You can stop government corruption, reporters say

Sex, bribery, conspiracy, extortion – these are common scandals that plague our nation’s government. But ordinary citizens can help fight corruption and restore ethical behavior, a panel of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters recently told Monmouth University students.

They should know. The reporters, Dean Calbreath of the San Diego Union Tribune and Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer of the Copley News Service, credit readers and bloggers with helping them uncover one of the largest congressional corruption cases in history.

At the center of the scandal was Duke Cunningham, a Vietnam War veteran and well-respected Congressman. Cunningham resigned from the House in late 2005 and was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion.

“This was an organized system of legalized bribery between the congressman and his lobbying buddies,” Kammer said at the Nov. 15 discussion.

The scandal came to light when Stern grew suspicious of Cunningham after he purchased a $5.5 million home. The reporters eventually uncovered that Cunningham was receiving bribes in exchange for helping businesses secure millions of dollars worth of government and military contracts.

Many readers jumped in to help by e-mailing the reporters information that they had found concerning Cunningham, the reporters said. The reporters stressed the importance of the bloggers, who helped put the pieces of the puzzle together. This is one of the ways ordinary people can fight unethical behavior in government, they said.

For their work, the reporters were honored with the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.