Duke speaks, sort of

By: North County Times | Thursday, June 23, 2005 6:17 PM PDT ∞

Our view: In a written statement that only a lawyer could love, Randy "Duke" Cunningham said he used "poor judgment" but did nothing wrong when he sold his Del Mar home to a defense contractor. The statement raised more questions than it answered.

A chief concern is that the North County congressman appears to have been living aboard the contractor's yacht at a deep discount. More broadly, the facts we know so far, coupled with Cunningham's statement, suggest that our congressman is too cozy with this government contractor.

In his written statement, Cunningham said that he "acted honorably and honestly" in his dealings with Mitchell Wade, the military contractor.

Here's what he was talking about: Wade in 2003 bought Cunningham's house in a private transaction, let it sit vacant for nine months, then sold it at a staggering $700,000 loss in the nation's hottest housing market. Significantly, the congressman did not release the "comparables," or the data about similar home sales in his neighborhood that his real estate agent used to set the price of the house.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office are reportedly investigating the home sale.

What's more, Cunningham since April 2004 has been living on Wade's yacht in Washington. The congressman said that in lieu of rent, he paid more than $8,000 in dock fees and $5,000 for upkeep on Wade's boat.

We can set aside the dock fees, because Cunningham rented space for his own boat at the Potomac River marina for years before he moved into Wade's boat. According to Cunningham's accounting, that $5,000 over the last 14 months amounts to $357 a month.

Unless we are missing something, this looks like a sweetheart deal, with Cunningham paying far less than market rent, to say nothing of the true maintenance and depreciation costs of a fancy boat.

In the meantime, Wade has enjoyed spectacular business success, tripling his sales under government contracts. Perhaps all of those contracts ---- we don't know because they are secret ---- were approved by House committees on which Cunningham serves as a senior member.

In his carefully worded statement, Cunningham "categorically rejected any suggestion that I secured a contract for Mr. Wade's company."

So where does this leave us? With plenty of unanswered questions and a federal investigation under way.

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