Three Dem freshmen to return money from indicted lawyer

Freshman Reps. Michael Arcuri (D-N.Y.) and Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) and freshman Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) will each return a campaign donation made by an indicted lawyer, their offices told The Hill yesterday.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, Arcuri, Mahoney and McCaskill all received $2,100 in late 2006 from David Bershad, who was named in a May 2006 indictment of his law firm, Milberg, Weiss, Bershad and Schulman.

{mosads}Bershad and partner Steven Schulman, who was also indicted, have been large campaign donors, including to presidential candidates and campaign committees from both parties.

The Arcuri and Mahoney contributions were first reported by the Majority Accountability Project, a website run by former Republican staffers.

McCaskill and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) also received contributions after the indictments were handed down, according to a review by The Hill.

Menendez’s office did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Both Arcuri’s and Mahoney’s offices said the money came to them through the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

“The money was directed to the campaign through the DCCC and there was no connection to the donor,” Arcuri Chief of Staff Hayley Rumback said. “The money will be returned immediately.”

Mahoney spokeswoman Jessica Santillo said: “We will be returning the check.”

McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said too many contributions came in during the run-up to Election Day for the campaign to verify donors.

“There was really no way at that time that we could check each individual contributor,” Marsh said. “But it was an oversight, and it’s being corrected. We are sending the check back.”

Democrats pointed out that Schulman gave to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) on the same day news broke that they could be indicted, according to FEC reports. They were indicted days later.

A DCCC spokesman criticized the former GOP staffers who run the Majority Accountability Project, which has focused on exposing the Democratic freshmen in the House.

“You’d think these guys, who worked at the [National Republican Congressional Committee] and NRSC, would know the first rule of research — don’t throw mud that’ll hit your own team,” DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell said.

The NRSC declined to comment.

Majority Accountability Project co-founder Michael Brady said: “I find it fascinating that the DCCC is doing their talking for them. It’s very clear who’s calling the shots with the freshman class that was going to change Washington.”

In the indictment, Bershad and Schulman are alleged to have paid kickbacks to plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits.

Past recipients of money from the indicted lawyers include the three major Democratic presidential candidates — former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and Sens. Hillary Rodham  Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) — as well as numerous Republican and Democratic candidates and committees, including the DCCC.