politics, scandalsNovember 28, 2005 9:37 pm
and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
“Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end…liberty is the only object which benefits all alike, and provokes no sincere opposition…The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to to govern. Every class is unfit to govern…Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” ~~Lord Acton
Young American warriors have been trained to sacrifice and to risk their lives for duty to their country. Congressman Randy Cunningham was once a young Vietnam War fighter ace and a genuine American war hero. After returning from war, he trained future Navy fighter pilots to be top guns as he was. Cunningham was elected to the United States Congress by the people of his district in San Diego. A charmed life he seemingly led, but by the time Mr. Cunningham reached the sunset years of his life he apparently wanted more and was corrupted by greed and money. He not only disgraced himself, but he has sorely disappointed his countrymen and nation.
How can it be that someone of such courage and honor during wartime could do such dishonorable things while serving in public office? There is nothing new under the sun. Perhaps Cunningham thought he was a John McCain or a John Glenn. Senators McCain and Glenn, became corrupted by their friend Charles Keating in the Savings and Loan Scandals of the late 1980s. McCain and Glenn were members of the Keating Five, five U.S. Senators who were implicated in an influence-peddling scheme to help Keating’s Lincoln Savings in Irvine, California escape government regulatory sanctions. Three of those senators — Alan Cranston, Don Riegle, and Dennis DeConcini — found their political careers ended. The two former military heroes — John Glenn and John McCain, both trained Navy pilots, managed to escaped unscathed. Keating, also a former Navy pilot, was convicted in January 1993, of 73 counts of wire and bankruptcy fraud. His conviction was overturned after he had served more than four years in prison. He later pled guilty to four counts of fraud and was released from prison.
John McCain claimed that Keating was a constituent, yet in truth, Charles Keating was a longtime friend and associate of John McCain, raising money for McCain’s congressional and Senate races. By 1987, McCain campaigns had received $112,000 from Keating and his family and employees. Once elected, McCain and his family made at least nine vacation trips at Keating’s expense, none of which were disclosed as required by House rules until the scandal broke. At that point the Senator paid Keating $13,433 for the flights. In addition, in 1986, McCain’s wife and father-in-law invested $359,100 in a Keating strip mall.
The Senate Ethics Committee investigated and found McCain and Glenn to be the least blameworthy of the five senators. McCain was guilty of nothing more than “poor judgment,” the committee said, and declared his actions were neither “improper nor attended with gross negligence.” McCain considered himself to be fully exonerated and contributed the $112,000 Keating had contributed to him, to the U.S. Treasury. The American taxpayers contibuted $3.4 billion to bail out the Keating Savings and Loan failure.
After months of denial, Congressman Cunningham tearfully admitted his wrongdoing, showing at least a spark of his former honor and courage. No one expects that Cunningham will be so lucky as military heroes McCain and Glenn, for bribes of $2 million are much easier to understand than taxpayer and shareholder losses of almost $4 billion.
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