State Sen. Robert J. Garagiola, left, standing with Sen. Christopher B. Shank before a recent Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing. (By Andrew Schotz) |
ANNAPOLIS, Md.—
A Maryland state senator running for Congress may have violated state ethics rules by failing to report his employment by a Washington lobbying firm for three years.The Washington Post reported Thursday that Montgomery County Democrat Robert Garagiola didn’t report more than $200,000 in earnings from Greenberg Traurig on financial disclosure forms he filed from 2001 to 2003 as a state Senate candidate and a Senate member.
Garagiola is running for the 6th Congressional District House seat.
Garagiola told The Herald-Mail on Thursday that the financial disclosure forms seemed to be asking him to declare income if it came from a business he owned.
Therefore, he also didn’t disclose income from his current employer — the law firm of Stein, Sperling, Bennett, De Jong, Driscoll, PC — in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
“We’re certainly not hiding the ball on anything,” he said.
When the financial disclosure form changed in 2007 and the wording was clear, Garagiola listed his current law firm, he said.
“If it needs to be amended, we’ll certainly amend it,” he said.
State ethics chief Michael Lord said that’s one possible interpretation of the form’s instructions, which were clarified.
A spokesman for John Delaney, one of Garagiola’s Democratic primary opponents, said Garagiola lied to voters on the forms.
Staff Writer Andrew Schotz contributed to this story.
