- U.S. Atty. Laurie Magid
It’s never good, even if just for perception sake, when the Justice Department is investigating a U.S. Attorney. The question here is whether interim U.S. Atty. Laurie Magid went beyond the boundaries of a federal employee.
By Emilie Lounsberry and George Anastasia
Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — A $250-a-person fund-raiser held at the townhouse of interim U.S. Attorney Laurie Magid has drawn the attention of the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General, according to people familiar with the inquiry.
Investigators are examining whether a law that limits the political activities of federal employees has been violated, those sources said. The Jan. 30 fund-raiser was held for former U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, a likely Republican candidate for governor in 2010. Several hundred people were invited, including as many as 20 prosecutors who work for Magid. The host was her husband, Jeffrey A. Miller, a prominent caterer, and Magid and a handful of of the prosecutors she supervises attended.
Magid, 48, a Republican who became the region’s top federal prosecutor when Meehan stepped down in the summer, declined to comment Friday. She said her husband also would have no comment.
People close to her said she had cleared the fund-raiser with the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that provides guidance on activities prohibited by the Hatch Act.
