Ethics of GOP Benefit Questioned

[onehandle]

Lobbyist Organizing Fundraiser

Critics Question Ethics Of GOP Benefit in Md.

An Annapolis lobbyist who is prohibited by law from raising cash for Maryland officials is organizing a $25,000-a-plate fundraiser for the Republican Governors Association, a federal campaign committee that spent $700,000 to support Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s bid for governor.

Lee Cowen, a Washington lobbyist and a longtime Republican activist who set up shop in Annapolis after Ehrlich's election last fall, is listed as "event chairman" on invitations to the dinner and dessert reception scheduled for Sept. 4 at a private home in Potomac. Ehrlich and Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, the association's vice chairman, are scheduled to attend.

Suzanne Fox, executive director of the Maryland State Ethics Commission, said the arrangement probably is legal, as long as none of the money Cowen raises winds up in Ehrlich's campaign account or in the hands of other Maryland officials.

Critics said Cowen's work on behalf of an organization that spent heavily on Ehrlich's campaign violates the spirit of the fundraising ban, which was intended to reduce the influence of lobbyists on policymakers in Annapolis.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60276-2003Aug14.html

(Title is from the Front Page of the Post and is more descriptive.)

[realFedUp]

1. Ethics and GOP in the same sentence

is startling...

[rock]

2. Even if you say they don't have any

Since that's common knowledge.