Freshmen Democrats keep indicted lawyer’s money

FORGOTTEN REMINDER - U.S. Representative Tim Mahoney, left, issued this reminder of the FECs June 30 report deadline; but he and fellow Democrat Mike Arcuri, right, failed to refund contributions received by a since-convicted trial lawyer they pledged to return on June 26.

Three freshmen Democrats who promised June 26 to "immediately" return donations from an indicted New York City trial lawyer failed to do so, according to a review of their latest campaign finance records conducted by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com).

According to those financial reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), campaign committees of the three Democrats, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill and U.S. Representatives Michael Arcuri, D-NY, and Tim Mahoney, D-FL, did not issue refund checks as promised to David Bershad, who was under a 20-count federal indictment for criminal charges including obstructing justice, perjury, bribery and fraud.

MajorityAP.com first broke the story that Bershad gave Arcuri and Mahoney each $2100 after he had already been indicted by the federal government. Bershad and another partner, Steven Schulman, were charged in an elaborate class action lawsuit scheme, "allegedly paying three plaintiffs $11.4 million in illegal kickbacks in about 180 cases spanning 25 years - and then repeatedly lying about it to the courts." According to a report in the New York Sun, "Bershad earned some $161 million as his share of the firm's profits between 1983 and 2005."

All three Democrats promised to return Bershad’s donation. "The money will be returned immediately," an Arcuri spokeswoman told Gannett News Service. Mahoney’s spokeswoman made a similar statement, telling The Hill newspaper, "we will be returning the check."

Neither has done so. While their June 26 promises to return the funds came late in the reporting cycle, both Mahoney and Arcuri processed scores of contributions between that date and June 30, the last day of the filing period. Mahoney even sent an e-mail reminder to contributors on the morning of June 30, stating that the filing period was about to close, and urging them to make a last minute donation.

Between the time he promised to return Bershad’s check, and the close of the filing period, Mahoney’s campaign committee processed 124 donations totaling more than $181,000. Arcuri’s committee received 88 donations totally nearly $109,000. Both campaign committees had ample time to process a single refund check.

Since MajorityAP.com’s initial report, Bershad pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their ongoing probe.