Subpoena

Records turned over to a federal grand jury investigating municipal tax-sale auctions show that two of Maryland's largest tax-sale investors didn't bid against each other for properties during the past four years in Montgomery County. Bidding lists were among documents demanded in the subpoena, which also sought any records from 2002 to 2007 that would show whether bidders communicated with one another about what properties they would bid on and prices they would pay, or about any inducement not to bid on certain properties or not bid at all. The subpoena is part of an investigation being coordinated by the Justice Department's antitrust division in Washington.

State prosecutors have subpoenaed local friends of Linda R. Tripp, a Newsweek editor, two Radio Shack employees and their own law clerk to testify next week in hearings that will determine whether they can use critical evidence in their wiretapping case against the Columbia resident.Tripp was indicted in July on two counts of violating Maryland's wiretapping law when she tape-recorded a Dec. 22, 1997, conversation with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The tapes led to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr's investigation of Lewinsky's affair with President Clinton.

Extending their criminal investigation of Del. Tony E. Fulton's relationship with State House lobbyists, federal authorities have subpoenaed the lawmaker's legislative records and voting history going back to 1996, according to federal documents.The broad subpoena is part of investigators' efforts to find out if Fulton might have been helping State House lobbyists Gerard E. Evans and John R. Stierhoff generate business beginning in 1997, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Federal prosecutors are investigating campaign contributions relatives and employees of a prominent Baltimore demolition contractor made to campaigns of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, according to interviews and documents.Prosecutors have subpoenaed the records of campaign contributions made by a son and daughter of Pless B. Jones, owner of P&J Contracting Co. and a hefty political donor, and are seeking to question some of the company's workers, according to those familiar with the investigation.

WASHINGTON -- In an arrangement that spares President Clinton from being the first leader of the nation to testify under subpoena, his lawyers and independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr reached a deal yesterday for Clinton to answer questions at the White House on Aug. 17.Clinton's testimony in the Monica Lewinsky case will still mark a historic first: No president has ever testified as the principal target of a criminal investigation.Confined to a single day, Clinton's interrogation will be videotaped and shown later to the federal grand jury being led by Starr.

A SUBPOENA to the president is serious business. No president has testified before a grand jury.No subpoena was issued in the Credit Mobilier scandal of the Grant administration, the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding administration, the Iran-contra scandal of the Reagan administration.Twice, presidents have honored subpoenas to provide evidence. President Thomas Jefferson surrendered documents to the House in 1807 bearing on his charge of treason against Vice President Aaron Burr. President Richard Nixon surrendered tapes of Oval Office conversations to independent counsel Archibald Cox in the Watergate investigation, after the Supreme Court ordered him to comply.

A study panel is considering a proposal to give more power to a legislative committee that investigates ethics complaints against lawmakers, while also giving legislators more rights to defend themselves in such cases.The proposal would give the legislative ethics committee power to subpoena witnesses by a two-thirds vote of its members -- something the committee does not have now. It also would include in the law formal protections for legislators accused of ethics violations, giving them the right to present evidence at a formal hearing, to cross-examine witnesses and to be represented by a lawyer.

A federal grand jury investigating former state Sen. Larry Young has issued a new subpoena to Gov. Parris N. Glendening's office indicating for the first time that the probe will include an examination of the governor's staff and his campaign fund-raising efforts.The federal subpoena served by FBI agents this week demands that Glendening and his staff produce all fund-raising records relating to Merit Behavioral Care Corp. of New Jersey and PrimeHealth Corp. of Prince George's County -- two firms with substantial business interests in the state.

A federal grand jury investigating corruption claims against former state Sen. Larry Young has issued a new subpoena to PrimeHealth Corp. seeking documents relating to the Lanham-based company's contacts with members of Gov. Parris Glendening's staff.Two weeks ago, FBI agents served a similar subpoena on Glendening's office. That subpoena seeks fund-raising records and documents relating to meetings and other contacts between the governor's staff and officers of Prime-Health.In a related development, PrimeHealth won an extension yesterday from the Maryland Insurance Administration to answer questions about the ownership, management and finances of the health maintenance organization.

An attorney for Linda R. Tripp will avoid appearing before a Howard County grand jury tomorrow about his client's alleged illegal wiretapping, but New York literary agent Lucianne Goldberg is expected to tell prosecutors about her conversations with Tripp.The state prosecutor's office subpoenaed attorney Joseph Murtha last month in its almost five-month-long investigation of Tripp's taped conversations with Monica Lewinsky about the former White House intern's relationship with President Clinton.

