Randy "Duke" Cunningham

AP reports the eight-term congressman resigned Monday under a deluge of bribery and corruption charges. To his credit his confession and remorse appear genuine—his professional and his private life are both ruined. Political opponents should rein in the schadenfreude and leave the personal tragedy of one man's greed alone—the attention is best focused elsewhere. On the company that bribed him, for instance: MZM does classified intelligence work for the military. It had $65.5 million of contracts for intelligence-related defense work in fiscal 2004, ranking No. 38 on the Pentagon's list. The company has established a presence in Iraq, fielding a small team of interpreters shortly after the invasion. Are these contracts now being revisited? And more importantly, is this case emblematic of the way millions of dollars are bandied about in the awarding of defense contracts? These avenues are more difficult to explore and less conducive to the sound-bite sell than the easier road. That easier road, of course, is to create linkage between this case, Delay, Frist and Libby. If there are any connections with hard facts, no problem. But if Democrats try to manufacture a Culture of Corruption out of a series of unrelated incidents the electorate may well see it as just politics. There are enough serious charges out there that at this point spin could be counterproductive.