One small step for honesty, one flaming leap for "Duke"

California Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham has decided that he's already profitted enough from his political career (a few million-- not too bad), and won't be seeking re-election next year when his term is up.

His self-pitying statements included the usual hints that his opponents (insane conspiracists, naturally) might target his family. And this:

After selling [his San Diego] home [to a contractor at an inflated price], Cunningham bought a $2.5 million seven-bath mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, which is ranked in census reports as the nation's wealthiest community of at least 1,000 households. He said Thursday he plans to sell it and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.

Cunningham acknowledged, however, that this would not likely sway his critics.

"This gesture will not convince the skeptics of our good faith," he said. "My detractors have made up their minds, and this act will not reach them — or in any way end the government's investigation of me."

Wow, what a hero. He's going to return an unspecified amount of his ill-gotten money. Even though it's all just a trumped-up smear campaign and there was absolutely nothing suspicious about receiving millions from a local contractor and then landing multi-million dollar government contracts for the same guy. Nope. Nothing unusual there.