CongressionalBadBoys.com                     home | Daniel Brewster Daniel B. Brewster Democrat, Maryland (1959-1968) The Honorable Daniel Brewster pleaded no contest to taking a $4,500 illegal payoff before he left the U.S. Senate in 1968.  It took six years of federal attempts to prosecute Brewster in 1975.  Brewster took bribes from Cyrus Anderson, a lobbyist for the Chicago-based mail order house, Spiegel.  The charges were once dismissed by a lower court, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the dismissal, and the case proceeded.  Brewster could have received two years in federal prison, but with his no contest plea, he got a $10,000 fine.  Prosecutors cited Brewster's health, including his history of alcoholism, as key to the final punishment. [See the Congressional Alcoholics Caucus]. Brewster was only the second Senator in the 20th Century to be convicted of a crime while in office.  The Honorable Joseph R. Burton was the other.