Watchdogs, lawmakers hope Bromwell case leads to ethics reform

‘‘People play off power and money, and I think the more we can close off those avenues the better we’ll be,” said Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, a leading voice for campaign finance reform. ‘‘A lot of this starts with private-sector deep pockets trying to get influence with elected officials and one way they do it is with contributions.”

Bromwell was sentenced this month to seven years in prison for receiving payments from a Baltimore construction firm in exchange for securing large contracts. The former Senate Finance chairman pleaded guilty this summer to federal bribery charges.

His wife, Mary Pat Bromwell, was also sentenced to a year and a day in prison for accepting a high-paying no-show job. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered their sentences staggered to allow Tommy Bromwell to stay home with the couple’s two youngest children when his wife reports to prison in January. His sentence begins in July.

The Bromwell case serves as a wake-up call and highlights the need for reform, say advocates for campaign reform.

‘‘A lot of these things get started because raising money is so important to state legislators because these races are so expensive ... and you’re susceptible to the kinds of things that happened to him,” said Mary L. Boyle, vice president of communications for Common Cause, a nonpartisan watchdog group.

The Public Campaign Financing Act prompted spirited discussion in the final days of the 2007 session, but came up one vote short of passage in the Senate. A similar bill passed the House in 2006.

Ethics laws have long been neglected in Annapolis and only arise when a scandal occurs, said one lawmaker.

‘‘Even without the tragedy of Senator Bromwell, there has been a compelling need to continually examine the relationship between elected public officials and those who contribute and those who we regulate,” said Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville. ‘‘It’s a perennial problem that should be examined diligently each year, but it’s not.”

The General Assembly should follow the lead of Pennsylvania and Louisiana, which have outlawed campaign donations from gaming interests after legalizing gambling, Simmons said.

Reforming the ethics code doesn’t ensure that politicians will obey the law, said House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis. ‘‘You can’t change individual behaviors. People will work their way around the ethics law.”

Still, Pinsky (D-Dist. 22) of University Park said it’s important for the legislature to show the public that corruption is intolerable.

‘‘I think people continue to be disillusioned by government when they read these kinds of articles,” he said. ‘‘... We just have to build as many firewalls as we can in ethics, in fundraising, in whatever we can so the public sees it’s a people’s legislature.”

One measure Pinsky and others are promoting would close a loophole that allows donors to exceed donation limits by contributing under a business or limited liability company.

Another delegate doesn’t see a nexus between the Bromwell case and ethics reform. ‘‘I don’t think that any one incident in and of itself [calls for] a panacea,” said Del. Jon S. Cardin (D-Dist. 11) of Owings Mills, who heads the ethics subcommittee.

But, he said, public financing would create more ‘‘decent and noble campaigns.”

He agreed with Busch that the ultimate responsibility lies with the individual. ‘‘The biggest watchdog needs to be the candidate.”

Still, activists say, Maryland has room for improvement in tightening the ethical code.

‘‘There are certainly bad apples and Bromwell appears to be one of them, but any time the legislative body can take steps to reduce the corrupting influence of money [in] politics, that’s a very effective reform,” Boyle said. ‘‘Public financing would be a major step toward breaking the link between special-interest money and legislative favors.”

Politicians who followed the Bromwell case now know their actions can carry stiff penalties, said Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda.

‘‘If this doesn’t nip potential wrongdoing in the bud, I don’t know what will,” he said. ‘‘It’s a vivid and grim reminder to anybody in public office that if you abuse the public trust ... you can go to jail for a long time and it’s sadly an appropriate message, but a painful one.”