Contributions

Six individuals, institutions and companies were honored yesterday for their contributions to the city by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, the business organization seeking to improve and market the city's downtown. Laurie Schwartz, the group's founder, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award. Schwartz left the group in June to serve as deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development. "We are thrilled to honor the dedicated and innovative minds that are working to make Baltimore a better place to live, work and play," said Michele Whelley, the new president of the partnership.

The recession has cut into virtually every financial endeavor, but will it affect political fundraising, too? The sagging economy failed to thwart contributions to local elected officials last year, at least according to the annual campaign finance reports that were due Jan. 21. The data show that some are flush with cash, while others cling to Howard's older, low-budget traditions. County Executive Ken Ulman, a Democrat, has raised roughly $250,000 each of his first two years in office.

The Downtown Partnership will issue its 2001 Downtown Baltimore Awards today to six individuals, organizations and corporations for their contributions to the city. The awards will be presented this evening at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel during the group's annual meeting, which is expected to draw hundreds of the area's business and civic leaders. "We are thrilled to honor the dedicated and innovative minds that are working to make Baltimore a better place to live, work and play," said Michele Whelley, president of Downtown Partnership, a business group that works to improve conditions in the city.

Developer Edward St. John learned an expensive lesson recently about Maryland's campaign finance laws. Turns out it's against the rules to have third parties (in this case, his vice presidents) make campaign donations with the understanding they'd be reimbursed. Funny how the law can frown upon circumventing statutory limits on individual contributions. For this bit of knowledge, Mr. St. John is paying a $55,000 fine and has agreed to contribute another $55,000 to the nonprofit College Bound, which helps pay college expenses for underprivileged students.

Lockheed Martin Corp. will no longer offer traditional pensions and post-retirement health care contributions to new salaried employees to cut costs. New hires as of Jan. 1 will not be eligible for defined-benefit pensions and will instead be provided a defined-contribution plan, Bethesda-based Lockheed said in a note to 85,000 salaried workers yesterday. That will save the company at least $125 million over the next 15 years, said Chief Financial Officer Christopher Kubasik. Lockheed's contributions to retiree health plans and pensions have almost doubled in the past two years as investment returns haven't kept pace with rising benefit payouts.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Ratcheting up his criticism of President Clinton, Bob Dole said flatly yesterday that Clinton "does not have an ethical administration."Dole challenged the president to explain campaign contributions from an Indonesian conglomerate that helped deliver millions to the Democratic Party.Dole asked Clinton to respond immediately to five questions about the Indonesian affair, which he said "raise questions about campaign contributions influencing U.S. foreign policy.""We think the American people are entitled to the facts.

IT DOESN'T INSPIRE confidence in the long-beleaguered judiciary when judges owe their jobs largely to campaign contributions from lawyers. Yet this is the case in courtrooms across the state, as demonstrated in a recent campaign for two Howard County circuit judgeships.In Maryland, it is common for lawyers to give campaign contributions to Circuit Court judges and judicial candidates and then to bring cases before the very judges they helped to elect. It is also common for lawyers to wind up before judges who did not receive their support.

As word spread through Maryland yesterday that Philip Merrill was missing after a Saturday afternoon sailing excursion, friends and community leaders hoped for the best as they took stock of the many contributions of the philanthropic publisher-turned-diplomat. An avid sailor, Merrill is well-known in Annapolis and Washington for his strong opinions, boundless energy and high standards. Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens said she couldn't "imagine this county without him." "I am ill about this," she said.

THE STATE prosecutor slammed Joseph A. De Francis last week for giving $12,000 in other people's names to Gov. Parris N. Glendening's campaign effort in 1994.De Francis, the majority owner of the Pimlico and Laurel racecourses, admits that he sent the money to his grandmother, aunt and uncle -- all residents of Buffalo, N.Y. -- to cover their contributions to Glendening and his running mate, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.He maintains, however, that he did not believe it was illegal, as asserted by State Prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli in the document charging DeFrancis with one misdemeanor count of violating state election law.But to understand why De Francis would do such a thing -- aside from the good will such a gesture could bring down the road with a new governor -- you have to travel back to the final weeks of the 1994 campaign for the State House.

WASHINGTON -- A Pakistani immigrant who hosted fundraisers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is being sought by the FBI on allegations that he funneled illegal contributions to Clinton's political action committee and to Sen. Barbara Boxer's 2004 re-election campaign. Authorities say Northridge, Calif., businessman Abdul Rehman Jinnah, 56, fled the country shortly after being indicted on charges of engineering more than $50,000 in illegal donations to the Democratic committees. A business associate charged as Jinnah's co-conspirator has entered a guilty plea and is scheduled to be sentenced in Los Angeles next week.