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… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / (Another) GOP Criminality Open Thread: Duncan, Hunted

(Another) GOP Criminality Open Thread: Duncan, Hunted

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In a less news-intensive era, Rep. Hunter’s indictment would have been on the front page for days. I guess his fellow Repubs can take some consolation there.

Heck, in a more ‘bipartisan’ era, people could’ve mustered more sympathy for a middle-class couple getting over their heads financially being repeatedly dinged by usury-level bank charges… if only the GOP wasn’t the ‘Protect Our Vampire Squid Bankers’ Party…



 
First Pence, now this dude. They’re gonna give bunny owners a bad name!

Fortunately, Hunter always worked to keep the media on his side… Ooops…

 
So, will this have electoral consquences?


 

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    Bruce K

    Why am I not surprised that this waste of amino acids would throw his own son under the bus to save himself from one tiny fraction of his misdeeds?

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    Both parents are going down? Should be fun to see if they work something out or if each whip out their switchblades.

  4. 4.

    jonas

    It’s becoming clearer every day that these sleazebags’ support of Trump was a hail-Mary act of self-preservation. They all knew they were neck-deep in corrupt shit and figured that if they had any chance of getting away with it, it would be in Trump’s filled-to-the-brim swamp. They recognized a fellow-grifter right away and liked what they saw.

    Republicans: every accusation is *always* a confession

  7. 7.

    LAO

    In the hullabaloo yesterday (I’m still smirking and occasionally chuckling, for what looks like no reason) I didn’t focus on this story. Hunter and his wife are class A grifters, I’m shocked at how long they were able to keep all the balls in the air.

  8. 8.

    Platonailedit

    @jonas:

    Republicans: every accusation is *always* a confession

    Nice, easier to understand than saying projection.

  9. 9.

    The Moar You Know

    I know him, tangentially, personally. I can tell stories at some point. Not now. What I will say is this is the tip of the iceberg with these people. Law enforcement will find out the rest soon enough (I’m pretty sure already has).

    The horrendous thing is that, in that district of his…he will probably win anyway. Those voters are deplorables on steroids (actually meth, usually)

  11. 11.

    dr. bloor

    I’m reminded of a time that former Rep Duncan Hunter Senior yelled at me for reporting on his son’s alleged misuse of campaign funds. And when he told me his son would be president someday.

    One could argue that Duncan’s capers will boost his favorability ratings among those in his party.

  12. 12.

    cain

    It will be interesting to see if Trump pardons them. That should be interesting to see how the Republican congress acts at this point. Of course for Trump supporters, it is all necessary corruption because of teh ghey and libtards.

  13. 13.

    Gin & Tonic

    How in the ever-loving fuck do you rack up $37k in NSF fees? I mean did they ever write a check that cleared the first time?

  14. 14.

    LAO

    @dmsilev: Ethics? What are these “ethics” you’re talking about, that’s for poor people of color. (That’s how I imagine the conversation going).

  17. 17.

    trollhattan

    California–“We’re not necessarily sending our best.”

    For every Pelosi, a Hunter. Sorry, guys, it’s a big state.

  18. 18.

    Jerzy Russian

    Some of the charges highlighted above go back to 2010, and only now someone bothered to file a criminal complaint? Better late than never, I suppose.

  20. 20.

    The Dangerman

    And yet another GOP criminality … the Farmer that hired the illegal in Iowa that’s arrested for murder was a GOP’r that ran for some state office (so, not only a GOP’r, but someone of some stature).

    A Wall will do nothing, but having severe penalties for hiring an illegal will.

  22. 22.

    Don K

    @LAO:

    You weren’t the only one smirking. Last night on MSNBC (I think it was Lawrence ODonnell’s show), Jill Wine Banks had a huge grin that made her look as if she just had the best sex of her life.

  23. 23.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Gin & Tonic:

    How in the ever-loving fuck do you rack up $37k in NSF fees?

