| Page 2 of 2 < |
Poetic Justice: These Bribes Are Going, Going, Gone
Former congressman Duke Cunningham's ornate bribes are to be auctioned today.
(By Jonathan Alcorn For The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The Cunningham Collection includes a dozen Oriental or Persian carpets (some machine-made), a few knickknacks and the furniture, which includes armoires and nightstands as well as the aforementioned lingerie cabinet (like a wardrobe, with drawers inside) and the French commode (commode not being a toilet or chamber pot, but a style of chest of drawers that sits on low legs).
How to put this?
The congressman's tastes were eclectic and a little ostentatious. The man drove a Rolls (a bribe). His furnishings have a similar plea for attention: They shout "antique," even when they are reproductions.
A former Navy fighter pilot he may have been (he named one of his bribe-laundering companies Top Gun Enterprises); his personal style veered toward large, dark, wood Frenchy pieces, with lots of marble and mirror and stained glass, and a certain amount of decorative flourish. In a previous Washington Post article, the reporters described Cunningham's taste as "surprisingly delicate." We might amend that as "surprisingly fussy."
"I'd call it ornate," Sheehan says.
We stood to admire his 32-foot-long Oriental runner. Thirty-two feet is one long runner. "And you don't see any of the creases that would indicate it was used on a stairway," Sheehan says. So we're talking long hallways. (Was the man was just begging to be caught?) Also, a hodgepodge of periods are represented. "You've got your French provincial and art deco and modern and some things that look like Americana," Sheehan says. Naturally, you'd have to see it all together at his mansion (bought with bribe money) down in Rancho Santa Fe to see if the artwork and throw pillows brought it all together.
Among those inspecting Cunningham's forfeitures were several citizens who were not aware that they once belonged to a former congressman, and when reminded about the scandal, still it didn't ring a bell.
Janice Sherwood was accompanying her husband, who "loves government seizures," and she said the Cunningham collection made her mad ("the country's at war") but did not completely surprise, along the lines of "they're all crooks." Would she like to bid? Nope, not her style. "I like brighter colors, lighter woods," Sherwood says.
