Former Maryland State Sen. Thomas Bromwell Sr. was sentenced Friday to seven years in federal prison for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure state contracts for a Baltimore construction company.
Bromwell, 58, a former pub owner and once among the General Assembly?s most powerful Democrats, pleaded guilty in July to racketeering conspiracy and filing a false tax return.
His wife, Mary Patricia Bromwell, 44, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for accepting $192,000 for a no-show job with a contractor operated by the company, Poole and Kent Co. She pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.
“We sent a powerful message today and I wish every politician were here to hear it,” said U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein. “Here in Maryland, corruption will result in serious punishment.”
Attorneys asked U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz to stagger the couple?s sentences to avoid leaving their three children ? ages 11, 14, and 22 ? parentless. Motz instructed both to report for their sentences Jan. 7, but said he might re-consider delaying Bromwell?s sentence until after his wife serves her term.
Bromwell, who said he “accepted” jail time, blamed himself for his wife?s participation in the scheme and apologized for “publicly embarrassing” his family. Dozens of his supporters had submitted letters to the court, pleading for leniency.
“What I can?t accept, your honor, is my children losing their best friend,” Bromwell said. “My younger children?s mother is their best friend.”
Prosecutors said Bromwell allegedly accepted $85,000 worth of construction work on his home from Poole and Kent Co., which won millions of dollars in state contracts while the Parkville lawmaker was in office. The company also paid Bromwell, then contemplating retirement, $80,000 to remain in office.
Seven co-defendants, including Poole and Kent President W. David Stoffregen, pleaded guilty to related charges and were slated to testify against the Bromwells.
Undercover federal agents posing as businessmen collected hours of incriminating recordings in which a profane Bromwell called himself a “rainmaker” and bragged Comcast “needed” him and that the owner of Pimlico racetrack would be “licking his boots.”
“His words speak volumes,” said prosecutor Kathleen Gavin. “He said he was a ?whore in the Senate.? He was for sale and he literally sold himself and his office.”
Bromwell?s defense attorney, Barry Pollack, argued Bromwell?s comments were the product of heavy drinking encouraged by the undercover agents.
“Six, seven Manhattans later, Tommy Bromwell is bragging about all the people he knows, all the contracts he can get,” Pollack said. “They played him like a fiddle, your honor.”
Bromwell resigned from office in 2002 after 23 years in the General Assembly.
