As if Pennsylvanians need one more reason to distrust state lawmakers.
Attorney General Tom Corbett discussing the bonus scandal on Thursday.
From left: Mike Veon, Sean Ramaley and Michael Manzo
The public-corruption charges that rocked the Capitol and rippled through the state today read like a Hollywood script, tarnishing not only the accused but the entire legislative body as well, local lawmakers say.
"They make us all look like a bunch of bozos and crooks," said state Sen. Gib Armstrong, a 30-year veteran of the General Assembly.
There are the three House staffers who apparently got taxpayer-funded bonuses to do campaign work — but knocked off and went fishing instead. "We all joked that we are professional fishermen now," one told a grand jury later.
There's a 21-year-old female "ghost employee" who had an affair with a senior House staffer and was given a $36,000-a-year state job above a cigar store in Pittsburgh.
There are the motorcycle trips and basketball games paid for by taxpayers, not to mention the crux of the scandal — the millions of dollars apparently siphoned from the public treasury to pay for political campaigns.
"I'm not proud today to be a member of the House of Representatives," said Rep. Dave Hickernell, an Elizabethtown-area Republican.
"The public trust is breached and that's the tragedy and very bothersome to those of us who try to do the right thing and uphold the public trust," he said.
Hickernell was not alone in voicing his dismay.
"I had no clue at the depth of this. Certainly you've been hearing rumors for years, but this is really disgusting, that taxpayer dollars were abused so badly," said Rep. John Bear, a Lititz Republican who was elected during the backlash against the last major scandal, the infamous 2005 pay raise.
"It's a sad day for the Legislature and for Pennsylvania, but it's good they got caught and hopefully we can move forward," said Bear.
Twelve people connected to the state House Democratic caucus, including a state representative and the former caucus whip, were charged Thursday after grand jurors concluded that millions of taxpayer dollars were illegally siphoned from the public treasury to underwrite political campaigns.
Grand jurors reported that public funds were used to dole out hefty taxpayer-financed bonuses under a system in which employees were ranked according to their willingness to pitch in on campaigns, state computers and equipment were commandeered for election purposes, and lucrative public contracts were issued for partisan purposes.
Former Democratic whip Mike Veon; Rep. Sean Ramaley, a Beaver County Democrat currently running for state Senate; and Michael Manzo, forced out in November as chief of staff to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, were among the 12 people who were charged.
So were former Lancaster County Democratic Committee Chairman Scott V. Brubaker and his wife Jennifer, two former rising stars of the local party who now live in Camp Hill.
This morning, three defendants were brought in handcuffs for arraignment by a Harrisburg district judge. Bail for Veon, Brett Cott and Stephen Keefer was set at $50,000 by District Judge Joseph S. Solomon. Veon declined to comment; neither Cott nor Keefer said a word to reporters. Court officials said a fourth defendant, Jeff Foreman, was arraigned on Thursday and his bail also was $50,000.
The eight others charged in the case were expected to appear before Solomon today.
Veon was the second-ranking Democrat in the House before losing re-election in 2006; Cott is a political strategist and former aide to Veon and House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene; Keefer is former director of information technologies for the House Democrats.
State Rep. Mike Sturla said the case, called "Bonusgate" by Capitol insiders and the media, will cast a long shadow over the Legislature.
"That's really unfortunate. There is still a lot of good work that goes on in Harrisburg," said Sturla, a Lancaster Democrat and friend of Veon. "Assuming that the charges are based in fact, it's sad to see the tarnish not only on the Legislature but these people themselves.
"A lot of the people involved in this did a lot of good and were good public servants," he said.
He said all lawmakers are forced to walk a tightrope in distinguishing their official duties from their campaigns, and that if the charges are proven, some of the accused clearly stepped over the line.
"If somebody says you don't have a job unless you do campaign work, that's wrong," he said. "Did some of these people go way over the line? Absolutely, if these charges are true. On any given day, does that line move? Yes. I don't want to defend anybody, but the tough part is there are a lot of people in government who are basically doing it 18, 20 hours a day, and the line tends to blur a little bit between what is campaign work and what is them doing great public service in some cases."
