Friend of the devil

You can judge a man by the company he keeps, ya know.

In a recent letter to donors, Robert B. Asher, a prominent Pennsylvania Republican and prolific fund-raiser, wrote, “I am proud to say that I have agreed to be the state political chairman for Mayor Rudy Giuliani.”

But Mr. Asher has another claim to fame: He was convicted in a famous corruption case two decades ago, at the same time Mr. Giuliani was making his reputation as a corruption-busting prosecutor.

Asked about Mr. Asher’s involvement, a spokeswoman for the Giuliani campaign, Maria Comella, said last night, “We have not made any announcement at this point in time” regarding leadership in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Asher, a Republican national committeeman who has worked on several major statewide campaigns, was convicted in 1986 of bribery-related charges as part of a scheme to award a no-bid contract to a company in exchange for promises of $300,000 in payoffs and political contributions. The case became nationally known when his co-defendant, R. Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania state treasurer, called a news conference and shot himself to death in front of television cameras and dozens of spectators. Mr. Asher, who was the state Republican committee chairman when the questionable contract was awarded, was fined and sentenced to a year in prison in the case.