One of the first elected officials to endorse then-candidate Donald Trump, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), has been indicted for stealing more than $250,000 from his campaign. From groceries to football games to utility bills to private school tuition to a slew of vacations, Hunter and his wife — who also serves as his campaign manager — spent precipitously and with no regard for existing campaign finance law.
And yet, Hunter continues to serve — and have a vote — in the United States House of Representatives. This is a disgrace to our nation, and we demand Hunter resign immediately.
In one particularly telling instance, the Hunters even bought "Hawaii shorts" from a golf pro shop, where they planned on disguising the purchase as "some [golf] balls for wounded warriors." The Congressman is a Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and tried to use the charity to cover for his corruption and greed.
According to the indictment, Rep. Hunter had less than $1,000 in reportable assets on his financial disclosure forms from 2009 to 2016. He and his wife overdrew their bank account over 1,100 times in that same period, accruing over $37,000 in bank fees. His annual congressional salary, however, is $174,000.
Even amid the obscene number of Republican corruption scandals over the last year, the Hunters' is especially disgusting, as they frequently exploit valued causes – like veterans and Christianity — for their own personal gain. There is no room for such flagrant lawlessness in Congress. Our elected officials are supposed to make the laws, not break them.
Taxpayers do not donate to re-election campaigns so that those charged with protecting our democracy can live like kings without repercussion. Hunter and his wife belong in jail, but while justice plays out, the very least Hunter can do is make room for someone who actually respects the rule of law.
We, the undersigned, demand that Rep. Duncan Hunter resign from Congress effective immediately.
