Magid suspended for fundraising violation

Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid will be suspended for 100 days without pay for accepting political contributions from her staff for two Republican candidates, according to an agreement reached with the U.S. Justice Department and Office of Special Counsel.

Magid admitted to violating the federal Hatch Act, which limits the political activities of government employees, by receiving contributions from her subordinates for then-U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and now-U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan in 2008 and 2009.

But Magid, the former acting U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, did not solicit the donations, according to the agreement. She merely forwarded them to her husband, caterer Jeffrey Miller, who held the fundraisers for Specter and Meehan at their home.

"They weren't intentional and they didn't involve solicitation," Magid's attorney, Andrew Weissmann, said of the Hatch Act violations, which he described as "highly technical" and "inadvertent."

Magid also acknowledged in the settlement, finalized yesterday, that she had e-mailed a subordinate requesting an "alum list" of former assistant U.S. attorneys that she intended to give Miller so he could invite them to the Meehan fundraiser.

Meehan, who was elected in November to represent Delaware County's 7th Congressional District, is a former U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia. The fundraiser was for his abandoned gubernatorial campaign.

"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 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," she added, "and I am looking forward to continuing my work as a prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office."

Magid's suspension will begin in September and end in December.