The Rise & Fall of Duke Cunningham

The San Diego Union Tribune has a timeline of Rep Randy Cunningham's (R-CA) career. It includes:

Jan 19, 1972: Cunningham, flying off the carrier Constellation in a two-seat Phantom fighter with Lt. j.g. Willie Driscoll, records his first air victory, downing a MiG-21 over North Vietnam.

May 10, 1972: Cunningham and Driscoll shoot down three MIG fighters over North Vietnam, bringing their total to five enemy aircraft in four months and becoming the first and only Navy aces of the Vietnam War.

1985: M.B.A., National University, San Diego.

Nov. 6, 1990: Defeats Jim Bates in a close election.

Jan 4, 1991: Cunningham wins seats on the House Armed Services Committee and the Merchant Marines and Fisheries Committee.

Oct 6, 1992: Cunningham makes the Washington Post's "Reliable Source" column by suggesting the liberal leadership of the House should be "lined up and shot.".

Oct. 9, 1992: The Los Angeles Times quotes Cunningham as urging President Bush to attack Bill Clinton's patriotism, telling him: "This is an issue that will kill Clinton when people realize what a traitor he is to this country. In some countries, if something like this came out, he would be tried as a traitor. Tokyo Rose had nothing over Clinton.".

Nov. 17, 1995: Colleagues and Capitol police break up a scuffle that starts after Cunningham, a former Navy fighter pilot, tangles with Rep. James Moran, D-Va., who used to be an amateur boxer, during the debate on a Republican-sponsored resolution that would bar President Clinton from sending American troops to Bosnia without prior congressional approval.

Jan. 23, 2001: Cunningham is named to the House Select Committee on Intelligence for the 107th Congress.

Oct. 9, 2002: Cunningham cries on the House floor as he argues that President Bush should have authority to use military force against Iraq.

November 2003: Sells his Del Mar house for $1,675,000 to a company owned by Mitchell Wade of MZM Inc., a defense contractor. Purchases a home in Rancho Santa Fe for $2.55 million.

June 12, 2005: Copley News Service and The San Diego Union-Tribune reveal that a defense contractor with ties to Cunningham took a $700,000 loss on the purchase of the congressman's Del Mar house while the congressman, a member of the influential defense appropriations subcommittee, was supporting the contractor's efforts to get tens of millions of dollars in contracts from the Pentagon.

June 14, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that the Realtor who Cunningham said had set a fair and independent price for the November 2003 sale of his Del Mar home to a defense contractor was a longtime campaign contributor.

June 17, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report Cunningham has been living aboard a 42-foot yacht along the banks of the Potomac River in a yacht, named the Duke-Stir, owned by Wade.

June 23, 2005: Cunningham releases a three-page statement acknowledging that he "showed poor judgment" in selling his Del Mar house to Wade.

July 1, 2005: Cunningham's Rancho Santa Fe house is searched, as is the Washington office of defense contractor MZM Inc.

July 5, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that Cunningham made roughly a $400,000 profit by selling a boat he lived aboard from 1997 to 2002 to a businessman convicted in a bid-rigging scheme. The man said he subsequently got advice from the congressman about how to pursue a presidential pardon.

Aug. 5, 2005: CNS and the Union-Tribune report that Cunningham – and other prominent passengers including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay – has taken jet flights provided by Group W Transportation, owned by Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes.

Aug. 17, 2005: Cunningham and his wife Nancy list the couple's Rancho Santa Fe home for sale for $3.5 million.

Sept. 22, 2005: Federal agents search the New York home and office of a controversial businessman who has had a series of financial dealings with the congressman. The businessman, Thomas Kontogiannis, purchased Cunningham's flat-bottom riverboat, the Kelly C, for more than $600,000 in 2002. Cunningham had purchased the boat five years earlier for $200,000.

Nov. 28, 2005: Cunningham pleads guilty to income tax evasion and conspiracy in a hearing in San Diego's federal court. (San Diego Union Tribune)