The Price Of Doing Business With Duke
Duke Cunningham had a fee schedule for bribes. That’s the word out of the prosecutor’s office. He even had the fee schedule printed up on his congressional note cards as a bribery menu.
How much does it cost to buy a Congressman?
The card shows an escalating scale for bribes, starting at $140,000 and a luxury yacht for a $16 million Defense Department contract. Each additional $1 million in contract value required a $50,000 bribe.
The rate dropped to $25,000 per additional million once the contract went above $20 million.
What was the line from The Distinguished Gentleman?
I’m a con man. A small-time con man… If I did back home the kind of scams I’ve run in Congress, my ass would be in Sing Sing. But no, I’m not a crook — up here, I’m a distinguished gentleman!
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