Democrat issues a summary of the bribe scandal that led Cunningham to resign his seat
By GREG MILLER
Los Angeles Times
Oct. 17, 2006, 8:26PM
chron.com
( Yet ANOTHER scandal the Repugnicans would like to hide if possible. )
WASHINGTON - In addition to the other corrupt dealings that forced his resignation from Congress, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham used his position on the House Intelligence Committee to steer more than $70 million in government funding to companies run by business cronies, according to a new report by the House panel.
The document expands the scope of the Cunningham bribery scandal to one of the most sensitive committee assignments in Congress. It also alludes to other potential abuses, including "dealings ... with certain foreign nationals" that are still being scrutinized by federal investigators.
The report is the culmination of an internal probe launched last year after Cunningham, a Republican from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes. The document is certain to add to the partisan tensions on the panel just weeks before an election that could swing control of the House.
The full text of the report remains classified, but a five-page summary was released Tuesday by California Rep. Jane Harman, the committee's top Democrat, who has repeatedly voiced frustration with the refusal of the panel's Republicans to make the findings public.
In an interview, Harman said she gave her GOP counterpart, Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, "every opportunity" to issue a joint statement putting out the report, and she rejected suggestions that its release was timed for political effect.
"The right time to have put this out was when it was completed, in late July," Harman said.
Hoekstra, the panel's chairman, described Harman's action as "beyond the pale." He called the document an "interim, internal report" and suggested Harman was seeking "to politicize the committee and this critical inquiry."
The investigation was led by Michael L. Stern, a former senior attorney in the House Office of the General Counsel. He declined to comment Tuesday.
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