The Other “Ongoing Investigation” California, Congress

From the local paper, the North County Times

From the start he [Congressman Duke Cunningham] has kept the details, where the devil resides, to himself. He employed one of the more grotesque phrases of our time ---- "ongoing investigation" ---- as his excuse not to explain himself or to answer the staccato list of questions about his backstairs behavior.

It was lame. "Ongoing investigation" is sophistry and nothing more. (The president's flack, Scott McClellan, uses the phrase every few seconds to explain why he won't explain what the president thinks of the Karl Rove debacle.)

From the onset of this scandalous narrative, it has been ---- or should have been ---- Cunningham's absolute duty to talk to his constituents, to tell them what he's been up to, in detail. He didn't mind talking endlessly about every aspect of his life when he was seeking their votes. Now, when it appears ---- just appears ---- that he has acted badly as the representative of the people of the 50th Congressional District, mum's the word.

Generosity is a virtue, no question, and under different circumstances the generous thing would be to give Cunningham the benefit of the doubt. But that's not how it works with members of Congress. They are to be held to a higher standard because they speak for all, they represent all, and they must act and speak from the high ground...They go to Congress as the best among us, in many respects, and we have the right to expect that they'll behave well and serve us honorably, and not do or get involved in anything we couldn't tell our kids about with pride.

Cunningham's I-will-not-run-again speech was not good enough. He serves nobody except himself with this decision. If he wants to save face, which is essentially what the half-measure was designed for, let him do it on his own time ---- as a private citizen.

The fact is, it's not his seat at all. It's our seat. We lent it to him. We have the right to say, "Get out of that chair, Mr. Cunningham, and go home right now. We've got other folks in mind." What's more, nobody wants a congressman lurking in the halls who's going to spend his 16 remaining months in office searching for a dollop of redemption and a way to stay out of jail.

Leo Brown | July 18, 2005 | Comment on This Post (0 so far) Permalink: The Other “Ongoing Investigation” California, Congress

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