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Limbaugh Sells Senators' Letter For $2.1 Million

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By BRIAN SKOLOFF, The Associated Press

Published: October 20, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH - A letter from Democratic senators blasting conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh for using the phrase 'phony soldiers' on his program won a $2.1 million final auction bid on eBay on Friday.

Limbaugh said the proceeds from the sale would go to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, which provides scholarships to children of Marines or federal law enforcement personnel who were killed while serving their country.

Limbaugh said he would match any bid.

'So the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, it's now official, is going to get in excess of $4.2 million,' Limbaugh said on his radio show Friday.

The bid turned out to be 'the most expensive item that's ever been sold for charity on eBay,' said Catherine England, a spokeswoman for the online auctioneer.

The winning bid came from the Maryland-based Eugene B. Casey Foundation, according to the group. The foundation, which lists assets of $294 million in its latest IRS filing, was established by Casey, a deceased real estate developer, and is run primarily by his widow.

The foundation's largest grants during its last fiscal year included $4.9 million to a Bethesda, Md., hospital, $3.5 million to the Washington Opera and $850,000 to the American Arts Network. It also gave $110,000 to the Salvation Army and $100,000 grants to a Washington public television and radio station and Salute America's Heroes, which helps wounded soldiers. There were no reported grants to political organizations.

'The Eugene B. Casey Foundation believes freedom of speech is a basic right of every citizen of this country,' the group said in a statement Friday.

The Oct. 2 letter to Clear Channel Communications sought an apology from Limbaugh and a public repudiation from the company. The letter was signed by 41 senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and Chris Dodd.

Limbaugh was responding to a caller several weeks ago when he used the phrase 'phony soldiers.' He has said he was referring to only one specific soldier who has spoken out against the war while claiming to have seen combat. That soldier was kicked out of the Army in 2003 and sentenced to prison last month for collecting benefits to which he was not entitled.

The letter from the senators called Limbaugh's comments against 'troops who oppose the war ... an outrage.'

'It is unconscionable that Mr. Limbaugh would criticize them for exercising the fundamentally American right to free speech,' the letter read.

The irony was not lost on Limbaugh, who noted in a Fox News interview Thursday that the letter symbolized 'the greatest example' of Congress 'singling out a private citizen for abuse and censorship.'

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