In 2008, Duncan D. Hunter was given a golden opportunity to be a successful, influential national politician for the rest of his life. The decision of his father — Duncan L. Hunter — to relinquish the East County congressional seat he had held for more than a quarter-century created an opening that the younger Hunter, then 31, was ready to roar through.

It wasn’t just name recognition that propelled Hunter’s candidacy. His personal history of enlisting — and serving so honorably — in the Marines shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, resonated far and wide in a region with numerous active-duty and retired military personnel and many otherwise deeply patriotic residents. After easily winning election in November 2008, Hunter became the first member of Congress to have served in a direct combat role in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Related: Reaction to Manafort, Cohen, Hunter bombshells

Well-versed and outspoken on issues involving the military, Hunter had every reason to expect a House career as distinguished as that of his father, another veteran who rose to be the powerful chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and one of the leading voices in Washington on the Pentagon, the defense budget and U.S. foreign policy.


Instead, Hunter badly lost his way, seemingly becoming corrupt to the point of caricature. His once-promising political career is now in ruins as a result. A 47-page indictment released Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego laid out how Hunter and wife Margaret had spent more than $250,000 in campaign donations for the personal benefit of the couple and their children from 2010 to 2017. The indictment makes the case for a staggering 60 criminal counts ranging from illegal use of campaign funds to conspiracy to wire fraud to falsifying records. Their purchases ranged from the banal — inexpensive Uber trips — to the preposterous — a $14,261 family vacation in Italy in late 2015.

After serious questions first arose about his use of campaign funds for video games, private school tuition, dental surgery and a garage door in early 2016, Hunter initially depicted this spending as a result of mistaken purchases by his young son or sloppy campaign paperwork. But the indictment demolishes that craven lie. It shows that in the first few months of 2010, his campaign treasurer had already warned him about his wife’s improper use of a campaign credit card and suggested it be taken away — something Hunter declined.

The indictment shows both Hunters repeatedly tried to create cover stories that they could use to justify their expenses as somehow related to campaigning. Hunter tried to set up a visit to a U.S. Navy base in Italy in 2015 so he could just claim an official dimension to his family vacation. When Navy officials couldn’t accommodate his preferred date for a tour, Hunter told an aide, “Tell the Navy to go f*** themselves.” That same year, Hunter’s wife told him to buy shorts for a trip to Hawaii at a golf shop so they could claim the expense was actually “[golf] balls for Wounded Warriors.” This is despicable.

So where does this scandal go from here? There are early signs of defiance from Hunter’s camp. His spokesman called the indictment “political.” His father made the preposterous claim that the congressman is the victim of a witch hunt led by Clinton appointees in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego — even though the office is run by Adam L. Braverman, a Trump administration appointee.


But The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board deeply hopes that local and national Republicans do not enable this bogus story line with blind loyalty to Hunter. Instead, we hope their reaction mirrors what happened in 2005 after the Union-Tribune and Copley News Service broke the story of how Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Rancho Santa Fe, had traded lucrative defense contracts in return for millions of dollars in bribes. Cunningham had some defenders, but by and large the most typical response was fury, disgust and disappointment. Within six months, Cunningham tearfully resigned after pleading guilty to corruption.

If he had any honor at all, Hunter would resign as well. He has disgraced himself more thoroughly than his critics ever could. He doesn’t deserve the privilege of representing Californians in Congress.

Read our editorials on Rep. Duncan Hunter:

Hunter’s campaign fund a cautionary tale


Duncan Hunter’s shameful behavior stains his reputation

Rep. Duncan Hunter gets the federal probe he deserves

Duncan Hunter’s scandal: FBI raid signals truth coming

50th district: Anyone but Duncan Hunter


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