As the late Memphis Law Prof. W.H."Toby" Sides often said, "The pigs get fat but the hogs get slaughtered."
Another one of "The Pentagonists" -- as they are called by heroic whistleblower A. Ernest Fitzgerald -- was just indicted for federal crimes. Rep. DUNCAN DUANE HUNTER and his piglet wife were indicted federally for misusing campaign contributions for personal purposes. HUNTER is part of what Eisenhower called the "military industrial complex," who inherited his Congressional seat from his father.
The HUNTERS allegedly overdrew their bank account over 1100 times in a seven-year period, with bank fees of more than $37,761 in overdraft or insufficient funds charges. They paid credit card companies of $24,600 in finance charges for being late, over the limit or returned payments.
Rep. DUNCAN HUNTER appointed wife MARGARET HUNTER as his Treasurer, dismissing rules as "silly."
The HUNTERS allegedly spent some $250,000 in campaign funds on personal expenditures, including:
- dental bills,
- private Christian school tuition,
- golf (Some golf outings were repeatedly mischaracterized as "a Christian thing,"
- water bills,
- power bills,
- natural gas bills,
- haircuts,
- children's books,
- decorative items,
- Disneyland gifts,
- Sea World tickets,
- RiverDance tickers,
- $462.46 for thirty shots of tequila and one steak at a bachelor party at El Tamarindo in Washington, D.C.,
- surf shop clothing,
- a garage door,
- candy,
- fast food and restaurant meals,
- personal air travel for family members, including flights to Poland for his mother and her boyfriend,
- hotel bills,
- luggage
- family vacations (Italy, London, Hawaii, Idaho, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Mississippi),
- beer,
- wine,
- alcohol,
- groceries,
- toiletries,
- cosmetics,
- vitamins,
- dog food
- household items,
- cameras,
- dance competitions,
- birthday and family parties,
- funeral and personal travel,
- a computer,
- gaming keyboard and gaming mouse,
- Uber rides,
- sports headphones,
- iPhone accessories,
- movie tickets,
- video games,
- football tickets,
- Del Mar, California race track
- twelve tickets to the play, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" ($706),
- $250 airplane ride for the family rabbit for a family vacation,
- nail salon visits,
- gloves,
- golf shoes,
- salaries for Mrs. HUNTER as "Campaign Manager" and "Treasurer,"
- running shoes and other items falsely said to be for annual dove hunting outing for "wounded warriors"
- a $399 "zipline ride," and, my favorite:
- "Hawaii shorts" that Rep. HUNTER bought for himself at a golf course, falsely claimed to be for "some balls for wounded warriors."
It takes "some balls" to defraud your campaign contributors -- taking them for a zipline ride -- while making repeated false statements to your campaign treasurer, Federal Elections Commission and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In 2015, Rep. HUNTER & wife vacationed in Italy, trying to camouflage the trip as relating to a visit to a U.S. Navy base. When the Navy suggested another date, HUNTER checked with his wife, MARGARET HUNTER. Rep. HUNTER then told his Chief of Staff to tell the Navy to "''go f--- themselves" [no alteration in original] and no tour occurred."
Our Founders warned us about corruption.
Greedy, entitled dull Republicans and devious Democrats -- dumb as a box of rocks.
Like disgraced ex-Rep. CORINNE BROWN, a/k/a "FEDERAL INMATE No. 67315-018," now a resident of a Florida federal penitentiary.
Like PAUL MANAFORT and MICHAEL COHEN, Rep. DUNCAN HUNTER, et ux MARGARET, face prison.
Read indictment here.
DUNCAN HUNTER is one of those dull Republican "conservatives" who wants to shrink government just small enough to fit in your bedroom, and desires that it stay out of corporate boardrooms. A Social Darwinist, Ayn Rand worshipping rancid Republican political animal.
Full disclosure: As a law student, I had a hankering to be an FBI agent, desiring to bust crooked Congressman, as in the FBI's Abscam busts. My eyesight precluded it, I learned from interviewing FBI agents, under then-prevailing standards; they were later revised after ADA litigation.(I never knew it until decades later, only a year or so ago, when a friendly SAPD sergeant told me when we were talking before a city meeting -- my response was, "I could have had a V-8!")
In 2008, I broke the story on this blog of Rep. JOHN LUIGI MICA's spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on "meals with constituents," a fact that may have contributed to his electoral defeat in 2016, after redistricting.
Congressman DUNCAN HUNTER serves on the House Armed Services Committee, House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
From the Los Angeles Times:
San Diego County Rep. Duncan Hunter and his wife are indicted on campaign finance violations
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and his wife used $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use and filed false campaign finance reports, according to a 48-page federal indictment. (David Brooks / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and his wife, Margaret, were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on charges they used $250,000 in campaign funds for personal use and filed false campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission to mask their actions.
The 48-page indictment details lavish spending from 2009 to 2016, including family vacations to Italy and Hawaii, home utilities, school tuition for their children, video games and even dental work. The San Diego Union-Tribune first identified the improper spending, triggering a federal investigation by the Justice Department.
