like That: A Southern Queer History by John Howard

Gerry E. Studds: on the wrong page

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Successfully overcoming a sex scandal in 1983, Gerry Eastman Studds had the misfortune to see his old misconduct recalled by a similar scandal that affected Congress 23 years later.

Born in Mineola, New York in 1937, Studds earned two degrees from Yale University. He briefly taught at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and also worked as a foreign service officer with the Department of State. Studds began his transition to government work in the 1960s, serving as a member of President John F. Kennedy's staff from 1962 to 1963 and a legislative assistant to New Jersey Senator Harrison A. Williams, Jr. in 1964. Studds was also a New Hampshire state coordinator of Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy's bid for President in 1968.

In 1970, Studds ran as a Democrat for a seat in Congress to represent a Cape Cod, Massachusetts area district. Though he narrowly lost the race in that year, he was elected in 1972, the first Democratic congressman to be sent to Washington from the predominantly conservative district in 50 years. Studds solidified his popularity with constituents by sponsoring several laws to protect the seashore and create national parks along the Massachusetts coast. An advocate of the fishing industry, he successfully lobbied to prevent foreign fishing boats from operating within 200 feet of the U.S. shore. He also proved a staunch opponent to President Ronald Reagan, opposing support for Contra rebels in Nicaragua and the Strategic Defense Initiative, which he dubbed the "Edsel of the 1980s." He contested claims that El Salvador was improving human rights and led 93 congressmen in cosponsoring a bill to ban military aid to the country.

The turn in Studds' political fortunes came about almost accidentally in 1983. A House ethics committee conducted a one-year, $1 million investigation into sexual relationships between congressmen and pages in the Capitol after two former pages brought up accusations of wrongdoing. The committee found no evidence to substantiate those pages' claims. However, the probe did net three people in unrelated incidents. One was Daniel Crane, a Republican congressman from Illinois, charged with having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female page in 1980. Another was James Howarth, former majority chief page, who was charged with having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old female page and purchasing cocaine in a Capitol cloakroom. The third was Studds.

Studds was also charged with having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, a male page he met in 1973. The page said that he had gone to Studds' apartment with other congressmen and ended up staying up until nearly 4 a.m., drinking and discussing different topics. When the page noted that Studds was too drunk to drive him home, Studds suggested that he stay overnight. The page said they then engaged in sexual activity, and that the two had other trysts and went on a two-week trip to Portugal together.

Studds and Crane both admitted to the charges when they were revealed in July of 1983. "It is not a simple task for any of us to meet adequately the obligations of either public or private life," said Studds. "But these challenges are made substantially more complex when one is, as am I, both an elected public official and gay." He was the first member of Congress to publicly admit that he was a homosexual, and declared the relationship with the page "a serious error in judgment." He also admitted to making advances on two other male pages in 1973.

The ethics committee determined that while the sexual relationships between the congressmen and the pages were a "serious breach of duty," they were legal and consensual. It recommended that Studds and Crane be reprimanded, the lowest form of punishment. However, conservative members of the House urged a stronger punishment in the form of a censure. Newt Gingrich, a Republican congressman from Georgia, threatened to pursue the expulsion of Studds and Crane if the ethics committee didn't reconsider its recommendation. In July of 1983, both Studds and Crane were censured, with a 420-3 vote in Studds' case. As a result, Studds lost his chairmanship of his subcommittee on the Coast Guard.

Studds refused to resign or apologize after the scandal, saying the investigation had been an invasion of his privacy. He was met with support in his district, but also some challenges. In August, opponents presented two petitions with over 800 signatures seeking his resignation. During the Democratic primary for the 1984 elections, challenger Peter Flynn - the sheriff of Plymouth County - described Studds' affair as "child molestation."

Nevertheless, Studds went on to win the primary, as well as the general election against moderate Republican challenger Lewis Crampton. He was the sole survivor of the page scandal. Crane was defeated in his re-election attempt, and Howarth resigned from his position in November of 1983.

Following his outing, Studds became noticeably more supportive of measures for homosexual rights. He pushed for AIDS research, and also supported letting homosexuals serve in the military. In 1989, he released a Pentagon report saying that a person's sexuality was "unrelated to job performance in the same way as is being left or right handed." He regained a chairmanship on the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries between 1993 and 1995. In one hearing, he challenged the Coast Guard policy of excluding homosexuals, as the service was under the Department of Transportation but had implemented the policy to keep consistent with the military branches. Studds said it was strange that he could supervise the Coast Guard but not sail with them.

Studds opted not to run for re-election in 1996, the same year a marine sanctuary off Cape Cod was named for him. Following his retirement from Congress, he worked as a lobbyist for fishing and environmental causes. In 2004, he took advantage of Massachusetts' legalization of same-sex marriage and wedded his longtime partner, Dean T. Hara.

In 2006, a scandal similar to the 1983 one hit Congress when it was revealed that a Republican congressman, Mark Foley of Florida, had written sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages to male pages. The incident brought back memories of Studds' censure, as well as charges from conservatives that Democrats had glossed over Studds' misconduct and criticism that Studds had not resigned as Foley did in September of 2006. Studds did not have much time to respond to the renewed interest in his misconduct; just weeks after Foley's resignation, he died in Boston of a vascular illness.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Republican Gains Offset by Gubernatorial Losses" in the Harvard Crimson on Nov. 5 1970, "Financing El Salvador's Reign of Terror" in the Harvard Crimson on Mar. 5 1981, "Overcoming the Doubts" in Time on Aug. 9 1982, "The U.S. Stays the Course" in Time on Feb. 28 1983, "2 Congressmen Admit to Affairs with Pages" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jul. 15 1983, "Stronger Punishment Sought in Sex Scandal" in the Deseret News on Jul. 19 1983, "Housecleaning" in Time on Jul. 25 1983, "Hard Choices on the Hill" in Time on Aug. 1 1983, "Studds' Resignation Sought" in the Evening Independent on Aug. 16 1983, "Studds 'Overwhelmed' by Support" in the St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 20 1983, "House Employee Quits in Sex Case" in the New York Times on Nov. 16 1983, "Foe of Studds Says Issue is 'Child Molestation'" in the New York Times on Jun. 27 1984, "The House: A Silver Lining For the Democrats--Sort Of" in Time on Nov. 19 1984, "Gerry Studds Dies at 69" in the New York Times on Oct. 15 2006, "First Openly Gay Person Elected to Congress Dies" in USA Today on Oct. 15 2006, Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military by Randy Shilts