    You write 1480 checks with individual amounts that exceed your balance in the account at the time when the check is presented for payment (this assumes a $25.00 fee per check).

    (Yes, I understand your question was a rhetorical one.)

  24. 24.

    FelonyGovt

    From the Los Angeles Times article: “A golf outing was characterized as ‘a Christian thing’ with a supporter”.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    @jonas:

    every accusation is *always* a confession

    There’s a reason for this: manipulators believe everyone in the world operates with the same code they do. They (a) believe one is either the manipulator or is the one being manipulated, and (b) cannot conceive the idea that others do not see the world the same way. Thus, they always assume that everyone else in the world has the same motivations for behavior as they do.

    So we wind up in these scenarios where, for example, they think everyone is cheating and trying to hide it, but they are more successful at it. They accuse everyone else of lying because they can’t conceive of a world where someone doesn’t lie.

  26. 26.

    Calouste

    Soooo, can we check the other Congresspeople to see of any of them reported less than $1,000 in assets? Because anyone who can’t live on $174,000 a year shouldn’t be in charge of the nation’s finances.

  27. 27.

    trnc

    Crystal Ball House Ratings Change – Rep. Duncan Hunter (R, CA-50) moves all the way from Safe R to Lean R after indictment.

    Gotta love how a mountain of evidence of corruption only moves the likelihood of the republican winning from “Absolutely!” to “Probably.”

  29. 29.

    Leto

    @LAO: The trick to this is, always keep both hands moving. Of course it becomes harder when one hand is permanently stuck in the piggy bank and you can’t stop adding balls.

  30. 30.

    trnc

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I mean did they ever write a check that cleared the first time?

    Under the circumstances, I’m almost impressed that they tried paying for anything with their own money.

  31. 31.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Don K: I had an extra cocktail with dinner last night to savor the moment. While I know Paul Fucking Manafort will never face justice for what he did in Ukraine, his conviction was very, very sweet. Plus I didn’t really want to move to Idaho anyway.

  32. 32.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    1500, assuming talking AAA game at 60 USD each is 25 games in a year, that’s quite a gaming habit for even three people.

  34. 34.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Calouste:

    Soooo, can we check the other Congresspeople to see of any of them reported less than $1,000 in assets? Because anyone who can’t live on $174,000 a year shouldn’t be in charge of the nation’s finances.

    I was thinking the same thing. In addition to that large salary, I assume there is a hefty travel allowance and a housing allowance thrown in. Even for Southern California that type of salary is pretty large.

  37. 37.

    Immanentize

    @LAO: Question — when did the Allen charge start being called the Sawyer charge? I feel like I missed a case development….

  38. 38.

    Miss Bianca

    @The Dangerman: Errr…do you think you could avoid referring to people, actual people, as “illegals”? That’s a right-wing dehumanizing trick that none of us here should be perpetuating. Thank you.

  39. 39.

    NotMax

    @LAO

    Pretty much. Have yet to make a walk of the property and remove/secure anything which might become a projectile.

  45. 45.

    The Dangerman

    @Miss Bianca:

    That’s a right-wing dehumanizing trick that none of us here should be perpetuating.

    I’m sorry. What term of endearment should I be using for someone that presumably ckilled a 20 year old?

  48. 48.

    trnc

    @Tim C.:

    Yeah… how the hell do you spend that much on Steam? Seriously! I have a pretty basic gaming…. er…. hobby (Addiction) but like…. how? Games? Xpacs? Unlocks of content? What the hell….

    A cushy office where your only job of passing tax cuts for rich people was actually done months ago. Lots of time for every level that incurs a fee.

  51. 51.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Tim C.: Were there even that many big name game realses last year? it certianly can’t be micro transactions for things like avi cothing, companies don’t do that threw steam.

    However it is funny thinking of David Hunter like the kid in GTA5 playing Call of Duty PvP all day while on voice chat screaming about powning newbs.

  54. 54.

