Issue: Did Bribe-Taking Former Rep. Cunningham Pay His Debt to Society?

Randy “Duke” Cunningham—a former Del Mar resident who resigned from Congress in 2006 amid his bribery, fraud and tax evasion case—was scheduled to be released Tuesday from a federal halfway house in New Orleans.

Cunningham, 71, was sentenced to eight years and four months behind bars, and spent most of that time at a prison in Tucson. He was sent to the halfway house in December.

Has Cunningham, the former Vietnam fighter pilot, paid his debt to society?  Should he be cut slack as a free citizen?  Or were his crimes so onerous that he not be accepted by his former 50th District constituents?  Share your thoughts in the comments. 

In addition to pleading guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy, he admitted receiving at least $2.4 million in gifts, cash and trips from defense contractors in exchange for steering government work their way.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns denied a request for Cunningham to possess a firearm so he could hunt and participate in sport shooting contests. In a letter to the judge, he said he plans to live out his days with his mother and brother in rural Arkansas, writing books.

Burns said in his response that the 1968 federal law banning felons from possessing weapons contains no exemptions for hunting and sport shooting and that Cunningham could only bypass the law by receiving a waiver from the secretary of the Treasury.

Since being denied permission to possess a firearm, Cunningham has said that he might instead settle with military friends in Florida and write his memoirs.

—City News Service contributed to this report.