Lawyer Argues It’s OK and Common to Seek Campaign Cash for Vote
A Baltimore lawyer has crafted an unusual defense for a county lawmaker accused in a civil suit of shaking down an office developer for campaign contributions: The practice isn’t that unusual, and it isn’t unlawful, the lawyer argues.
The argument by lawyer Daniel Karp has raised some eyebrows, the Washington Post reports. University of Maryland law professor Abraham Dash told the newspaper that the argument is “absolutely wrong.”
The suit claims Karp’s client refused to schedule a vote on an office lease until a developer could find 10 donors willing to give $4,000 each in campaign donations.
“A politician’s request for campaign fundraising assistance or donations in exchange for a political favor or vote is similarly not unlawful or independently wrongful,” Karp wrote. “Unfortunately, it is something that occurs daily in the political arena.”
Karp told the Post that the argument is not an admission. “My comment in the motion is, if this occurred, it is something that happens in political life, but not illegal in the sense of giving rise to tort liability,” he said.
