What Bush stole in tax cuts; we'll take back in prison fines. delay's will be a whopper!
Ex-lawmaker's belongings auctioned to pay his fine
Rancho Dominguez, Calif. -- In a final indignity after a stunning fall, pieces of the ruined life of former U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham were auctioned off in a government warehouse here Thursday morning.
A pair of candlesticks, a dozen Oriental rugs, three mirrored armoires, a marble-topped commode and a cedar-lined lingerie cabinet, 35 items in all, went under the auctioneer's gavel. They brought the government $94,625, about two-thirds of the $150,000 that the military contractors who gave them to Cunningham as bribes reportedly paid for them.
Cunningham, 64, forfeited his mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, north of San Diego, and furnishings as part of a plea deal he struck with the government in November. He still owes $1.85 million -- the estimated value of the cash bribes he received -- and another $1.8 million in back taxes and penalties.
The Republican also will spend the next eight years and four months in federal prison, the harshest sentence ever meted out to a current or former congressman.
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