State Sen. Catherine Pugh, who is running for mayor, paid $250 to a consulting company run by a political operative accused of vote suppression in last year's gubernatorial race -- but a campaign spokesman said the charge was for work before he operative was accused of wrongdoing.

A spokesman for her campaign said that Pugh and other legislators in the 40th District jointly hired Politics Today to work on their re-election to the General Assembly last year, before Julius Henson, the company's head, had been accused of vote suppression.

"It was for the senator's re-election for the 40th District," said spokesman Anthony McCarthy. "It had nothing to do with the mayor's race."

He said the campaign received an invoice from Henson early this year for work from last fall, before he had been accused of wrongdoing.

Henson was indicted by a grand jury on three conspiracy counts in June.

Prosecutors allege that he was masterminded a robocall that went out to 112,000 registered Democrats in Baltimore City on Nov. 2 telling them to "relax" because Martin O'Malley had won the election. The calls came several hours before polls had closed.

Henson, who had been hired by former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich's campaign, has worked on city campaigns for decades.