Walter Orlinsky, 63; Baltimore Politician Jailed for Bribery
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Walter S. Orlinsky, 63, a former Baltimore City Council president who served 41/2 months in prison for bribery 20 years ago and was pardoned by President Bill Clinton, died Saturday in Towson, Md., of colon cancer.
In spring 1982, then-council President Orlinsky accepted $2,500 in cash from an FBI informant. The payoff was part of a $10,000 bribe from a Philadelphia firm for Orlinsky’s help in obtaining a sludge-hauling contract.
Confronted by authorities, Orlinsky resigned his post, pleaded guilty to one count of extortion and went to prison.
He returned to government in 1988 when he was appointed executive director of a state program to plant trees.
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