A top prosecutor in the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney’s office agreed to a 100-day suspension starting Sept. 6 for improper political activity, according to a settlement reached last week with the Office of Special Counsel.
The OSC, which enforces limits on federal employees’ political activities, reached an agreement with former interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Eastern Pennsylvania Laurie Magid to drop allegations that she solicited political donations from subordinates for two Pennsylvania Republicans, including her former boss, former Philadelphia U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, who is now a Republican member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
In exchange, Magid admitted that she violated other parts of the Hatch Act, which prohibits civil servants in the executive branch from engaging in partisan political activity.
According to settlement papers, Magid admitted to three violations of federal law.
The first two involve accepting political contributions in 2008 and 2009 at her office as part of political fundraisers for then-Republican Sen. Arlen Specter and Meehan, who was a candidate for governor at the time. The events were organized by her husband, Jeffrey A. Miller.
One prosecutor who could not attend the Specter fundraiser gave her a $200 check at the office, and another prosecutor dropped a $250 check for Meehan off at her desk while she was away, according to the settlement.
The third violation involved an “alum list” of former employees of the U.S. Attorney’s office that Magid requested from the office and which her husband used to send out invitations.
Andrew Weissman, Magid’s attorney, said he believes the facts simply don’t justify the attention the case received from OSC investigators, who normally deal with much larger cases involving solicitation. In fact, the OSC determined that all Magid’s participation in the fundraiser itself was entirely proper, he said, barring the two incidents where she delivered checks to her husband that were given to her by mistake.
The OSC acknowledged that Magid sought and received approval from the ethics officers at OSC to help her husband organize and plan the first fundraiser for Specter in 2008. But the agency said it did not give her permission to personally collect money. Her request to participate in the fundraiser didn’t say that she held a supervisor position in the U.S. Attorney’s office and planned to invite her subordinates, the OSC said in court documents.
The agency also alleged that Magid didn’t contact the OSC before the second fundraiser for Meehan, for whom she worked as First Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2005 to 2008 when he headed the Philadelphia office.
But attorneys for Magid maintained in a statement that the OSC had given her permission to help with the fundraisers and suggested that the two subordinates were friends who thought it easier to simply give her the money personally.
“I was told by OSC when I checked with that office prior to the fundraisers – that the spouse of a federal employee is permitted, by law, to host a political fundraiser and that I could assist him,” Magid said in a statement. “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 was replaced by interim U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy in May 2009 amid controversy over the fundraisers, but she stayed with the office as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the office’s appeals division. The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General also opened an investigation.
Then in February 2011, the OSC filed a complaint against Magid seeking disciplinary action “up to removal from her employment.”
It cited objections from several prosecutors who said they felt pressured by Magid to attend and contribute to her husband’s events. It also alleged that Magid aspired to a judicial appointment and believed that meeting with Specter at the fundraiser “could be helpful to her career.”
Weissman said that he believes neither party is happy about the terms of the settlement, but that more importantly, it will give Magid a chance to get on with her life.
The OSC did not return calls for comment Monday.
UPDATED: To add statements from Magid’s attorney.
When the FAUSA “invites” you to a fundraiser and to contribute, you go and you contribute. Or the next case you receive will be a Social Security appeal. Every AUSA knows that.
Now if the OSC would devote similar attention to the shenanigans that went on in the NJ USAO from 2001-09.