DEL. TONY E. FULTON, D-Baltimore
Fulton escaped conviction on 11 charges of federal mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors had alleged that Fulton made empty claims that he was going to push for anti-lead paint legislation so that lobbyist Gerard Evans could collect money from his lead paint company clients to lobby against it. Fulton also allegedly received a $10,000 payment from Evans' firm, which prosecutors argued was a payoff. But with little evidence to consider, the jury acquitted Fulton on some of the charges and deadlocked on the others. After prosecutors declined a retrial, the Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics decided not to investigate. Fulton remains in office.

DEL. GERALD J. CURRAN, D-Baltimore
Curran resigned from the Legislature Feb. 27, 1998, in the middle of an investigation by the ethics committee prompted by a story published in The (Baltimore) Sun. The Sun alleged that Curran acted as a broker in a number of insurance deals with state agencies. Among these was a deal that entitled Curran to collect commissions on insurance policies with employees of one of Maryland's largest credit unions. As chairman of the Commerce and Government Matters Committee, Curran oversaw legislation dealing with credit unions and ethics. The investigation stopped when he resigned, because the committee only has jurisdiction over sitting members.

SEN. LARRY YOUNG, D-Baltimore
The Senate expelled Young on Jan. 16, 1998, for using his position to profit his private business. Young, who sat as chairman of the Health subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, was also president of a private, for-profit health consulting firm called the LY Group. The ethics committee found that Young used his position and influence to leverage tens of thousands of dollars into the LY Group. In addition, the committee found that Young solicited and accepted a number of gifts in violation of the ethics law, including a $24,800 1995 blue Lincoln Town Car. He was later acquitted of criminal bribery charges. Full CNS story