    Mr. Mack

    @Miss Bianca: Rarely comment here, but yes please what yo said here. I’ve read Dangerman’s comments here for awhile and I understand the intent, but it is a bad but easily fixable habit to use the term “illegal” when referencing a person who lack proper documentation at this time. I’ll just find the door now…

    Oh! Aleta: Thanks you for the advice regarding new kittens yesterday. Site was boinked and I tried to acknowledge it but alas, the bots were at work.

  55. 55.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)

    Duncan Hunter is my rep. I flew into San Diego yesterday, via SF, close to 20 hrs. traveling. Turn on the TV and see the massive chyron of Hunter being indicted. My aunts adds that that Manafort guy was found guilty. On the heels of that I read that Cohen pleaded guilty. I can’t keep up.

  56. 56.

    Gravenstone

    Okay, that was fucked up. Tried to post a comment and had no fields to enter my nym or email. Got routed back to enter the missing info and lo, here they are. Of course my comment disappeared in the transaction. Such is life.

  57. 57.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @different-church-lady: There’s empirical evidence you’re right about this. I saw one study about that job application question on whether you’ve ever stolen from your employer. You’d think everyone would say “no.” But it turns out that people who’ve stolen often think everyone does, so they’re afraid if they check “no” the boss will believe they’re a liar. So they check “yes.”

  60. 60.

    Mr. Mack

    @The Dangerman: Sorry but his status as an immigrant has nothing to do with the alleged crime. By referring to him in that manner, your perpetuating what Miss Bianca rightly called a dehumanizing trick commonly used by the hard Right.

  61. 61.

    scav

    @FelonyGovt: A “Christian Thing” “Golf Outing”? Well, there we are! Arrange the podium for the traditional “Jesus and my Wife have forgiven me.” speech with the obligatory “Please respect our privacy for healing.” coda.

  62. 62.

    JPL

    @Mark: Don’t forget that it’s not unusual to have a news dump on Friday, so if you need to order from Amazon pay extra for one day delivery.

  63. 63.

    Platonailedit

    @The Dangerman:

    I wonder what you would call a ‘native citizen’ white guy who murdered his own wife and two little kids recently and other such white guys?

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    @schrodingers_cat: They’re a small fraction of the whole, but the whole is so big that even a small fraction is noticeable. Also, some of the red parts of California are really red. Think military communities, farming areas (which tend to spend most of their time screaming for the Feds to give them more and more below-market-price water, and the rest of the time preening about their self-reliance, but I digress), rural libertarian areas in the north of the state, stuff like that.

  71. 71.

    Jerzy Russian

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Why so many wingnut R Congress critters in Cali?

    I really is a different world out there when you get away from the coast. Take a drive through the Central Valley some time and get your mind boggled. Overall wingnuts occupy a relatively small fraction of the state-wide and federal offices, but owing the shear size of the state, a small fraction still comes out to be a big number.

  72. 72.

    Ruviana

    @The Dangerman: Along with the others I think this is a silly rationalization. For instance if an African-American commits a crime that doesn’t suddenly allow the use of the n-word to describe him or her. S/he’s a criminal, like any other criminal. The guy who killed the student is a murderer and worse but his being “illegal” isn’t germaine to why he did it.

  80. 80.

    PPCLI

    @Miss Bianca:
    @The Dangerman:

    I’m sorry. What term of endearment should I be using for someone that presumably ckilled a 20 year old?

    The rhetorical move is not with using such slurs against a specific, identified, despicable (apparently) person. Its with using the slur first for the despicable person, and then moving on to refer to an entire class of people, most of whom are decent people. This compounds the dehumanizing slur with guilt by association.

    As you do in the very next sentence:

    A Wall will do nothing, but having severe penalties for hiring an illegal will.

  81. 81.

    randy khan

    @trnc:

    Gotta love how a mountain of evidence of corruption only moves the likelihood of the republican winning from “Absolutely!” to “Probably.”

    That’s a big swing for Sabato – they skipped right over “Likely R.”

