The Duke of Err

ANY MEMBER OF CONGRESS, Republican or Democrat, must take their office seriously and the ethics seriously. . . The idea of a congressman taking money is outrageous. And Congressman Cunningham is going to realize that he has broken the law and is going to pay a serious price, which he should.”
—Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush

GREG McPARTLIN is a former Navy SEAL. The owner of McP’s Irish Pub & Grill in Coronado served as a medic during the Vietnam War. He recently wrote a book about the experience: Combat Corpsman. During that same maddening Vietnam conflict—which seems doomed to forever blight our country’s political landscape—Navy fighter pilot Randy “Duke” Cunningham became a flying ace. Now he’s an ace in a deep hole. In December, the former Congressman admitted to accepting $2.4 million from defense contractors in exchange for bids on contracts that provided war-theater support to American servicemen and women.

It doesn’t take long for McPartlin to get over his reticence about Cunningham’s sad saga. “It’s a travesty,” he says. “It’s a shame to see this from a Vietnam ace. I guess it just goes to show the power of the almighty dollar. But it’s an embarrassment to the military community—it’s just a huge disservice . . .

“I doubt he thought that what he was doing might have put lives at risk—that it was possible his actions would mean the military didn’t get quality equipment or something.”

Like Cunningham, Mike Neil is a strongly conservative Republican who was awarded the Navy Cross for service in Vietnam. Neil was an infantryman in 1967. He retired from the Marine Corps as a brigadier general and now is senior partner at the downtown law firm Neil, Dymott.

“Duke disgraced every one of us who ever served in the military,” says Neil. “He came into politics as an American fighting man. But now no apology can make up for what he did—especially in a time and place where fighting men and women are in harm’s way. This is especially egregious. I am so mad and so upset about this. I hope they throw the book at him.”

The saying goes that you shouldn’t kick a man when he’s down. With “The Dookie,” I say we make an exception.

CUNNINGHAM SHOT DOWN five enemy planes in Vietnam. Along with the Navy Cross, he received scores of medals, including a Purple Heart. He entered San Diego politics in 1990. For 15 years, he served in the United States House of Representatives from California’s 50th District. He was a GOP darling. A Top Gun trainer with an all-American story. The hawkish Congressman was admired for his humor and candor.

But “bombastic” aptly describes both his military and political careers. In 1995, he assailed Democrats who supported military budget cuts as “the same ones who would put homos in the military.” Cunningham once challenged a fellow member of the House of Representatives to a fistfight. And while giving a speech in San Diego to a group of prostate cancer survivors, he flipped his middle finger at an audience member.

Cunningham usually apologized when his speak-first-think-last comments caused a stir. “If the term ‘homos in the military’ is offensive, then I apologize and I will not use it again,” he told a gay rights group after that gaffe.

After Cunningham admitted he took $2.4 million from defense contractors, the “that’s just Duke being Duke” defense officially dried up and disappeared. He’s in hot water now, and could face up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on February 27.

We’re left to wonder where it all went wrong. The Los Angeles Times speculates about two contributing factors: surviving prostrate cancer surgery in 1998 and wanting to live life to its material fullest; and placating a wife in a strained marriage with expensive gifts and household items.

Did he really need an 8,000-square-foot manse in Rancho Santa Fe? Was it worth it to him to trade his reputation for a yacht, a Rolls-Royce, Persian rugs, a leather sofa and some antique armoires? Apparently, the price of trading his honor rings up at $2.4 million.

HOW SHOULD CUNNINGHAM BE PUNISHED? Jeremy Neuner, who recently wrote an open letter to Cunningham that circulated on the Internet, has a Promethean idea. In 1995, at the fresh-scrubbed age of 21, Neuner was training to be a pilot at Naval Air Station Pensacola. At the time he heard Cunningham speak at the base, he considered The Dookie a hero, “the most famous living fighter jock in naval aviation history.”

Neuner spent 1997 through 2004 serving at Naval Air Station North Island. Now he’s a government consultant living in the Washington, D.C., area. He’s received dozens of replies—mostly from naval aviators—to his amazing letter, excerpted here:

“Mere minutes into your speech, I knew you were the kind of man I hoped to emulate. You were confident and funny and brash and smart as hell . . . You were the embodiment of every trait I knew I’d need to be successful as a Navy pilot . . .

“The story that stays with me from that speech of yours back in 1995 had to do with a young pilot who had been shot down over Vietnam and became one of the many Americans held prisoner by the North Vietnamese. In a quiet voice and with great respect, you told how this young man had secretly woven an American flag on the inside of his striped prisoner’s pajamas. Every night he opened his pajamas and revealed the flag so his fellow American prisoners could recite the pledge of allegiance . . .

“You, Mr. Cunningham, told the rest of the story while fighting back genuine tears . . . Your lesson was clear: Leadership required faith. Faith in ourselves. Faith in our fellows. And faith in the United States of America . . .

“Now, Mr. Cunningham, you stand guilty of violating that faith . . . I must admit that I do not much care whether you spend several weeks or several years behind bars . . .

“Instead . . . go find that young American POW, the one who acted with so much courage to preserve the symbol of the country that he held so dear. Go find him and apologize. Look him in the eye and apologize for besmirching his faith . . . You’ve told his story scores of times to the sympathy and delight of your constituents . . . Clearly, you never possessed that same bravery and integrity and unfailing love of country that he possessed . . .

“You used to be one of my heroes, Mr. Cunningham . . . You have let me down, sir. I hope the knowledge of that betrayal is worse than any punishment a court of law might inflict on you.”

Oh, definitely send Cunningham to prison. But if The Dookie really did at one time possess the personal integrity of a model serviceman, he will feel the dagger delivered by Neuner deep in the black core of what’s left of his heart.

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