NEWS: Feds say Rep. Cunningham 'Demanded' Bribe

In an effort to seize Cunningham's $3.1 million Rancho Santa Fe mansion, the feds are alleging that Cunningham demanded a bribe from defense contractor MZM Inc. in order to steer defense contracts to the company.



I thought they called this 'influence peddling' in Washington, and everybody knows they are all doing it. I can't help thinking Cunningham is getting the shaft for not toeing the NWO line. The more I hear about it, the more this looks like a set-up to me.

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[edit on 26-8-2005 by Icarus Rising]

[edit on 26-8-2005 by Icarus Rising]

This is a common practice, and i hope it is a universally applied punishment...
I also wonder why he is being spotlighted?

maybe he can become a whistleblower on this unethical method of bid awarding...

BTW...it is called Kickbacks, in the business that i am in... and it is considered ILLEGAL by the trade commission... And this is private business... it has nothing to do with spending public monies.

So why is it approved when YOUR AND MY taxes are paying?

Personally I hope they take everything he has, and leave him penniless and jobless, make an example that might make politicians think twice about doing the same thing...

corruption prevents the process of free trade and fair competition... the basis of american economic pride...
I consider the practice as treason against ones own citizens...

I personally cant beleive that this thread hasn't gotten more responses...
apathy=enemy #1


[edit on 26-8-2005 by LazarusTheLong]

Common practice? Everybody knows? Can you cite some other examples?

I have to agree that it is common with regard to campaign contributions, and we still need much reform in that area.

This goes WAY beyond that, though - this was allegedly done for personal gain - the company bought his house at an inflated price, dumping at market price several months later.

If it IS common,, and they all pat each other on the back and laugh about it in the back halls of the Capital, I certainly hope they offer him a deal to talk. But I'd like to think that this is an abberation.

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
This is a common practice, and i hope it is a universally applied punishment...
I also wonder why he is being spotlighted?

maybe he can become a whistleblower on this unethical method of bid awarding...

BTW...it is called Kickbacks, in the business that i am in... and it is considered ILLEGAL by the trade commission... And this is private business... it has nothing to do with spending public monies.

So why is it approved when YOUR AND MY taxes are paying?

Personally I hope they take everything he has, and leave him penniless and jobless, make an example that might make politicians think twice about doing the same thing...

corruption prevents the process of free trade and fair competition... the basis of american economic pride...
I consider the practice as treason against ones own citizens...

I personally cant beleive that this thread hasn't gotten more responses...
apathy=enemy #1


[edit on 26-8-2005 by LazarusTheLong]

Agreed. In addition I'd like to see public floggings for public officials and for the most egregious crimes, like say election tampering, public executions. Maybe these creeps will think twice about their treachery.

Examples? The House Ethics Committee is full of examples. I'll try to name some other names for you when I have time to do the research. In the meantime, if you're really interested, look into it yourself instead of just challenging me to.

The thing about this one is how fast and how public the heat has come down on this guy. It stands out to me on that basis alone.

Even if this is a blackmail type witchhunt, I really hope it exposes the rampant incidence of this on the state and national level...

Another example from my own extremely limited connection with politics...

I almost went to work for a phone company that a freind helped start...they specialized in "slamming" payphones... it was a scam from word go...

My friend was just a frontman...

the person that secretly backed and owned the company was the very same politician that pushed state legislation thru that allowed the slamming process...

to our states credit, they repealed the action about a year later from complants...

but in the meantime... he made BANK!

Our state used to have a couple of billboards up on the main highways about 15 years ago...
Oklahoma ranked first in the nation.... then in bold type, it said IN CORRUPTION OF POLITICIANS.

We no longer hold that honor... But who does?

I wonder what good deeds did Rep. Cunningham do lately? Did he blow the whistle on corruption? Did he vote his conscience rather than be coerced? Sadly you have to ask these things when facing cases like this, otherwise you become a sycophant to an overall system lacking far more than even its allegations on one person. If the answers are yes he did something good, then you know the usual story, since others who actually do worse things in fact get a free pass if they "vote right."

I think the public falls for whatever the news reports too often without asking "Cui Bono?"