Cropp Campaign Gifts Audited

Companies with ties to Washington developer and philanthropist Stephen A. Goldberg have given at least $40,000 to the mayoral campaign of D.C. Council Chairman Linda W. Cropp and $60,000 to an independent political action committee that posted signs and aired radio ads on Cropp's behalf.

The contributions -- a total of at least $100,000 -- appear to establish Goldberg and his associates as Cropp's biggest backers and the largest donors by far to any candidate in the hotly contested race to replace retiring D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D).

Yesterday, campaign finance officials said they were investigating the donations as part of a routine audit to determine whether they violate District laws that prohibit individuals and corporations from giving more than $2,000 to any candidate. But if the companies are financially independent of each other, the officials said, the massive infusion of cash to Cropp's campaign from companies affiliated with a small circle of developers is legal.

Cropp (D) defended her decision to accept the cash. She described Goldberg as a longtime supporter, but said she sees and speaks with him infrequently and was not aware of the size of his contributions.

She acknowledged that taking huge sums from a small group of supporters could create the appearance of favoritism. But she urged skeptics to "look at my record for the person who has given $1 or $10 and how much I work with them. . . . I don't think anyone can be stronger than I have in doing what's right."

Goldberg, 64, is founder and president of a private real estate firm, the Stephen A. Goldberg Co., and a major patron of Children's National Medical Center, where a pediatric unit bears his name. Goldberg did not respond to messages left at his downtown office. His wife, Diana, reached at the couple's home in Northwest Washington, said her husband had no comment.

Goldberg's senior vice president, Terry Peay, an officer in some of the two dozen companies that donated to Cropp, did not return calls to his Bethesda home. Peay served as Cropp's finance chairman in an earlier council campaign.

Martin Kirsch, a lawyer who also serves as an officer in some of those companies, said he knows nothing about the donations to Cropp. "That's not my department," he said.

The federal government and at least 30 states have banned corporate contributions to political campaigns. Chellie Pingree, president of Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog group that monitors money in politics, said D.C. laws offer an advantage to super-rich business executives, creating "the appearance of a business investing in favorable treatment when it comes to future projects."

Even states that allow corporate donations limit the amount a candidate can accept from someone who owns multiple companies, said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics. In many places, what's happening in the District, he said, "would be considered illegal."

Under D.C. law, contributions from multiple companies with the same officers are legal as long as the companies are not subsidiaries of each other, said Kathy S. Williams, general counsel for the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. They would not be permitted, however, if one company has at least a 51 percent stake in another. In that case, total contributions from the related entities would be limited to $2,000.

Since she entered the race for mayor in September, Cropp has raised more than $820,000, more than any of the other four major mayoral candidates except council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4). Much of Cropp's cash has come from corporate entities, including 20 checks for $2,000 from companies with ties to Goldberg.