Checks and Balances : Duncan Hunter Takes His 407 Bad Checks and Explanation to Voters

The politician went out to face the music Monday, sitting there at the card table with all 407 checks laid out before him, otherwise-rubber checks that were honored through the tradition-steeped graces of the now-defunct House Bank, a perk of his post as a congressman.

And there, at the base of the East County Courthouse in El Cajon, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) took heat. Plenty of heat.

But hardly anyone mentioned The Checks.

They pounded him, these 50 or so people, about the economy. About the cost of health care. About free trade and jobs being lost overseas. One lady was worried about the federal management of backcountry grazing lands. And there was the woman complaining about a Social Security foul-up.

But hardly anyone pressed him on those 407 checks.

“The media are knocking this all out of proportion,” said Pete Caltagirone of La Mesa, who offered his unconditional support for Hunter by waving his hands in hey-don’t-worry-about-it fashion.

And so it went Monday, with Hunter fielding more roses than raspberries from people who almost sounded more like shills than affronted taxpayers.

Even the more critical comments were softballs for the six-term member of Congress. “As far as what I could read in the papers, you didn’t do anything abusive,” said Nance Holland of La Mesa. “But, when the story broke, you were extremely arrogant about it.”

Hunter answered: “I’m one of the few guys who didn’t blame someone else. I used to run a gas station, and I know what a bad check is.”

Hunter turned to others in the small group. “How many people thought I was passing bad checks?”

Several hands went up, and Hunter offered his explanation, about how the House Bank simply offered him and other members of Congress free overdraft protection, and how none of the 407 checks he wrote, for about $129,000, actually bounced because of insufficient funds. The bank simply covered his checks until his next paycheck was deposited, he explained.

Hunter then promised that he would never again receive free congressional perks. “From now on I’m going to pay for my parking space, the gym, ambulance service--which I hope I don’t ever need. We have to live by a higher standard.”

He would repeat that promise every half hour or so, like some radio news station recycling the day’s best headlines and quotes, for the benefit of newcomers to the knot of 50 or so people who would mosey up to his folding card table.

One of the first men to pull up a chair alongside Hunter was Rick Tavares of Campo, who said he was curious about this whole check thing.

“Take a look,” Hunter said, offering him a stack of the checks.

“Oh, not necessary,” Tavares said, declining a firsthand look at the checks in question--like ones to May Co. and J.C. Penney and Domino’s pizza and a big one for more than $20,000 to an oil drilling company.

For the next two hours or so, Tavares simply listened and took notes.

Mark Smith, an El Cajon man dressed in suit and tie who said he once worked in the correspondence office of the Bush White House and who now is development director for Volunteers of America, complimented Hunter for his “straightforward” and “candid” approach in handling the controversy.

He likened Hunter’s tack of directly taking the matter out to the public to Tylenol’s reaction to news that its product had been tainted by taking the medicine off the shelves.

Someone wanted to talk about free-trade agreements. Another man was worried about too many San Diego jobs being lost because of the bad economy.

Margaret Cowen of Lakeside asked Hunter how he feels about term limits. “I have a term limit every two years,” he said, laughing. But she didn’t say a thing about The Checks.

“Oh, I’m not too concerned about that,” she said. “It’ll resolve itself. I’m more upset about other things going on.”

For Mike Garrison of El Cajon, the check scandal served as a segue for a larger issue. “I’m not so worried about all these checks,” he said, pointing the the card table, “as I am about just one--the $1.3 billion bad check Congress writes every day to cover the national debt.

“You guys are all going to be blown out (of office) unless you do something about that. You need to stop spending.”

Hunter answered that he was one of Congress’s most conservative voters and added, “Sir, I’ll take your concern to heart.” Garrison responded indignantly, “Ha!”

Garrison said later that he was resigned that nothing could be done about the House Bank scandal, so didn’t confront Hunter about it. “My God, they’re above us all. We’re just peasants,” he said. “What good does it do to be critical? The only place you can get your revenge is in the voting booth. And the only thing that will happen is that maybe this man will not be reelected.”

Hunter said the House Bank had been in operations for many years.

“I wish the House Bank had burned down when the British burned Washington,” he said. Later, he remarked that Abraham Lincoln himself had used the House Bank, “and I hope they don’t try to unearth him.”

“The nice ladies who run the bank are nice people,” Hunter said, “and they’re not worth shooting. They followed a tradition that had been laid down before them.”

Another man raised his hand to speak. Again, not about The Checks. He wanted to know why the prison shortage couldn’t be addressed by building tent encampments for convicts, to be supervised by the Army.

Robert Mitchel got his moment to sting the congressman. “I won’t jump on you about your checks--but I don’t think it’s right,” he said. “If you don’t do something about the damned deficit, I’m not going to vote for you. . . . Why aren’t newspapers and the talk shows talking about the gosh-darned deficit instead of crap like that,” he said, pointing toward the stacks of checks.

Hunter’s staff realizes that Monday’s public showing wasn’t necessarily indicative of public reaction to Hunter’s role in the check-kiting scandal. Cato Cedillo, a Hunter staff member in El Cajon, said that, of 43 persons who called Hunter’s office on Monday, 26 disapproved of his actions. On Friday, he said, about 60 calls were received, “and 30% were in support, and 70% were unhappy.”