Pending payment of more than $2 million, Betty Casey is the new owner of a senatorial slap on the wrist delivered to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Casey, trustee of the Maryland-based Eugene B. Casey Foundation, placed the winning bid of $2,100,100 for a letter written by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications Inc. Reid and 40 other senators wanted Limbaugh to apologize for using the words “phony soldiers” when referring to military personnel critical of the Gulf War.

The letter was addressed to Clear Channel Chief Executive Mark Mays and signed by senators including Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, John Kerry and Barbara Boxer.

They called Limbaugh’s comments unpatriotic. Mays responded by defending Limbaugh’s support of the military.

The proceeds of the sale, along with a matching amount donated by Limbaugh, will go to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. Limbaugh serves on the board of the organization, which provides financial support to the children of fallen Marines and federal law enforcement officers.

A spokesman for the Casey Foundation said in a statement, released by Limbaugh’s producers, Premiere Radio Networks: “The Eugene B. Casey Foundation believes freedom of speech is a basic right of every citizen of this country.”

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Posted: 10|20|07 at 9:59 am. Filed under: Auction News.