Campaign gifts to political candidates and groups are limited under Maryland law, but Howard County's Republican Party gets virtually free Columbia office space from developer Patrick McCuan via a legal loophole - a gift valued at $25,776 over four years.
And although Howard's Democratic Chairman Wendy Fiedler runs the party from her home, without a permanent office, she has no criticism of the $1-a-month deal the GOP is getting.
"If we had a benefactor who wanted to donate, I'd take it in a heartbeat," she said.
Noncampaign gifts to political parties are not limited under Maryland law, according to Ross Goldstein, director of candidacy and campaign finance for the state elections board.
Money given to candidates is limited to $4,000 per donor, and cash to campaign committees cannot legally exceed $10,000 over a four-year election cycle.
But because gifts to pay for a party's continuing administrative costs are not linked to a campaign, there is no limit in the law for that category of gift - though Goldstein said this is "an unsettled area" that "is not free of doubt." McCuan's donations are reported on the GOP's electronically filed state finance report.
Reformers have no doubts that change is needed.
"It's a big loophole and a big problem. My goodness, it allows a few wealthy individuals to steer the ship of state," said James Browning, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, who said his group will be pushing for reform in the next General Assembly.
Bill Allison, spokesman for the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan government ethics watchdog, said that although the party gift may be legal, "it could create a perception to the public.
It shows the level of ethics among political parties. Anywhere there's somebody willing to do them a favor, they're willing to accept it."
Browning noted Orioles majority owner Peter G. Angelos' $75,000 gift two years ago to Maryland's Democratic Party - the largest single gift donated to either party in the state during that time.
Angelos, a major supporter of Democrats nationally, gave $933,200 in so-called "soft money" to Democrats during the 2000 presidential election cycle, according to an analysis in Business Week.
The Maryland gift raised eyebrows because it occurred while Angelos' law firm was negotiating the size of a disputed tobacco suit settlement fee with state officials, most of whom are Democrats.
But Howard Republicans said there is no hint of undue influence in McCuan's gift of a small, unmarked office on the third floor of his MDG building in the 5500 block of Sterrett Place.
"We've had storage in that building since the late 1980s" and it is moved from time to time to fit McCuan's other tenants' needs, said Louis M. Pope, county GOP chairman and vice chairman of the state Republican Party.
"He's never asked for a thing in return. He is a loyal Republican" who wants nothing more than "good solid, responsible government," Pope said.
Distancing the county GOP's deal from the Angelos contributions, Pope said "each individual case needs to be decided on the basis of that case."
The party rented larger, more visible space in Owen Brown Village Center as campaign headquarters for this year's elections.
McCuan said that "back in the mid-'80s, I realized if the Republican Party would have any impact in Howard County, they needed a place to coalesce. I've never asked anything of anyone. I do it because I love the Republican Party, and I love the people."
Republicans made big gains in Howard County in the 1990s. Republican Charles I. Ecker won the Howard County executive job in a 1990 victory over incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Bobo, and the GOP's Christopher J. McCabe also won a state Senate seat.
Four years later, Republicans took control of the County Council, and Martin G. Madden won another Howard state Senate seat. Democrats recaptured county government in 1998 and kept control this year.
McCuan said he also gives about $100,000 a year to the national GOP. "It's a way of expressing support," he said, and should not be limited. In the filed report, the county party's office space is valued at $6,444 a year.
Although reformers want a change, several of Howard County's slow-growth advocates are not upset about the arrangement, they said.
As long as it's reported, it's above board," said Peter Oswald, who fought developer Stuart J. Greenebaum's giant Maple Lawn Farms development proposed for southern Howard County.
Oswald said he was much more upset about County Executive James N. Robey accepting campaign donations from Greenebaum while the county Zoning Board was considering the developer's plan.