a lesson in current political corruption | Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke"...

Feasting on the Spoils: A Must Read Book for Our Time! | Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, History's Most Corrupt Congressman | Seth Hettena

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	• Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, History's Most Corrupt Congressman Seth Hettena St. Martin's Press, 2007 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

One day of glory, eight years in prison

After the Bush years are over and those Congressmen and lobbyists who have benefited from their party's patronage go to jail, (1994 was the real year of inception with the GOP takeover of Congress) it will be interesting to see who is left standing. Certainly not among them is Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the pride of the air war in Vietnam. Pin a medal to his chest and watch his life unfold.

Duke Cunningham should never have gotten even remotely high up in power as he did. Author Seth Hettena paints a "not so glorious" view of the man who came to represent the beginning of the downfall of ethics problems in Congress over the past years. Cunningham was neither cunning so much as he was a ham. His mouth got him into constant trouble and the author points out how easily a man with war hero credentials, given to emotion rather than reason and easily bought, is otherwise reduced to pulp on a national scene. At least retiring Senator Larry Craig makes Cunningham look good.

Hettena's narrative is better at the ends. The initial sting operation to get Cunningham bookended by the eventual outcome is told in gripping manner. The author knows how to write. Yet, the middle of the book sags under the weight of facts and figures. The case against Cunningham is made, but to say that he is the "most corrupt Congressman" in Washington? Ever? Certainly Tom DeLay will receive that mantle. Or others about whom we don't know. It's still early.

Seth Hettena's book is good, but not great. It fills in some pieces along the corruption puzzle line and a title less blaring would have made for a more solid read. I hope this talented author writes another book about Congressional life in Washington before long. Go higher up, this time!

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a lesson in current political corruption

The author, in a very vivid language, tells us a lot about what is happening in Washington.
I wish every American could read this book to realize what really is happening to our tax dollars because of all the political corruption that exists.

Feasting on the Spoils: A Must Read Book for Our Time!

Our country is in trouble. Big trouble. The amount of greed and corruption that is being allowed to run amuck these past seven years is staggering. With all of the terror mongering going on, many will turn the other way not wanting any more bad news. Do not make that mistake.

Hettena has masterfully taken a complex, convoluted and just plain confusing history and woven a fascinating and comprehensible story which helps us understand not only what happened in the case of Randy "Duke" Cunningham and his contractor cronies, Wade and Wilkes, but skillfully illuminates the reasons why.

Perhaps some of you will say they're unethical - so what? The amount of corruption and the web of complicity throughout our government and industry have reached record breadth and depth. It will not improve until the American public pays attention, understands, and demands that it be stopped. Each of us has a part in this drama. A good place to start is reading this book.

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A fascinating and sad tale all in one

"Spoils" paints not only an amazing story of corruption but a fascinating character study in how the sense of entitlement and greed can take over the human spirit. You really can't make this "cast of characters " up and the story reads like an unbelievable true-crime novel.

The other scary part is, Duke and his "friends" really didn't try to hide any of their corrupt actions and it went unchecked for years. It makes you think what our "smart" politicians are doing to keep their secrets from coming out?

Bad Congressmen Behaving Badly

This is a very well-written book. It's an alarming case study not just of greed, but of 'vaulting ambition' run amok. After reading it, I believe that Cunningham was: (a) genuinely patriotic, but (b) a deeply insecure bully, and (c) hugely incompetent. He is not a sympathetic character, yet author Seth Hettena provides an entertaining story; like a car crash from which one can't turn away, I was glued to the narrative, eager to see what bad move the characters would do next. It's also an 'easy read' -- good for airplane reading or a rainy weekend.

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Randy ?Duke? Cunningham was an ace fighter pilot and Top Gun instructor. He came back from battle as Vietnam?s most famous pilot?a Navy hero in an unpopular war. In his political life, Cunningham was an eight-term United States representative who never lost an election. So how did this powerful politician, one of the Vietnam War?s most highly decorated pilots, become the most corrupt congressman in U.S. history?

In 2005, Cunningham shocked the nation by pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, fraud, and tax evasion. A federal judge sentenced him to more than eight years in prison, the longest sentence handed down to a member of Congress in 40 years. And even as Cunningham was led, weeping, to prison, investigators continued to uncover a deep-rooted scandal, reaching the cozy nexus between Congress and lobbyists, military contractors, the Defense Department and the upper ranks of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Cunningham?s bribes were seemingly endless. They included a yacht, a Rolls-Royce, and hundreds of thousands of dollars? worth of antiques. Defense contractors flew him aboard private chartered jets to luxury destinations, picked up the tab at expensive restaurants, and paid for his daughter?s graduation party. In total, he collected at least $2.4 million in five years, a series of acts unequaled in the long, sordid history of congressional corruption. An ongoing investigation is even exploring allegations that prostitutes were hired by Cunningham's associates to entertain the congressman. His corruption and that of his cohorts was a decisive factor in the 2006 elections, as Democrats retook control of the House for the first time in more than a decade.

What led a man who showed such strength and resolve in battle to show such moral weakness later in life? Had he become a prisoner of greed or was he manipulated by others far more cunning than he? What happened to Randy Cunningham? In Feasting on the Spoils, Hettena offers a probing look at deception and avarice. He paints an unforgettable portrait of a life publicly unraveled, and of a man for whom the mysteries?and the history of fraud?only seem to deepen.

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