[##_1L|1121919364.jpg|width="120" height="88" alt=""|_##]Once one of the leading Democrats in the General Assembly, former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell Sr. pleaded guilty this morning to accepting bribes from a Baltimore construction company executive in return for the ex-politician's help in winning contracts. Federal prosecutors charged Bromwell, who represented Baltimore County for more than two decades, and his wife, Mary Patricia, in October 2005 with using his political power to help Baltimore-based Poole and Kent in exchange for more than $200,000 in cash, bogus salary and discounted home-improvement materials.

As part of the plea deal his lawyer negotiated with prosecutors, Bromwell, 58, admitted assisting Poole and Kent and its president, W. David Stoffregen, win a multimillion-dollar contract over a competitor with a lower bid for work at the University of Maryland Medical System's Weinberg Building in Baltimore.

Mary Patricia Bromwell, 44, signed a separate plea agreement to a single fraud count for accepting an $80,000-a-year salary for a no-show job from a contractor controlled by Poole and Kent.

If U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz follows recommended guidelines, Bromwell will receive a prison term of 6 1/2 years to about eight years for a guilty plea to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion. His wife could receive up to 2 1/2 years in prison, but her attorneys are more likely to argue for some combination of home detention and probation permitted under the guidelines.

The plea agreement is the climax so far of the largest public corruption investigation in recent Maryland history. Seven other defendants in the case earlier pleaded guilty.

The agreement holds the former senator at least partly responsible for $2.1 million in illegal profits and kickbacks from the scheme with Stoffregen, attorneys said.

In the end, defense lawyers said, the Bromwells agreed to hand over the house where Poole and Kent did construction work valued at more than $85,000. The labor and materials were provided by Stoffregen free or at a reduced cost, according to his guilty-plea agreement.

Bromwell began his political career as a state delegate at age 28. He eventually became chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and one of the state's most powerful politicians. He even kept a large measure of his political clout after he tried, but failed, to overthrow his one-time ally, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.

Resigning from public office in May 2002, Bromwell accepted a top post with the Injured Workers' Insurance Fund, a quasi-public agency that is Maryland's largest insurance fund for injured employees.