TPM is pleased to announce the winners of the Seventh Annual Golden Dukes recognizing the year’s best purveyors of public corruption, outlandish behavior and The Crazy.
The awards are named in honor of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who epitomizes the iconic modern scandal.
This year, the Golden Dukes were sponsored by Media Matters, who give out their own annual award called Misinformer of the Year for the most egregious example of misinformation from the media. This year it goes to CBS News.
Our celebrity judges — Julieanne Smolinski, Dan Savage, Hendrik Hertzberg and Susie Bright — waded their way through all 35 finalists in 7 categories, and selected the winners.
Check out the lucky nominees and the reader emails that selected them here. To read any judge’s statements (be sure you do), scroll to the end and click on each judge’s name! And now, without further ado, the winners:
Best Scandal — General Interest: Rob Ford
Julieanne Smolinski: Bob Filner
Dan Savage: Rob Ford
Susie Bright: Rob Ford
Hendrik Hertzberg: Rob Ford
Best Scandal — Sex and Generalized Carnality: Rob Ford and Anthony Wiener tie
Julieanne Smolinski: Anthony Wiener
Dan Savage: Rob Ford
Susie Bright: Rob Ford
Hendrik Hertzberg: Anthony Weiner
Best Scandal — Local Venue: Rob Ford
Julieanne Smolinski: West Virginia’s Mingo County administrators
Dan Savage: Rob Ford
Susie Bright: Rob Ford
Hendrik Hertzberg: Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
Meritorious Achievement in The Crazy: Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Julieanne Smolinski: Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Dan Savage: Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Susie Bright: Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX)
Hendrik Hertzberg: Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
The Year In Derp: Rick Santorum
Julieanne Smolinski: Rick Santorum
Dan Savage: Rick Santorum
Susie Bright: Rick Santorum
Hendrik Hertzberg: Rick Santorum
Outstanding Achievement In Corruption-based Chutzpah: Rob Ford
Julieanne Smolinski: Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
Dan Savage: Rob Ford
Susie Bright: Rob Ford
Hendrik Hertzberg: Rob Ford
Best Scandal By A Non-Politician: Alec Baldwin
Julieanne Smolinski: Alec Baldwin
Dan Savage: Alec Baldwin
Susie Bright: Paula Deen
Hendrik Hertzberg: Alec Baldwin
See the Hardball segment where we announced the winners:
Click below to read the statements by each judge:
