The two U.S. senators from Ohio and the state attorney general might give up their pieces of PIE.

The result could be tens of thousands of dollars in surrendered campaign cash.

Betty D. Montgomery and Sens. George V. Voinovich and Mike DeWine have asked the U.S. attorney's office for northern Ohio whether campaign contributions they got from the now-defunct PIE Mutual Insurance and its founder, Larry E. Rogers, were given illegally.

Last week, Rogers, 63, of Hilton Head, S.C., pleaded guilty to insurance fraud and conspiracy to make illegal campaign contributions. The state took over PIE, once Ohio's largest medical-malpractice insurer, in December 1997.

Rogers is to be sentenced Feb. 26. The former top executive, who has agreed to pay $6.8 million relating to the insurance fraud, faces 37 to 46 months in prison under a plea agreement.

As part of the agreement, Rogers admitted to making about $1.5 million in improper contributions to 33 federal candidates or committees and 42 state or local candidates in Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and West Virginia.

He said the political donations were given to candidates sympathetic to issues of importance to PIE, such as insurance regulation and civil-lawsuit limits.

The latest development comes as officeholders in Ohio and throughout the nation scramble to get rid of campaign contributions from bankrupt energy giant Enron.

Spokesmen for Montgomery, Voinovich and DeWine, all Republicans, say the officeholders will give any improper donations from Rogers either to charity or a PIE liquidation fund once U.S. Attorney Emily Sweeney makes her determination.

Sweeney's top assistant said it's far from clear whether federal prosecutors can or should be determining the legality of individual campaign contributions, instead of an agency such as the Federal Elections Commission or the Ohio secretary of state's office.

"I'm not sure we're the right people to do that,'' said Bill Edwards, first assistant U.S. attorney. "I guess if we're asked, we'll tell them what we can factually.''

The precise amounts the three officeholders got from Rogers and PIE hasn't been calculated.

Campaign-finance records show that Montgomery got at least $72,000 from Rogers, including $35,000 in March 1995 on the day before Ohio's new campaign-contribution limits took effect. The new law limited individuals to $2,500 donations.

"If a specific amount can be determined to have come from Mr. Rogers illegally, she will donate that amount to an appropriate charity,'' said Mark R. Weaver, spokesman for Montgomery's current campaign for state auditor. "There's simply no other choice.''

Montgomery, who was hit with withering criticism from Democrats for keeping the Rogers cash, has pledged for the past several years to give up the campaign money if it were shown to be illegal.

Voinovich got more than $90,000 from Rogers, much of it in a trio of checks for $25,000. Almost all that was for his gubernatorial campaigns in 1990 and '94, records show.

Voinovich will surrender any illegal contributions from his 1998 U.S. Senate campaign, but the gubernatorial fund has been drained "so there is no money to return,'' spokesman Scott Milburn said.

Rogers and PIE associates gave at least $19,000 to DeWine.

Gov. Bob Taft got $15,000 from Rogers while he was secretary of state, before his election as governor in 1998.

Chief of staff Brian K. Hicks said Taft hasn't yet had time to consider what should be done with the PIE money.

Other Ohio recipients of Rogers' largess include GOP legislative campaign committees, which took in more than $100,000; Supreme Court Justice Deborah L. Cook, $23,000; and Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer and Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, about $11,000 each.

The Rogers money has long been regarded as tainted in some political quarters.

In December 1998, the Ohio Republican Party gave up half the $100,000 from Rogers and PIE that was used to help renovate party headquarters, and state GOP Chairman Robert T. Bennett surrendered an additional $50,000 given to boost his unsuccessful 1997 campaign to become national Republican chairman.

Earlier in 1998, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lee Fisher dumped just over $10,000 he received during his campaigns for attorney general in 1990 and '94.

Dispatch Washington Bureau Chief Jonathan Riskind contributed to this story.