Posted on Sat, Jul. 23, 2011
Laurie Magid, a former interim U.S. attorney, has agreed to a 100-day suspension for violating federal restrictions on political contributions in connection with fund-raisers for U.S. Rep. Patrick L. Meehan and former U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.
The penalty was part of a settlement completed Thursday that concluded an ethics case pursued by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an independent federal agency.
Magid, an assistant U.S. attorney, will be suspended without pay beginning Sept. 6. Barring a breach of the settlement, she will return to work for the Department of Justice.
"I have spent my life devoted to public service, and I am looking forward to continuing my work as a prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office," Magid said in a statement Friday.
The Office of Special Counsel was unavailable for comment. A spokesman for the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Magid and her husband, Jeffrey A. Miller, a caterer, held fund-raisers at their home for Specter, then a Republican, on Jan. 25, 2008, and for Meehan, a Delaware County Republican, on Jan. 30, 2009. Miller was the official host.
Before the Specter event, Magid asked for guidance from the Office of Special Counsel about her husband's hosting a fund-raiser.
The settlement said that Magid was informed that her husband could host a fund-raiser and that she could attend, "as well as assist him with organizing the event, supplying names for the guest list, addressing invitations, and introducing the speaker."
Magid was informed that she was prohibited from soliciting, accepting, or receiving campaign contributions for the fund-raiser.
The settlement cites three violations that occurred in connection with the Specter and Meehan fund-raisers:
A prosecutor who could not attend the Specter fund-raiser handed a $200 campaign contribution check to Magid in her office.
A subordinate in the U.S. Attorney's Office left an envelope containing a $250 contribution check for Meehan in Magid's office while she was away. Magid delivered the check to her husband.
For the Meehan fund-raiser, Magid sent an e-mail to her staff for a list of former prosecutors her husband could invite.
According to the settlement, the incidents violated the Hatch Act, which restricts political activity by federal employees.
Magid's attorney, Andrew Weissmann, called the violations "minor and inadvertent."
Magid agreed to the settlement, Weissmann said in an e-mail, because "the downside was a lengthy and expensive trial and the risk of being fired."
Magid said the government investigation "found what I maintained all along, and what I was told by OSC when I checked with that office prior to the fund-raisers - that the spouse of a federal employee is permitted, by law, to host a political fund-raiser and that I could assist him."
Contact staff writer Robert Moran at 215-854-5983 or bmoran@phillynews.com.
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