Justin Rood October 7, 2006, 8:38 AM

Duke Cunningham speaks! In an error-laden letter to the reporters who helped put him in prison, the disgraced ex-congressman lashed out at the investigative team, its paper, one of his bribers and — not TPMmuckraker. (We’re hoping a separate letter is on its way.)

Duke, who may have been the first congressman ever to draft up his own “bribe menu,” complained that the reporters only wanted to write about “how I died not how I lived.” He cited his many accomplishments and citations, including “Library Man of the Year.”

More:

[Cunningham’s] anger at the Copley organization – parent company of the Union-Tribune – was clear even from the envelope, which he addressed to “Copley News tabloid” with the word “tabloid” underlined.

“I hurt more than anyone could imagine and without my faith your constant cruelty would destroy me,” he wrote.

Cunningham cited his religious faith again when he wrote, “The Lord’s Prayer forgive me my debts as I would forgive. My first sin each night is the failure to forgive the U.T. Not just coverage but the brutal two and three pages each week that has nearly destroyed me and my family.”

He warned that the “truth will come out and you will find out how liablest [libelous] you have & will be.”

He also complained that Stern and other Copley reporters “only want to write about how I died not how I lived.” And he rattled off a long list of honors he said he earned as a congressman – “Education Man of the Year, Impact Aide Man of the Year, Library Man of the Year,” among others.

I imagine the letter was difficult for the reporters to read — blinded, as they were, by the light glancing off the Pulitzer prizes they won by helping land Duke in jail.

The paper didn’t release the entire letter, just a portion, which you can see here.

In other Duke news, the paper reported that the ex-congressman’s wife has forfeited her home to the Feds. Duke purchased the multi-million-dollar palace through illegal means. If it wasn’t for those meddling reporters…

Duke Cunningham