Former Rep. Duncan D. Hunter and his transgressions seemed to be fading from San Diego’s collective memory. Then it all suddenly became national news once again.
The recent recounting touched on Hunter’s misuse of campaign funds and his conviction nearly five years ago.
Had it been just that, the former East County Republican member of Congress likely wouldn’t have been mentioned — repeatedly — by The New York Times, CNN and other news outlets in recent days.
No, the Hunter saga was revisited because of how he tried to explain away the wrongdoing — by blaming his wife, Margaret.
That puts him in high-level company these days. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., last week trotted out that familiar defense for, respectively, an ethically questionable act and criminal corruption charges.
It’s not that the spouses weren’t involved or under suspicion. In the Hunter case, Margaret Hunter pleaded guilty to a single criminal charge, as Rep. Hunter did later. Both were pardoned by then-President Donald Trump.
Then as now, there has been considerable news coverage and analysis about powerful men trying to deflect responsibility by blaming their wives.
Occasionally, the commentary has reached for grandeur, delving into history (Henry VIII and his wives), the Bible (Adam and Eve), current gender dynamics (#MeToo) and the force of women in popular culture (Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Caitlin Clark and even Barbie).
But most of the reporting has been more narrowly focused on what the men have been accused of and the moral and legal merits — or lack thereof — of their tactics.
Alito’s conservative interpretation of the law is well known. But questions about his impartiality rose after photographs surfaced of an upside-down American flag flown outside his house just days before President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
Flying an inverted U.S. flag has been a symbol of protest for Trump ers who falsely claimed widespread fraud cost the former president the 2020 election. For hundreds of years, it had been a widely recognized symbol of distress, most commonly used by sailors.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Alito said in a written statement to The New York Times. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
Martha-Ann Alito reportedly was feuding with neighbors over an anti-Trump sign.
Claims related to whether Trump was tied to efforts to overturn Biden’s legitimate election and encouraged the violent Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol will go before the Supreme Court. That has led some legal experts and Democrats to call on Alito to recuse himself from such cases.
This is not a good look for Justice Alito, regardless of whether he steps aside. But taking what he said at face value, there’s the question of whether Martha-Ann Alito was doing anything more than exercising her constitutionally protected right of free speech — much in the same way as the neighbor.
Given his position, though, she should have avoided causing what seemed certain to create a firestorm for her husband.
In a New York courtroom last week, Menendez’s lawyer depicted the senator’s wife, Nadine Menendez, as money-hungry and manipulative, and blamed her for an alleged bribery scheme involving foreign governments that brought the family hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and gifts.
In a stunning development, the next day Sen. Menendez revealed his wife is being treated for breast cancer.
Both have been charged in the case and pleaded not guilty, but will be tried separately.
The fates of other prosecuted couples also received renewed attention. Among them were former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, who were convicted of public corruption in 2014. His attorney’s trial strategy was to portray the former Republican governor as unaware of his wife’s activities.
A unanimous Supreme Court, including Alito, later vacated the governor’s conviction and narrowed the scope by which prosecutors can pursue bribery allegations. The U.S. Justice Department later dropped the charges against both.
The Hunter ordeal more closely parallels the McDonnell and Menendez cases, in that the motivation seemed to be the desire or need for money, often to keep up a certain lifestyle, rather than the non-criminal, ethical questions regarding Alito.
The Hunters used campaign funds for overseas trips, expensive meals and ordinary family purchases at Target. According to prosecutors, Duncan D. Hunter also used some of the money to carry on affairs with other women.
Shortly after his August 2018 indictment, Hunter pointed the finger at his wife. The Marine Corps veteran said Margaret Hunter was in control of the family budget, which records and legal filings showed became intertwined with campaign spending.
“When I went away to Iraq in 2003, the first time, I gave (Margaret) power of attorney,” Hunter told Fox News in 2018. “She handled my finances throughout my entire military career, and that continued on when I got into Congress . . . She was also the campaign manager, so whatever she did, that’ll be looked at too, I’m sure. But I didn’t do it. I didn’t spend any money illegally.”
The backlash came hard and fast. Headlines across the country were variations on the claim that Hunter threw his wife “under the bus.” He quickly tried to reverse course.
“Leave my wife out of it, leave my family out of it,” he said soon after the Fox interiew. “It’s me they’re after anyway. They’re not after my wife; they want to take me down, that’s what they’re up to. So let’s get this in the arena and have this settled.”
In the end, they both went down. Hunter resigned from Congress and was pardoned by Trump. The next day, Margaret Hunter received a pardon. After 24 years of marriage and three children, they divorced in 2023 and her name again became Margaret Elizabeth Jankowski.
Last year, the former member of Congress became a lobbyist for Trex Enterprises, according to the website Legistorm. Trex is a San Diego-based research and development technology corporation.
Except for minor media coverage noting those developments, they have largely been out of the news — until now, at least briefly. Former Rep. Hunter actually was given a dubious distinction he didn’t deserve.
CNN maintained he “pioneered the Mrs. defense.” That ground was well worn long ago.
