Armed with secret FBI wiretaps, federal prosecutors are hoping former state Sen. Thomas Bromwell?s words will come back to haunt him when he is sentenced Friday on corruption charges.
“He bragged that he was a ?whore in Maryland, on the Senate side? of the State legislature,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen Gavin and Michael Leotta wrote in sentencing papers filed this week in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.
“He literally sold his Senate seat when he agreed to stay in the Senate in exchange for $80,000 a year, disguised as a salary to his wife for a no-show job with a minority front company. For the right price, he abused his power in order to ?make it rain? for companies that secretly rewarded him.”
But Bromwell?s attorneys are mounting their own defense to the politician?s big mouth, lining up dozens of letter-writers to beg Judge J. Frederick Motz for mercy and vouch for the politician?s character. They are asking for a sentence “substantially below” the eight years prosecutors are seeking on charges of racketeering and filing a false tax return.
U.S. Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger wrote to the judge that Bromwell truly cared for his constituents.
“Tommy displayed passion and commitment to furthering Baltimore County?s legislative priorities,” the congressman wrote. “… I was always grateful for Tommy?s work on behalf of our constituents.”
Businessman Ed Hale wrote that Bromwell was helpful in soliciting funds for the Living Classrooms Foundation while he was in the Senate.
“While he was very thoughtful, he was generous in his support of the at-risk children that we served,” Hale wrote.
But federal prosecutors asked the judge to give little weight to the letters, saying those people who believed in the “good side” of Bromwell were “deceived.”
“When he thought he was in safe company, Bromwell felt free to reveal that he identified with corrupt politicians rather than honest ones,” prosecutors wrote. “… As he so bluntly put it, he was ?honored? to be associated with ?all the guys that went to jail … for eighteen months. They?re all f?ing millionaires, OK??”
Bromwell and his wife, Mary Patricia, will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Friday.