  82. 82.

    Jerzy Russian

    @dmsilev:

    They’re a small fraction of the whole, but the whole is so big that even a small fraction is noticeable. Also, some of the red parts of California are really red. Think military communities, farming areas (which tend to spend most of their time screaming for the Feds to give them more and more below-market-price water, and the rest of the time preening about their self-reliance, but I digress), rural libertarian areas in the north of the state, stuff like that.

    It took me years to figure out those “Congress created dust bowl” signs you see along I-5 between Los Angeles and Sacramento. Loosely translated, the meaning is something like this: “This sign sits in a field devoid of any crop [this is the dust bowl] since there is no water irrigate. The lack of water is entirely due to governmental action [this is Congress].” For years I was wondering what Congress did in the 1920s to cause the Dust Bowl. This often led to tangent thoughts about John Steinbeck and the Grapes of Wrath. Once you are on Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men then pops up, and from there you get to that Bugs Bunny cartoon where he somehow ends up in the Himalayan Mountains and meets the Yeti…

  83. 83.

    Tim C.

    @trnc: That’s what Republicans are. Counterpoint. No. Democrats aren’t like this the last 20 years or so. Defending Clinton for his issues left a lot of us uncomfortable. Safe D’s resign or lose re-election rather than feel confident riding it out. The contrast between Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner on one side and David Vitter and Mark Sanford is a prime example. We aren’t perfect and we can argue about jumping too fast (Not looking to reignite the Al Franken argument here) But we do hold our side to a higher standard. Oh, best example would be William J. Jefferson. Joseph Cao got a single term in the House because even safe D voters don’t accept that crap.

  85. 85.

    California Stars

    @dr. bloor: That was my thought initially as well: the fact that they stole so much money for so long likely makes them seem like fantastic businesspeople in the eyes of Trump supporters.

  90. 90.

    James E Powell

    @LAO:

    Parts of California are really right wing — I mean it’s the state that gave us Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.

    Many people living east are not aware that San Diego county is home to several military bases. The county is also home to a very large number of retired military personnel.

  92. 92.

    feebog

    Republican strongholds in California are shrinking. It started with the redistricting by commission rather than by legislature. As more diverse populations moved in areas that were traditionally Republican in Orange County turned blue. What’s left is parts of Southern Orange County/North San Diego County, the middle of the state between Bakersfield and Sacramento and the Northeast corner of the state. That may sound like a lot of territory, and it is, but not a lot of voters compared to the total population.

  93. 93.

    Barbara

    @Corner Stone:

    Both parents are going down? Should be fun to see if they work something out or if each whip out their switchblades.

    When they are prosecuting nonviolent offenses that both members of a couple participated in, federal prosecutors are usually amenable to a plea agreement in which one of the spouses escapes jail time, at least when the couple still has children at home. The Hunters have three minor children. This scenario gives the prosecutors a huge amount of leverage, and it was the scenario that prompted several Enron executives to make plea bargains, to keep their spouses out of jail.

    Where it gets interesting is that although both of the Hunters did the same kinds of things, Mrs. Hunter appears to have been more abusive and brazen than her husband (although one might query whether he affirmatively approved some of her more outrageous expenditures). I once observed a case in which the husband and wife both went to jail because neither was willing to concede that they were the one that belonged in prison, and really, they were pretty even in terms of the scope of their wrongdoing.

    But usually the spouses think of the children and someone capitulates. I still can’t get over using campaign funds to pay their water bill — Geez — as well as tuition for their children at a private Christian academy. It’s like they weren’t even trying to keep things together.

  96. 96.

    From Both Sides of the Pond

    @James E Powell: Heck, San Diego used to be known basically only as a Navy town for ages – only started shifting with LA finally overtopping its geographical limits around the 90’s.

  97. 97.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)

    @Barbara: Last night Hunter Sr. was on TV placing blame on Margaret being behind the expenditures and in the same breath saying he didn’t want to cast blame. I’m sure Margaret appreciated her father-in-law’s support. Oh to be a fly on the wall in that house.

