Hunter is ‘Duke’s’ friend ’til the end

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is standing by his friend, convicted former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, until the bitter end.

When Cunningham was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison Friday, Hunter was there to witness Cunningham’s fall from grace.

As some former colleagues and friends in Congress, including Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif), were firing off scathing statements about Cunningham, Hunter was sitting in the courthouse hoping for the judge’s leniency.

“Congressman Hunter is a close friend of Mr. Cunningham’s, and friends don’t abandon each other during times of difficulty,” said Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper.

Hunter did not comment for this article, as he was traveling back to Washington from his district.

Cunningham’s sentence is the longest jail term ever given to a member of Congress. He resigned from the House after pleading guilty in November to tax evasion and conspiracy to take $2.4 million in bribes from two defense contractors and two other businessmen in exchange for setting aside federal money for projects for their company in spending bills.

“Congressman Hunter does not condone Mr. Cunningham’s actions, nor has he tried to defend them. …” Kasper said. “However, Mr. Cunningham’s closest friends, including Mr. Hunter, believed that his sentence should be balanced with his long and distinguished service record.”

Before entering the courtroom Friday, Hunter said that he hoped the judge would take Cunningham’s “good deeds” into consideration.

Hunter made his own plea for leniency in a letter submitted to the judge on Cunningham’s behalf in early February. Hunter was among a handful of friends and family who spoke up in Cunningham’s defense.

And Hunter did not shy away from publicly stating his support: “We, his remaining friends, have spent the last day with Duke praying and talking about a new chapter in Duke’s life, a chapter of service to God,” Hunter said in a statement.

A fellow Vietnam veteran, Hunter has known Cunningham for more than 25 years, according to the letter he sent in support of his friend. The two spent 15 of those years working closely together as members of the House Armed Services Committee and House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Several reports have said that Hunter probably did more than anyone to help Cunningham win California’s 50th District seat 16 years ago.

In November 1990, when Cunningham was first elected to Congress, Hunter had already been a congressman for 10 years. With Hunter’s assistance, Cunningham quickly landed a seat on Armed Services. In 1997, both Hunter and Cunningham sat together on the National Security Subcommittee.

Hunter, who represents California’s 52nd District, which encompasses eastern and northern San Diego County, served in the 173rd Airborne and 75th Army Rangers during the war in Vietnam. He was elected in 1980, and his first assignment in the House was the Armed Services Committee. He has been the chairman of that committee for the past three years.

Cunningham rose to fame based on his reputation as a Navy fighter-pilot ace in Vietnam and a “top gun” Navy flight instructor. In his letter to the judge, Hunter attached a copy of Cunningham’s Navy Cross citation. Hunter argued for a sentence that took into consideration the former congressman’s “more than 300 combat missions.”

“There is another side of Duke that I have seen regularly,” Hunter said in his letter. “It is his love for kids and fellow veterans.” He argued that Cunningham set up technology assistance for high school students and special programs for disabled veterans.

Defense and aerospace industries are top businesses in both districts.

One of the defense contractors and beneficiaries of the lucrative government contracts, Mitchell Wade, owner of MZM Inc., pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to four felony counts for his part in the bribery. The remaining three alleged co-conspirators have been identified as Brent Wilkes, head of defense company ADCS Inc.; New York businessman Thomas Kontogiannis; and John Michael, Kontogiannis’s nephew.

Wilkes, the owner of several defense companies, had tentacles well beyond Cunningham. Between 1995 and 2005, Hunter received about $46,000 in contributions from Wilkes, Wade, their relatives and their business partners.

In December, Hunter directed that the contributions from Wilkes and Wade be given to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.

From 1997 to 2002, Congress inserted $60 million in contracts for ADCS Inc. into the federal budget. The military never asked for the ADCS projects.

In 2000 the Pentagon’s inspector general criticized the company’s biggest project, a $9.7 million contract to convert documents in Panama. The report said the program was created under pressure from two congressmen, whom Pentagon procurement officials have identified as Cunningham and Hunter, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.