CongressionalBadBoys.com | home | Walter Tucker Walter R.Tucker III Democrat, California (1993-1996) The Honorable Walter Tucker III was convicted in 1995 of extorting $30,000 in bribes and cheating on his taxes while he was mayor of Compton, California, in 1991-1992.  He was caught on tape accepting cash and soliciting bribes from federal agents.  And prosecutors said he sold his vote to support a $250 million waste-to-energy project in Compton.  But there's more to it.  Tucker is a nondenominational preacher, and he charged that the verdict against him was a three-way victim:  it was a government conspiracy, they went after him because he's black, and because he's a Christian minister. He likened the jury that convicted him of corruption to the one that acquitted police in the Rodney King beating.  "How dare they say I betrayed my trust of the people," he said. (Click here for other examples of "Lyin' Through Their Teeth"). He announced in December 1995 that he would resign his seat and that his wife Robin would run in his place. Tucker was given 27 months in prison. Because his misdeeds were before he came to Congress, Tucker only becomes an honorary member of the Congressional Prison Caucus. Sources:  "Tucker Leaves Congress," Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dec. 13, 1995, A25;  "Representative's Wife to Run for His Seat;  Rep. Walter Tucker III Convicted of Corruption," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 14, 1995.