  98. 98.

    ixnay

    @The Dangerman: I read through the commentary, but nobody mentioned the accurate, non-derogatory term: undocumented alien, or perhaps preferably, undocumented immigrant. Yeah, he is an accused murderer, but no human being is inherently illegal.

  100. 100.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @PPCLI: Except it all misses the point- immigrant screening isn’t about keeping immigrants in general out like the MAGMA twits think – it’s about keeping the human trash out. My experience is like 90% of the immigrants are normal people looking for a better life, the other 10% got the boot from the home country for being useless idiots at the best or at worst outright criminals.

    The demand is there for immigrants, since for one thing Americans refuse to pick crops, so they are going to come what ever the law says, so having a screening process is important, not just this hunker down in Fortress American the Conservtards want and ignore reality.

  101. 101.

    Ruckus

    @Jerzy Russian:
    A few years ago Bunch of Assholes was charging $35/overdraft. And if you deposited $1000 cash at 9am and wrote a check for $10 over your previous days balance at 6pm, that just cost you $35. They could count your debit card use to the second but a cash deposit didn’t count till the next day.

  102. 102.

    stinger

    @Ruviana: Yes. Likewise, the murder victim is a student, as you say, and not a “co-ed”, as if she were only allowed into college on sufferance. Not directed at you, Ruviana, but for another commenter who used that term in an earlier thread.

  104. 104.

    JoeyJoeJoe

    @schrodingers_cat:

    California also just has so many Representatives that even though only a small fraction, 14 out of 53, are Republicans, that’s still more Republican reps than any other state except for Texas and Florida. Only 9 states even have 14 or more Representatives total

  105. 105.

    Barbara

    @Gravenstone: They can’t really do that unless she agrees. The same is true for her. The only way one of them stays out of jail is if they come to an agreement over which one that will be. Otherwise, they are both going to be wearing orange jumpsuits.

  106. 106.

    PaulWartenberg

    Dear Republican Party:

    will you EVER make an honest effort to address the rampant fiscal and personal corruption among your OWN ranks of the party? For all that you do mocking Democrats and charging after Hillary and Bill Clinton, you keep failing at keeping your own house clean. The level of hypocrisy you are allowing among your own ranks is embarrassing, and it is only furthering a culture of corruption among your own members of the GOP.

    Signed,

    An Ex-Republican who fled your party because he was tired of all this shit.

  107. 107.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Anybody know who was the third person who endorsed Trumpov in the House? Should we be waiting for another indictment?

  109. 109.

    catclub

    The collection of articles listed at the bottom of a WaPo opinion piece. George Will’s is the most surprising to me.

    Read more:

    The Post’s View: Twin convictions are a stunning rebuke of Trump

    George F. Will: Vote against the GOP this November

    Karen Tumulty: Nope, not a witch hunt

    Dana Milbank: Paul Ryan has been living in a cave

    Jennifer Rubin: Michael Cohen: Trump’s greatest fear comes true

  110. 110.

    catclub

    An Ex-Republican who fled your party because he was tired of all this shit.

    @PaulWartenberg:

    That is the point. The ones who stay are authoritarians who excuse faults in their own leaders that they object to the most in leaders of the Democrats.

  112. 112.

    randy khan

    @LAO:

    Some of those comments clearly are trolling. Look for the ones with correct punctuation, grammar, and spelling.

  114. 114.

    randy khan

    @catclub:

    IIRC, Will started telling people to vote against Republicans about a month ago. He’d finally had enough (which is saying something).

  115. 115.

    jl

    @JoeyJoeJoe: But many of those 14 are real doozies. Maybe California’s last desperate finger hold on claim to be the crazy state. The ones in purple districts have to pretend to be sane when they go home and talk with their constituents. Denham in CA 10th district is a good example. He talks moderate and promises to nudge GOP in more moderate direction, then goes back to DC and votes straight Trump.
    Josh Harder is the Democratic nominee, and I think the polls and political horse race touts say the race is even of leans slightly Democratic this year.

