Setting the record straight on Daniel Brewster

In The Baltimore Sun’s editorial recounting Maryland’s history of political corruption, you conclude with the final sentence that states: “Given Maryland’s history of public corruption going back to … Daniel B. Brewster, the onetime U.S. Senator indicted 50 years ago for taking bribes…”

I think such a concluding sentence and such a conclusion does not fully and fairly disclose the complete facts of the Brewster case (“What Pugh’s conviction says about Annapolis,” Nov. 22).

The clear implication in the final sentence is that former Senator Brewster was corrupt. What your editorial failed to disclose was that he was unanimously, by a jury of 12, found “not guilty” on all charges of bribery and corruption in the above mentioned indictment.

In the interests of full disclosure, after five years of litigation in the courts, my father did ultimately plead “Nolo Contendere” to a single count of “Accepting an Unlawful Gratuity Without Corrupt Intent” and was fined $10,000.

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled in the Brewster case that, as this offense did not involve “corrupt intent” and did not involve “moral turpitude,” Daniel B. Brewster should not be sanctioned beyond the fine imposed and he was allowed to keep his license to practice law which also distinguishes the Brewster case from others cited in this editorial.

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to clarify the case of Senator Brewster.

Gerry L. Brewster, Cockeysville

The writer is the son of Daniel B. Brewster who represented Maryland in the U.S. Senate from 1963 to 1969.