Under Watch: politicians rep. Duke Cunningham, former Ill. Gov. George Ryan and a post office shooting
Under watch:
Grants, New Mexico resident Jennifer Sambarco, 44, who after being forced onto disability retirement by the postal service in 2003 for an “unspecified psychological problem,”returned to her former workplace in Goleta, California with a pistol, snuck in and murdered five employees before killing herself. Co-workers had reported that she “acted oddly, was difficult to deal with and inflexible.”Neighbors in New Mexico reported they had similar issues and some went out of their way to avoid her. A newspaper she wanted to start in New Mexico, dubbed The Racist Press, never got off the ground. While her behavior became increasingly erratic and unbalanced, one neighbor said that the possibility of violence never crossed his mind. It is unlikely that she was mentally imbalanced without the benefit of external chemistry, but unless her doctors speak out, we’ll never know.
Former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan, whose trial on charges of accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for state business contracts is nearing a close. While he withdrew only $6,700 in cash from bank accounts from 1993 to 2002, he reportedly had a habit of carrying thick wads of cash, splurging frequently on steak dinners, purchasing expensive sporting events tickets and playing high-stakes poker on gambling boats. A former security guard for Ryan testified that he visited casinos several times a month on state time and that he routinely gambled with hundreds of dollars in cash at craps and blackjack tables. Ryan’s son-in-law told jurors he had received $55,000 from Ryan’s political war chest for consulting work he never did. While drinking was not reported with the fancy dinners or gambling excursions, journalists either don’t have a clue to its relevance or are too busy imbibing to notice. By the way, Ryan is a Republican and former pharmacist who, two days before he left office in 2003, commuted the sentences of all 167 men on death row in Illinois.
Former Rep. Randy “Duke”Cunningham, the Vietnam War ace and eight-term congressman included in the “Under Watch”section in the December 2005 Addiction Report, sentenced to eight years in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and others. There is still no public proof of alcoholism. A lower-level politician, such as former Burbank, California councilwoman Stacey Jo Murphy, is easier to out: she agreed to rehab as part of her guilty plea for felony cocaine possession. If a year or two were subtracted from sentences in exchange for rehab while in prison, the public might become far more aware of cause and effect in the area of addiction and criminal behaviors. And, there’d be far fewer recidivists, particularly if regular testing for alcohol and other drugs was added as a requirement to remain free on parole.
Note to family, friends and fans of the above: the benefit of the doubt is given by assuming alcoholism (they are either idiots and fundamentally rotten, or they are alcoholic/other drug addicts”which would explain the misbehaviors). If alcoholic, there is zero chance that behaviors, in the long run, will improve without sobriety. An essential prerequisite to sobriety is the cessation of enabling, allowing pain and crises to build. Thus far, many have done everything they can to protect the addict from the requisite pain, making these news events possible. The cure for alcoholism, consequential bad behaviors and, ultimately, tragedy, is simple: stop protecting the addict from the logical consequences of misbehaviors and proactively intervene.