  117. 117.

    AnotherBruce

    @LAO: I would call them class F(ailure) grifters, They were way too obvious, And the rewards they got out of that money were petty, given the risks they took. It’s going to be difficult to govern from prison if Hunter wins his election. The Democrats should point that out.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    @gratuitous:

    Duncan Hunter is what we used to call “a real piece of work” back in the day.

    What a piece of work is Dun-con-man!
    How ignoble in reason, how infinite in grifts!
    In form and moving how corrupt and abominable!
    In action how like an demon, in apprehension how like a clod!
    The beauty of the Rethug world. The paragon of corrupt motherfuckers.

    OK, so it doesn’t scan. So sue me.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    @PaulWartenberg:

    will you EVER make an honest effort to address the rampant fiscal and personal corruption among your OWN ranks of the party?

    Dear Ex-Republican who fled your party because he was tired of all this shit –

    No. Why should we?

    (Signed)

    The Rethuglican National Griftmittee

  123. 123.

    terry chay

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: CA-50 is deep inland San Diego, no longer gerrymandered to cover the (traditionally) conservative coastal parts (like La Jolla or Rancho Santa Fe). This was fixed in 2010. In fact, current CA-50 is more old CA-51.

    Another thing to note is that I don’t think it’s an invincible Trump country as they’d have you believe. It’s a combination of exurbia and desert and it’s certainly the most conservative of the so cal districts (ironically the more rural Imperial County + San Diego district is pretty liberal owing to it abutting the US-Canada border… a lot like TX-1). It’s unlikely but not not impossible for a Democrat to win there vs. Central Valley. There was a time not long ago (e.g. 1990’s) when every single San Diego district (4: CA-50, CA-51, CA-52, CA-53 currently) was represented by a Republican. Now CA-50 is the last holdout IIRC.

    (BTW, don’t look to the last Senate race. If I recall, there were two D’s on the ballot.)

  124. 124.

    Luthe

    @Barbara: I thought in cases where both spouses are convicted they arrange to stagger the sentences so Spouse 1 does time while Spouse 2 stays with the kids, then once Spouse 1 is done they switch and Spouse 2 does time while Spouse 1 watches the kids.

  125. 125.

    terry chay

    @AnotherBruce: Because California has led the nation politically, whether it was conservative (Nixon, Reagan) or liberal (currently). Long before the current GOP became the party of Trump and played the racism card, that was played in California first. Just like now in the US as a whole, it netted short term success with the re-election of Pete Wilson (R) in 1994 and the recall of Gray Davis (D) in 2003.

    However just like Republicans put gay marriage on the ballot in 2004 to get their ONLY popular vote win in a presidential election since 1992(!), Wilson pulled the same stunt with Prop 187. That spelled a death spiral, as the parts of the Republican party you see pulled further to the right until Schwartzeneggar has been the only (new) Republican winner of statewide office and Democrats enjoy a supermajority in the state houses.

    This will happen in the country as a whole. When the D’s win state and country wide in 2018 and 2020, it will be much easier to roll back the gerrymandering and voter suppression techniques permanently than it was to create that wall. Once rolled back, the R’s won’t die but they will probably become irrelevant “get-off-my-lawn” and crazier than anything like in CA. They will not, WILL NOT, reasses and re-align like the Democratic Party did post McCarthy (1972). If that was in their DNA, it would have been figured otu an happened to the CA GOP and the kernel of that success would have the party growing here, instead of shrinking (example: the “tax revolt” of CA Prop 13 that Reagan rode to the White House and is still core to the party today as evidenced by the latest Trump tax cuts).

  126. 126.

    Caphilldcne

    @Luthe: that’s exactly what happened to Jesse Jackson jr. And his wife Sandi. He served two years and then she served one year if I’m recalling this correctly.

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