Feasting on the Spoils: The Life and Times of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, History's Most Corrupt Congressman

By Seth Hettena

In March 2006, former Republican Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham was sentenced to eight years and four months for corruption, the longest sentence ever imposed on a member of Congress. In this new expos, Hettena investigates this jaw-dropping case of bribery, deceit, and cronyism.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312368291
• ISBN13: 9780312368296
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.6" x 1.1" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Feasting on the Spoils: A Must Read Book for Our Time!

Our country is in trouble. Big trouble. The amount of greed and corruption that is being allowed to run amuck these past seven years is staggering. With all of the terror mongering going on, many will turn the other way not wanting any more bad news. Do not make that mistake. Hettena has masterfully taken a complex, convoluted and just plain confusing history and woven a fascinating and comprehensible story which helps us understand not only what happened in the case of Randy "Duke" Cunningham and his contractor cronies, Wade and Wilkes, but skillfully illuminates the reasons why. Perhaps some of you will say they're unethical - so what? The amount of corruption and the web of complicity throughout our government and industry have reached record breadth and depth. It will not improve until the American public pays attention, understands, and demands that it be stopped. Each of us has a part in this drama. A good place to start is reading this book.

A fascinating and sad tale all in one

"Spoils" paints not only an amazing story of corruption but a fascinating character study in how the sense of entitlement and greed can take over the human spirit. You really can't make this "cast of characters " up and the story reads like an unbelievable true-crime novel. The other scary part is, Duke and his "friends" really didn't try to hide any of their corrupt actions and it went unchecked for years. It makes you think what our "smart" politicians are doing to keep their secrets from coming out?

inspired reader

Great work Seth Hettena! I really enjoyed reading this book. I lived in San Diego during the "Duke" era and was shocked when all of this corruption scandal unfolded. Seth did a great job in describing the events of this crime. He also paints a very different picture of the "Duke" we all knew. The great Vietnam fighter ace was able to defeat his enemy, but was not able to fight off his own addiction to fame, money and status. It was very clear to me after reading this book how our culture of materialism and consumerism has gotten out of control. The "Duke" got caught up in this and loses site of what is important in life and his purpose as a father, husband and congressional representative. Seth paints a very clear picture of a man caught up in his own ego unable to distinguish right from wrong. This book reminded me about the frailty of human beings and the necessity to show how bad it can get when we lose site of our purpose. This timely book should not only be a must read for every politician....but everyone.

An eyewitness to the events

Seth has written what I thought was a balanced and accurate account of events in the Cunningham corruption case. His commendable reporting is in dramatic contrast to "The Wrong Stuff". Speaking only to my direct experience, I was shocked and appalled at the fabricated "facts" contained in the fictionalizations perpetrated by "The Wrong Stuff". Thank you Mr. Hettena for not succumbing to creatively sleaze up an already scandalous situation and for sticking to relating the real story of this compelling non-fiction tragedy.

great story

A fascinating story that was extremely well told. The book chronicles Cunningham's life and demonstrates how and why he became so corrupt. While the political corruption aspect was interesting, I thought the best parts were the chapters about Cunningham's life before Congress. In retrospect, given Cunningham's obvious limitations, one has to ask oneself how it was possible that he ever got elected (let alone by overwhelming margins). This was a man of extremely limited intelligence who spent his entire life trading on the fame he earned as the first ace of the Vietnam war. The other fascinating part of the book is that it shows just how easy it is for a member of Congress to be corrupted. After reading it, we should look long and hard at practices such as "legislative earmarks" and gerrymandered political districts, both of which played a strong part in Cunningham's saga. A gerrymandered district ensured that he would always be re-elected (despite the observation by the local, conservative, paper that he was an embarrassment to the voters), while the "earmark" process allowed him to payback his benefactors by inserting hidden contracts into spending bills. If we are ever going to have a semblance of true democracy, both of these practices must stop. This book demonstrates how and why both of these practices have such a deleterious effect on our government. It's a great story that was exceedingly well told.