Cunningham takes graft to new heights and depths

The Mahoning Valley can take a measure of solace in no longer being able to claim the most notorious member of Congress as its own.
Jim Traficant took a few thousand dollars here and a few thousand dollars there, got work done on his farm and his boat, drove other people's sports cars. He was a crook, a wheeler and dealer, a loudmouth and no credit to the 17th Congressional District.
But beside Randall "Duke" Cunningham, Jim Traficant was a petty thief. Cunningham reminds us of Willie Sutton, the legendary bank robber. To paraphrase Sutton, Cunningham went to Congress because that's where the money was.
Cunningham, who just a few months ago was indignantly proclaiming his innocence and accusing his accusers of being part of a conspiracy, pleaded guilty last week to charges involving $2.5 million in bribes he accepted. Even worse, at a time of war, Cunningham -- himself a hero of the Vietnam War -- used his position on the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense to shakedown defense contractors.
Stealing from defense
In effect, Cunningham was funneling money from our nation's defense budget through the contractors and into his pocket.
Alongside Cunningham, Jim Traficant is starting to look like a choir boy.
Cunningham. a San Diego area Republican, pleaded guilty to bribery and tax evasion and resigned from his House seat. His willingness to admit wrongdoing is the only thing in which Cunningham compares favorably to Traficant. Mahoning County's corrupt congressman rejected a plea bargain, made the Justice Department take him to trial and made his House colleagues expel him from Congress.
Cunningham is now awaiting sentencing.
We can understand that the Justice Department might look a little more kindly toward him since he pleaded and expressed remorse, but he deserves and should get years upon years of hard prison.
Traficant has completed more than three years of his eight-year sentence. Nothing we've said here should be taken to imply that he doesn't deserve every day of that for his abuse of the public trust.
But Cunningham took 25 times as much in bribes, evaded $1 million in income taxes and was targeting defense contractors. He's 63 years old, and he should consider himself lucky if he lives long enough to walk out of prison.