Aide: Cunningham focusing on congressional work North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News

By: MARK WALKER - Staff Writer

While the outcomes of criminal and civil cases involving U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham remain uncertain, his chief spokesman says his boss remains focused on representing the 50th Congressional District.

But the eight-term Escondido lawmaker isn't in the public limelight very often these days. His appearances in the district that represents much of North County have been few in recent months, and his office issues only the occasional news release.

On Thursday, Cunningham appeared before reporters in Washington and took part in a news conference with U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, on a bill that calls for construction of a 2,000-mile fence along the entire border with Mexico.


"It's been proven that a better fence means less illegal activity at the border and the bottom line is that we must put homeland security first," Cunningham said during the conference. "The numbers speak for themselves that these fences work and we need to know who is coming into our country."

Spokesman Mark Olson said that on Wednesday Cunningham participated in a hearing on the prospect of the avian flu mutating and striking the United States.

Olson also wrote in an e-mail last week that his boss remains busy in his roles on conference committees ironing out differences between the House and Senate in defense and health and human services spending bills.

Two weeks ago, Cunningham missed a vote on a resolution that would have rejected a nationwide base closure and realignment plan, one strongly endorsed by California's congressional delegation and by local leaders because of how well this county's bases fared.

Olson wrote that Cunningham was "in a meeting" and would have voted against the resolution, which had it passed would have rejected the recommendations that are favorable for this county.

The only bill authored by Cunningham and adopted by the House in this session of Congress was his measure for a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. The bill has since been bottled up in the Senate and is not expected to move forward.

Eight other bills he has sponsored remain in various House subcommittees. One of those highlighted by Olson is legislation that would place a moratorium on any new oil and gas exploration and leasing off the California coast.

In addition, Cunningham is listed as a co-sponsor of 118 other bills.

Olson said Cunningham also has focused his efforts on safe disposal of electronic waste and promotion of energy efficiency initiatives.

He attends weekly, closed-door briefings for members of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. This week, Cunningham is slated to take part in a briefing from Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

None of Cunningham's aides have moved on since news of their boss's troubles emerged.

"I speak for everyone around here when I say that we are all proud of Duke's accomplishments over the years and enjoy working for him," Olson wrote.

To date, the only aide confirmed to have been subpoenaed to testify before the San Diego federal grand jury investigating Cunningham is Nancy Lifset, the congressman's legislative director.