In addition, the senator met with the current economic development chief, David W. Edgerley, weeks before the senator's home was raided by FBI agents in May. Edgerley wrote in a memo that he met with Currie and Alex Montague, Shoppers' director of real estate, who inquired about financial incentives for the grocery store chain. Shoppers provided a list of planned store locations.
Edgerley said in the memo that he told Montague that his department typically doesn't provide financial incentives to retail operations such as Shoppers but that the company might be eligible for assistance through the Enterprise Zone program, a state program to draw businesses to downtrodden areas. Edgerley promised to have his staff review the list of Shoppers sites to determine whether they might be eligible.
Currie, a former school principal who was elected to the General Assembly as a delegate two decades ago, declined to comment yesterday through his wife. Currie's attorney, Dale Kelberman, could not be reached.
The Prince George's County Democrat has continued to carry out legislative duties since news of the investigation broke more than two months ago, and he said in a recent interview that he has been knocking on doors in his district in preparation for a 2010 re-election bid.
"I got great responses from my constituents," Currie said in the interview.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has said that he has no plans to remove Currie from his post as chairman of the influential Budget and Taxation Committee. "He has not been charged with any offense," Miller said. "Everybody I know wants to give him the benefit of the doubt."
DiPaula, who now works for an Annapolis developer, did not return phone calls seeking comment. He spent more than two years as secretary of budget and management in Ehrlich's Cabinet, and he later became the governor's chief of staff. He was among the most influential members of the Ehrlich administration.
Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Ehrlich, said that while Ehrlich supported the Mondawmin project, he didn't recall having any discussions with Currie about it and didn't know that Currie worked for Shoppers.
Officials with Minneapolis-based Supervalu, the parent company of Shoppers, have said they are cooperating with the FBI but declined to comment further.
Since the investigation came to light, The Sun has reported that Currie arranged meetings and contacted city and state officials about business Shoppers had with the state, and that he often didn't tell those officials that he worked for the company.
