Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Duke's Denouement

Well, it's official. Escondido's Representative to Congress, the guy I voted against, has resigned. This resignation came on the heels of his guilty plea to a raft of political corruption charges. I may have mentioned him some time back. He's the guy who sold his house to a defense contractor for hundreds of thousands of dollars over market value. The contractor then sold it at a loss. In exchange, Duke got the contractor's company some defense contracts. The contractor has since sold the company, likely recouping the loss and then some. Duke is probably going to jail and it's about damn time. He's been getting away with this for years. And who always got outraged when people called him on it. I'm most amused by the comments I saw in my local paper. A variety of on the street comments. The Democrat and Independent both viewed this as a sad thing, but also an 'about time' thing. The Republicans were all impressed with his character in coming clean. They were disappointed in his actions and in some cases surprised, but at least he was acting honorably. So, this thing dragged on for over a year. Someone else could have been representing us in his stead. He has been vociferously denying his guilt. And now that he has seen exactly how much evidence they have on him, he is willing to make a plea. He may get a lighter sentence if he gives up his co-conspirators. Yeah. That's some impressive character. Thbbbbbbbt!