The wrangling over hirings and firings during the administration of former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has yet to end. Del. Adrienne Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat who has been co-chairman of a panel examining Ehrlich's personnel decisions, was summoned to a Pennsylvania courtroom last week by lawyers for a former Ehrlich political appointee. The employee, Craig Chesek, who lives in Pennsylvania, is battling a subpoena from the committee to testify about his role in personnel decisions.

State prosecutors have subpoenaed records from the Maryland comptroller's office, suggesting that the long-standing investigation into City Hall might involve state taxes. Two people involved in the investigation - Mayor Sheila Dixon's former campaign chairman and the owner of a company that hired her sister - have pleaded guilty to tax charges since the probe began in 2006. Comptroller Peter Franchot's office received the subpoena several weeks ago and has complied with the request, but a spokesman for the office would not provide any details about what the subpoena sought.

In Hampden, a beehive of activity Thousands of people donning beehive hairstyles and feather boas crowded The Avenue for the 15th annual Honfest in Hampden, days after Baltimore filmmaker John Waters criticized the overuse of the Hon image. Group marches for juvenile justice A group of about 120 marched to the state Department of Juvenile Services headquarters on Fayette Street, chanting "juvenile reform." The march's organizers said the state should spend money improving community-based services for juvenile delinquents.

State Sen. Ulysses Currie has added prominent Baltimore defense attorney William H. Murphy Jr. to his legal team as the federal investigation into the Prince George's County Democrat has expanded to include inquiries about West Baltimore's Mondawmin Mall. The Maryland Transit Administration released yesterday a federal grand jury subpoena directing the agency to produce "communications or contacts of any sort with Ulysses Currie or anyone acting on his behalf pertaining to any matters concerning shopping centers or grocery stores to include, but not be limited to, the Mondawmin Mall."

State Sen. Ulysses Currie has added prominent Baltimore defense attorney William H. Murphy Jr. to his legal team as the federal investigation into the Prince George's County Democrat has expanded to include inquiries about West Baltimore's Mondawmin Mall. The Maryland Transit Administration released yesterday a federal grand jury subpoena directing the agency to produce "communications or contacts of any sort with Ulysses Currie or anyone acting on his behalf pertaining to any matters concerning shopping centers or grocery stores to include, but not be limited to, the Mondawmin Mall."

The state Department of Legislative Services received yesterday a wide-ranging grand jury subpoena from federal prosecutors requesting "all documents relating to the office" of Sen. Ulysses Currie, a leading Prince George's County Democrat who is under investigation by the FBI in connection with his previously undisclosed consulting work for a regional grocery chain. Karl S. Aro, executive director of the legislature's administrative office, said lawyers for the General Assembly spent yesterday in discussions with the U.S. attorney's office to try to "figure out exactly what it is they would like to see" so that the order's June 11 deadline can be met. The subpoena - which asks for the budget committee chairman's personal and professional records and computers, along with all records kept by the committee staff - offered little insight into the nature of the FBI investigation, though it appears that the 70-year-old politician is the intended target.

An aide close to Mayor Sheila Dixon has received a subpoena from the Maryland state prosecutor's office, which has been engaged in a long-standing investigation into spending practices at City Hall, a spokesman said yesterday. Howard D. Dixon, a retired police officer who is a "special assistant" to the mayor, received the subpoena this week, said Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for Sheila Dixon. Howard Dixon, who is not related to the mayor, could not be reached for comment last night.

ANNAPOLIS - The state capital attracted the usual suspects - lawmakers and lobbyists - this fall to tackle Maryland's deficit woes. But the real arm-twisting there occurred in the run-up to the special Mideast peace conference at the Naval Academy, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice persuaded various Arab heads of state to attend the Mideast summit and support renewed talks between Israel and the Palestinians. BUPE - It's not a magic potion or a sure-fire cure for addiction to heroin or prescription painkillers, but buprenorphine is still a promising antidote.

Speaking for the first time since a city agency received a subpoena and the offices of a prominent Baltimore developer were raided, Mayor Sheila Dixon characterized the investigation by state prosecutors yesterday as a witch hunt. Dixon, who said she has done nothing wrong and who argued she did not know what the Maryland state prosecutor's office is looking into, said she is cooperating with investigators but believes the probe could be politically motivated. "What would help me is if you go to the state's [prosecutors]

The city agency that oversees Baltimore development has received a subpoena from the Maryland state prosecutor's office, which has been conducting an investigation into spending practices at City Hall. The Baltimore Development Corp., an arm of city government that brokers land deals on behalf of Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration, has been ordered to hand over documents by the end of next month, a top city lawyer told The Sun yesterday. City officials would not disclose the contents of the subpoena, but it was issued days before prosecutors raided the offices of a prominent development firm, Doracon Contracting Inc., in what appears to be a widening investigation into city government spending.