To conceal the personal expenditures, family dental bills were listed as a charitable contribution to “Smiles for Life,” the government alleges. Tickets for the family to see Riverdance at the San Diego Civic Theatre became “San Diego Civic Center for Republican Women Federated/Fundraising,” according to the indictment. Clothing purchases at a golf course were falsely reported as golf "balls for the wounded warriors." SeaWorld tickets worth more $250 were called an "educational tour.”
“The indictment alleges that Congressman Hunter and his wife repeatedly dipped into campaign coffers as if they were personal bank accounts, and falsified FEC campaign finance reports to cover their tracks,” said U.S. Atty. Adam Braverman. “Elected representatives should jealously guard the public’s trust, not abuse their positions for personal gain. Today’s indictment is a reminder that no one is above the law.”
Hunter's campaign released a statement Tuesday calling the indictment politically motivated and linked to his support for President Trump. It alleges that the federal attorneys involved in the indictment attended a “Hillary Clinton for President” fundraiser on Aug. 27, 2015, and should have recused themselves.
“Congressman Hunter believes this action is purely politically motivated," said Mike Harrison, Hunter’s chief of staff. His campaign said Hunter has no plans to drop out of his reelection race.
But House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Tuesday, “Now that he has been indicted, Rep. Hunter will be removed from his committee assignments, pending the resolution of this matter.” Hunter is chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.
Hunter's attorney Gregory Vega said that an indictment only three months before the election and almost two years since the investigation began “reflects a loss of impartiality and appears to be an effort to derail Congressman Hunter’s reelection in the Nov. 6, 2018 election.”
Hunter has previously said he did not handle the campaign’s credit card and did not do anything improper. He attributed any violations to honest mistakes, and repaid several thousands of dollars to his campaign before the FBI investigation began.
But the government alleges the Hunters often overdrew their bank accounts and charged up their credit cards to support a lifestyle they could not afford, and were repeatedly warned that using campaign funds for their personal spending was inappropriate.
The Hunters are scheduled to be arraigned at 10:30 a.m. Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge William V. Gallo. The five charges are conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, falsification of records, prohibited use of campaign contributions, and aiding and abetting.
The allegations mean Hunter’s district, one of the most conservative in the state, could be more competitive than it has been in years, making Republicans’ effort to retain a House majority in the midterm election even tougher.
While Hunter still stands a chance of winning — Trump won the district by 15 percentage points — the prospect of an indictment was the main reason Democrats kept this race on their target list.
His challenger, former Obama administration employee Ammar Campa-Najjar, has cast himself as a progressive Democrat who embraces single-payer healthcare and may be a poor fit for voters there.
Hunter’s legal troubles could provide major ammunition to Campa-Najjar, who recently received an endorsement from former President Obama and hired veteran national strategist Joe Trippi. California election law does not provide a way for Republicans to replace Hunter with another GOP candidate and the only way to remove Hunter’s name from the ballot is by court order.
"I was concerned all this time that Duncan Hunter was out for the special interests, but it turns out all along he cares only about his own self-interest, which is even worse," said Campa-Najjar, who said the indictment "makes it an even more flippable seat."
California Republican leaders urged voters to not rush to judgment.
“In our country, individuals are presumed innocent until a jury of their peers convicts them,” California Republican Party chair Jim Brulte said. "The congressman and his wife have a constitutional promise to their day in court and we will not prejudge the outcome."
It was more than $1,300 in video game purchases made by Hunter's campaign that first drew the attention of federal election officials and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
At the time, Hunter blamed his son for the video game purchases, saying he had used the wrong credit card to sign up for a recurring purchase.
Further reporting found more unusual spending by Hunter’s campaign, including a $250 airplane ride for the family rabbit and payments to nail salons, his children’s private school and a Phoenix resort.
Hunter vowed to conduct an internal audit of campaign spending and reimbursed his campaign some $62,000 for spending on oral surgery, a family trip to Italy and Disneyland gift shop purchases.
His wife, Margaret, handled his FEC reports and was paid as his campaign manager, although Hunter has avoided blaming her directly.
"I was not involved in any criminal action," Hunter told Politico in March. "Maybe I wasn't attentive enough to my campaign. That's not a crime."
The House Ethics Committee issued a report in March that Hunter “may have converted tens of thousands of dollars of campaign funds from his congressional campaign committee to personal use to pay for family travel, flights, utilities, healthcare, school uniforms and tuition, jewelry, groceries and other goods, services, and expenses.” The congressional committee said it was not pursing its own investigation to avoid interfering with the Justice Department.
Defending himself against the nearly two-year investigation has largely drained Hunter’s campaign war chest. He and his wife sold the family home and moved in with his parents.
The five-term congressman holds a seat his father, Rep. Duncan Hunter Sr., once held.
5:55 p.m.: This story was updated with comments from Ryan and the campaign.
5:25 p.m.: This story was updated with comments from Harrison and other background.
4:45 p.m.: The story was updated with comments from Campa-Najjar and other background.
4:25 p.m.: This story was updated with comments by Hunter’s attorney and other background.
This story was originally published at 3:30 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment