Three Friends in Glare of Pr. George's Probe

The three have turned their friendship into a political alliance. In 2002, convinced that Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend would defeat then-U.S. Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to become governor, they organized a huge meet-and-greet for Townsend at Granzow's 5,000-square-foot Upper Marlboro mansion.

"It was packed," said a former county employee who attended the gathering, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the investigation. "Tom did the speaking; Karl had the house; and Pat brought the people."

Ricker has long had a reputation for building relationships with county political leaders through campaign contributions and dinners at Jerry's Seafood, the Lanham restaurant and political institution owned by the family of his father-in-law, Jerome Gainey.

In 2002, he backed former council member M.H. "Jim" Estepp for county executive over Jack B. Johnson. When Johnson won the Democratic primary, Ricker quickly worked to mend fences, holding a $500-a-head fundraiser for Johnson at Jerry's.

In 2004, when Hendershot was about to lose his seat on the council because of term limits, Ricker gave $15,000 to an unsuccessful campaign to add two at-large seats to the nine-member council, a change that would have allowed Hendershot to run again.

At the time, Ricker said he thought that "voters should be able to decide whether there should be two additional seats" on the council.

Opponents of the change said the developers who funded the effort -- none more generously than Ricker -- were attempting to keep an ally on the council. Some community activists had dubbed Hendershot "Text Amendment Tom" because of his use of an unusual legislative device, the zoning text amendment, to secure zoning changes for developers with little or no public participation.

Although some of Ricker's political activity is well documented, his financial dealings with Granzow are less well known. The two were once partners in a development company, Day Homes, along with Thomas Day, a brother-in-law of Granzow's. Federal agents said in court filings this week that they seized documents about Day Homes from Granzow's house and Ricker's offices.

Granzow said in June that he pulled out of the company last year because his status as a county official might have interfered with a Day Homes effort to buy 12 acres of county-owned land.

"I knew those guys wanted to go after that and bid," he said in an interview at the time. "I had a request in to the ethics board for a review, but I pulled out when I knew it could be a holdup for them. I was a small piece of it anyway."

Granzow also said Day Homes included Daniel I. Colton, a county developer who has acknowledged owning part of the Greenbelt development company whose offices, where Ricker works, were raided in the FBI sweep. Colton declined to comment.

Ricker recently acknowledged having a stake in the project, Greenbelt Station, a planned 240-acre development. Granzow acquired a stake in the Greenbelt project in 2003, according to his county financial disclosure filings.