WASHINGTON – In a handwritten letter to the reporter who exposed his corruption, former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham portrays life in prison as an agonizing time of regret, anger and bitterness toward those he blames for his downfall.

“I hurt more than anyone could imagine,” Cunningham wrote from federal prison in North Carolina.

In the letter, the former Rancho Santa Fe Republican lashes out at the The San Diego Union-Tribune, which broke the story on June 12, 2005, but aims his sharpest barbs at one of his co-conspirators.

Cunningham, 64, has been housed in the low-security section of the Butner Federal Correctional Complex since shortly after being sentenced March 3 to eight years and four months in prison. Cunningham pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy and tax evasion charges and admitted accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes in return for helping defense contractors secure federal business.

His comments came in a letter to Marcus Stern, the Copley News Service reporter who uncovered the tainted 2003 sale of Cunningham's Del Mar-area home to defense contractor Mitchell Wade. Cunningham applied proceeds of the sale toward purchase of a $2.55 million mansion in Rancho Santa Fe. Wade bought the Del Mar-area home for $1.675 million and sold it eight months later at a $700,000 loss.

Stern had written to Cunningham in prison requesting an interview.

In the response penned last month, Cunningham expressed bitterness toward Stern and Wade. And he offered an achingly personal glimpse of the toll exacted on him and his relationship with his now-estranged family by his dramatic descent from congressional power to Inmate #94405198.

“Each time you print it hurts my family and now I have lost them along with everything I have worked for during my 64 years of life,” he wrote. “I am human not an animal to keep whipping.”

In a settlement announced in federal court yesterday, Cunningham's estranged wife, Nancy, agreed to give up any interest in the sale proceeds of the couple's Del Mar-area and Rancho Santa Fe homes and acknowledged that she and her husband owe the U.S. government almost $1.7 million in back taxes, interest and penalties.

Cunningham's four-page letter is marked by occasional spelling and punctuation lapses. In it, Cunningham expresses regret for his actions but stops short of acknowledging any wrongdoing other than accepting “gifts” from Wade.

Wade, founder of Washington-based MZM Inc., did more than purchase Cunningham's house. He provided Cunningham with rugs, furniture, jewelry and cash in exchange for the congressman's backing for defense and intelligence contracts for his company. Cunningham was a senior member of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees.