This document is part of a series about Randall "Duke" Cunningham's attempted murder / suicide on November 25th, 2005

Home page for "Cunningham's Last Battle" web site / Contact the author / victim / witness Russell 'Ace' Hoffman

To: "William Safire" <feedback@dana.org>

Re:What Congressman Ric Keller was probably talking about

June 17th, 2007

Dear Mr. Safire,

I was surprised to hear Congressman Ric Keller pose a hypothetical to you, which sounded an awful lot like the truth, minus a few important details.

Many hearings this year have seemed to allude to, or at least not exclude, what I allege happened (described in brief later in this letter) but Congressman Keller came the closest to nailing it outright.

IF, as I believe, Congressman Keller was in fact talking about a real incident as he thinks it must have happened, the "drunk" Congressman was Randall "Duke" Cunningham -- my own Congressman at the time of the incident (November 25th, 2005).  And just as real, I'm the whistleblower / victim, and he was suicidal with absolutely deadly intent, not just swerving and drunk.  And the cops caught him, and let him go.  My wife was in the passenger seat, and was thus also a victim both of the assault and of the cover-up.  There were half a dozen witnesses outside our vehicle; I presume all have been tampered with.

Am I a journalist, myself?  Sure, I guess so.  I have an email newsletter with over a hundred subscribers (and another hundred or so journalists and media outlets who have not refused to receive the newsletters, dozens of whom have communicated with me over the years).  It's been "published" for more than 10 years.  I have had things published now and then on the Internet (for example, in CounterPunch, TruthOut, OpEdNews, and elsewhere).  I've had probably over a hundred letters-to-the-editor published as well (though lots more have been refused, and everybody, it seems, rejects most things simply for being too long or for having been published in my newsletter first).  Some of my essays have been translated and published in major newspapers outside the U.S., such as in Pakistan.  I've been interviewed by media from Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Brazil, and dozens of U.S. media outlets, too.  But not about this, of course.

For 25+ years, people have been using my educational computer animations in schools, hospitals, classrooms, the military, and in industry.  Some URLs I've created are shown below.  I think SOME of them are why the government wants to keep this affair (which I call "The Cunningham Affair") secret.  They (Bush, Cheney, Rove, and Keller too) apparently hope, at best, to prove it was much ado about nothing.  But it wasn't.   It was a vicious, calculated attack, and instantly -- that very night -- the police sided with Cunningham SIMPLY because he was a Congressperson or maybe just because he was a celebrity (my how times have changed for celebrities in California, I'll mention!).  But THIS was three days before he resigned.  I didn't recognize him when he did it, but I froze the image in my mind as he blasted by and clipped our tail, and I sure knew who it was when I saw him resign the following Monday.

I sent him a letter, offering the part I recovered from his car back, but he never responded.  After he went to prison, I sent him another, longer letter (figuring he now had plenty of time to read it) but again, he did not respond.

From the moment his headlights aimed at ours, life has been surreal.  I believe that perhaps as many as 30 people have resigned, been fired, or at least been transferred because of this case, but we have not specifically inquired about what has happened to those involved, other than one call to the FBI regarding THEIR alleged involvement (I allege that an FBI guy drove up that night while we were waiting for a proper police response).  I was told "we police our own."

That, of course, is not how the Constitution works...

Not even the San Diego Union-Tribune dares to publish the ALLEGATION, let alone follow along with the details as my wife and I visit Internal Affairs, the Citizens' law enforcement supervisory committee, and send letters to the FBI, the DOJ, the IG of the DOJ, the California AG, the CA insurance commission (regarding the record of my first phone call to my insurance agent, which has turned up MISSING), the CA department of transportation, etc. etc. etc..

All these departments make justice a slow and plodding process which, so far, has been an utter failure.  The IA report was so vague it could easily have been written by someone with no knowledge about THIS case, and suffice to cover ANY case!  (I'll be happy to forward a copy to you if you like.)

This unspoken case started as a simple, matter-of-fact case of celebrity justice in it's most ugly extreme.  But it became more than that when the White House, I assume, directed the Department of Justice to drop their investigation of the police actions that night.  And Alberto Gonzales is a key link to protect the White House from criminal charges IN THIS CASE, AND to stop the investigation outright!

At first it was local corruption.  Now it's national political corruption.

I now believe that everything was going fine, the damage was being undone, until the White House got wind of the case and connected the fact that I'm an activist they don't happen to like.  And that's the root of all the evil you see crumbling around you -- all the resignations are people who had to do an awful thing because Bush / Cheney / Rove demanded it.  It WAS attempted murder.  The Bush Administration believes it can stop the truth from coming out, and it has been worth dozens of firings to try to do that.

I expect Cunningham to describe his actions that night from his perspective and in detail, to corroborate my own description.  Oh sure, he can AND SHOULD hand over his medals since he went Kamikaze on my wife and I, and I blew him out of the water, so to speak, having had BETTER TRAINING for the specific event.  But it's his description of the incident I seek most -- his professional "debriefing" of his "final" combat mission.

A formal, written apology from the police would, of course, make sense, since it's their formal, written paperwork that is currently full of lies.  And the psychiatrist on the Hill needs to be among those who have resigned.  (I do not believe there should even be such a position, as illustrated by what has happened.)

The story is so bizarre that every reporter demands "proof" of some sort which, of course, I cannot give them.  I can show them the police reports we have, and our outgoing letters, and the part of his car I recovered at the scene, but the police are the ones who are supposed to go out and GET the "proof" by catching (and keeping) the guy, instead of destroying evidence and intimidating witnesses.

It's a bunch of circular arguments which serve only to hide the truth from everyone.

But hiding the truth makes those in the White House who are involved accomplices to the crime of harboring a criminal from justice, because in theory, no one is above the law.  Cunningham tried his living best to kill my wife and I by ramming his car at high speed into the one I happened to be driving that night.  Those who protect him under color of authority violate the law even more than he did.  And destroy the American way.

So far, the Department of Justice has not responded to ANY letter we have ever sent them, but we were assured by the Internal Affairs investigators last August (2006) that the DoJ could and WOULD review the documents and tape recordings produced during the San Diego Sheriff's department's IA investigation.  A few months ago, at the suggested of a DoJ employee, I filed a letter of complaint with the IG of the DoJ, but haven't heard back from them, either.

Hope springs eternal.

I'll swear to all of this in any court, of course.

Warmest regards,

Russell "Ace" Hoffman
Carlsbad, CA