Lowery, Hunter Await Word on Probe

WASHINGTON — In the halls of Congress on Wednesday, no news was definitely not good news.

Two San Diego legislators, Reps. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) and Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego), got the official word that they are not being investigated for criminal violations in the House Bank scandal.

But for the two other members of the delegation, Reps. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) and Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado), the silence was deafening.

The two six-term congressmen, who between them racked up nearly 700 overdrafts during the 39-month period studied by the House Ethics Committee, have yet to receive the hand-delivered “clearance letters” from Special Counsel Malcolm R. Wilkey that went out to an undetermined number of members Wednesday.

For Lowery, most of the damage has already been done. He withdrew from his primary contest in April, blaming his 300 overdrafts for dooming his reelection effort.

Hunter, who wrote 399 overdrafts, has struggled mightily to get the issue behind him in his bid for a seventh term, but could suffer major damage in the event he becomes a focus of a criminal investigation.

The bank scandal, which revealed that some members routinely wrote hundreds of checks without sufficient funds to cover them, sent the House last winter into convulsions of confessions and breast-beating. Then, after months of assiduous political damage control, the issue has returned.

Packard and Cunningham downplayed the good news, hoping the story would go away forever.

“This was expected,” Cunningham said. “The details of my bank account were fully disclosed nearly a year ago.”

Packard was equally terse. “I knew there wasn’t a problem, and I was pleased to receive a letter confirming it,” he said.

Lowery, whose troubled reelection campaign was sunk by the check revelations, was in no hurry to call the special counsel’s office to find out more details about his fate.

“I have nothing to worry about,” he said. “We’ll wait.”

A curious Hunter did call Wilkey’s office and was told a letter should be arriving within a week. While its contents weren’t discussed in detail, Hunter said, he expressed confidence that the news will be positive.

“I expect the same type of letter that Duke (Cunningham) got,” Hunter said. “They said mine just took a little longer. I’m not worried.”

A Justice Department statement said it is Wilkey’s “firm expectation that the vast majority of members and former members under review will receive clearance letters.”

But there was also this chilling line from Wilkey, explaining the staggered release of letters: “Some accounts are more voluminous and complex than others.”

That cannot give great comfort to Hunter and Lowery, who ranked seventh and eighth, respectively, nationwide in numbers of overdrafts.

Hunter, the fifth-ranking member of the Republican House leadership, ranked third among California congressmen, with 399 checks totaling $128,378.

Lowery ranked fourth in California, with 300 checks totaling nearly $103,968.

Cunningham had one overdraft of $15,000, and Packard wrote four totaling $1,963.

More than focusing on sheer numbers, legal experts suggest that Wilkey would try to determine whether any fraud, theft, banking or campaign finance laws may have been violated by members.