Crime Doesn't Pay: Duke Cunningham Gets 8 Years For Congressional Corruption

In one of the most blatant examples of parlaying war heroics into personal gain, former San Diego County U.S. congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham put his political clout up for sale to the highest bidders and, in turn, awarded taxpayer-funded defense contracts to his bribery partners in crime. His blatant avarice all came crashing down on him this past year, and he pleaded guilty to bribery charges in late 2005, admitting to accepting vacations, jewelry, a Rolls-Royce, antiques, mortgage payments and cash in exchange for helping the defense contractors get tens of millions of dollars' worth of government work. Yesterday, "Duke" was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in federal prison for his crimes, punctuating a chapter in one of the worst examples of political corruption. If the public's perception is that politicians - especially San Diego politicians - are for sale at the right price is pervasive, "Duke's" greed certainly doesn't make us more trusting in our public servants. Read a timeline of Cunningham's fall into disgrace on the Union-Tribune Website, which broke the story last year.