Pancake Breakfast Is a Bit Flat Without Congressman

A hush fell over the annual Fourth of July pancake breakfast Monday when the announcement came: keynote speaker Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego) wasn’t coming.

“He didn’t want to bring any negativity that has been happening to him and his wife, Nancy, to this event,” Lou Aspell, the breakfast’s organizer, told several hundred people at Cottonwood Creek Park in this coastal community of northern San Diego County.

Normally, this is the kind of event the decorated Navy fighter pilot loves: a country and western band, an invocation by a Navy chaplain, red-white-and-blue decorations, and talk of patriotism and the sacrifices made by America’s military veterans. He’s attended the last four years.

But this year, a federal grand jury in San Diego is probing his financial ties to a Washington, D.C.-based military contractor. FBI agents on Friday raided Cunningham’s home in nearby Rancho Santa Fe.

Reporters were eager to quiz Cunningham about his sale of a home in Del Mar Heights to the contractor and about the fact that he has been living aboard the contractor’s yacht while in Washington, D.C.

Monday’s event had been billed as his first public appearance in his district since the controversy began.

On Sunday night, however, Cunningham’s office sent an e-mail to reporters announcing that the eight-term congressman would not attend the gathering because he did not want his presence to be a distraction. Two other events scheduled for this week had already been closed to the media.

Three newspapers, three television stations and a wire service sent reporters and photographers to Monday’s event anyway.

As a nonpartisan event, the gathering at Cottonwood Creek Park, sponsored by several community groups, attracted Cunningham detractors and supporters from past elections.

A smattering of the latter said they would like to stand by Cunningham.

But even they were concerned over the appearance that military contractor Mitchell Wade might have paid an inflated price for the home in Del Mar Heights and that Cunningham used the profits to buy a home in Rancho Santa Fe, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the country.

“I’d like a little bit more information before I conclude that my congressman is for sale,” said Kevin Forrester, an attorney who deals with real estate matters. “But it looks bad -- very bad.”

Beverly Probst, a nurse, said she was willing to give Cunningham the benefit of the doubt, based on his previous support of educational programs important to her. But she wants answers.

“I think he’s gotten himself into trouble, but I want to be sympathetic to him because he’s been so supportive in other ways,” she said.

Jim Schmedding, who manages a business park, figured one of two things could be said about Cunningham’s problems: “It’s either real bad, or it’s real political,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

While Cunningham was a no-show, his Democratic opponent from last year, school board member Francine Busby, was not. She hopes to grab the Democratic nomination for a second try.

“I think he owes the people some answers,” Busby said as the band, Earl Flores and Bandiego, broke into a Cunningham favorite, Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

Flores, wearing an American flag-inspired shirt, said he was disappointed that Cunningham and his wife were not at the breakfast. He counts Cunningham as a friend and remembers singing as the couple took to the dance floor at the Elks Club.

“Everybody makes mistakes,” Flores said. “I guess Duke has made a big one.”