A Maryland ethics committee recommended on Thursday that Democratic state Sen. Ulysses Currie of Prince George’s County be censured and required to publicly apologize for failing to disclose more than $245,000 in payments from Shoppers Food Warehouse, a grocery store chain.
The panel’s recommendations, which now go to the Senate for approval, would prohibit Currie from serving in any leadership position in the future.
The General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics found Currie guilty of using his influence as chairman of the powerful Senate Budget and Taxation Committee to benefit the grocery chain, for which he was a paid consultant, according to a copy of the panel’s report.
The panel also recommended a new requirement that all members of the General Assembly meet annually with the legislature’s ethics adviser to go over their most recent state and federal tax returns.
“Sen. Currie committed numerous violations of the Maryland Public Ethics Law, and thereby betrayed the public trust,” the panel wrote. The ethics panel found Currie guilty of “filing inaccurate and incomplete financial disclosure statements, failing to disclose various conflicts of interest, failing to abstain from voting in a matter involving a conflict of interest [and] abusing the prestige of office.”
The Senate is expected to vote on the recommendations Friday with Currie present in the chamber. He will have a chance to respond to the panel’s recommendations during the Senate’s deliberations.
The ethics committee — which acts as a grand jury — had the power to force Currie out of the legislature, but chose a lighter punishment instead.
The state’s 12-member ethics panel began investigating Currie after he was tried on federal corruption charges for failing to disclose $245,000 in payments from Shoppers Food Warehouse. Currie was also accused of using his influence to benefit the grocery chain.
The federal indictment forced Currie to resign from his post on the budget committee in 2010, though he continued to serve in the legislature.
A federal jury acquitted Currie of all charges.