Among the allegations disclosed in two lengthy grand jury presentments released to the public on Thursday:
• When Ramaley ran for the House in 2004, Veon hired him for a part-time, no-work "legislative assistant" job at his Beaver Falls district office, from which Ramaley campaigned. Ramaley was charged with six counts.
• Veon ran a massive and primarily taxpayer-paid political fundraising operation from an office suite in the Capitol. The office raised campaign funds, booked event locations, designed menus and mailed out fundraiser invitations and campaign brochures. Grand jurors wrote they "discovered and reviewed an extraordinary history, dating back many years, of consistent abuses of taxpayer resources" by Veon and his staff.
• As many as 50 House Democratic staffers participated in a 2004 challenge to presidential hopeful Ralph Nader's attempt to get on the Pennsylvania ballot. After Nader was rejected, Veon's congratulatory e-mail to his staff said they "have given John Kerry an even better opportunity to win this state." A similar effort was involved in challenging Carl Romanelli's ballot position in the race against Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bob Casey in 2006.
• Manzo, whose wife also works for the House Democrats and faces charges in the case, carried on an affair with a woman that began when she was a female intern in 2004 and continued late into 2007. Manzo created a taxpayer-funded job for the woman in Pittsburgh, where she attended graduate school. Although most of the time she had no work to do, she was paid as much as $36,000 in one year. Michael Manzo faces 47 counts; Rachel Manzo, the House Democratic Policy Committee executive director, faces 12 counts.
• Veon used two public employees to take his and his wife's motorcycles to a rally in Sturgis, S.D., in 2004 so that the Veons could fly there and have the motorcycles waiting. The employees' travel expenses, nearly $1,500, were paid by taxpayers. Veon faces 59 counts.
• Jeff Foreman, chief counsel to House Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon, and a former top Veon aide, engaged in private legal work from his Capitol offices and three times logged more than 24 work hours in a given day between the two jobs. Royce Morris, Foreman's lawyer, declined to comment about whether Foreman believes he did anything illegal.
Robert G. Del Greco Jr., Veon's lawyer, said Veon has consistently asserted he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Ramaley's lawyer, Philip Ignelzi, said his client denies the charges and "did his job. He did what he was required to do, he did what he was asked to do."
Manzo's lawyer, Jim Eisenhower, did not return a phone message seeking comment.
Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate handed out nearly $4 million in bonuses to their employees in 2005 and 2006, with the largest chunk — more than half the total — paid by the House Democrats.
Four other key caucus employees who lost their jobs in November were also charged on Thursday: Scott Brubaker, the director of staffing and administration; Brett Cott, a political strategist and former aide to Veon and DeWeese; Stephen Keefer, the director of information technology; and Earl Mosley, the personnel director.
Also charged were Jennifer Brubaker, Scott's wife and director of the caucus' Legislative Research Office; Patrick J. Lavelle, a research analyst; and Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, a former district aide to Veon.
All 12 were charged with various counts of theft, conflict of interest and conspiracy and are expected to be arraigned before a Harrisburg district judge today. Corbett said they face substantial jail sentences and that he intends to seek restitution.
Jennifer Brubaker, Rachel Manzo, Foreman and Lavelle were suspended Thursday without pay or benefits.
State Rep. Katie True, a Republican from East Hempfield Township, said some good will come of "Bonusgate."
"As bad as this is — and I understand more is coming, and Democrats aren't the only ones being looked at — regardless of who's caught up in this, it's once again bringing to the forefront why we so desperately need to change and reform Harrisburg," said True.
"All the layers on the onion are coming off," she said. "It is sad for all of us trying to do the right thing. We will be tarred. However, it's always my hope that out of something like this —!\qanother huge disaster — comes something good.
"Let the chips fall where they may," True said, "and we'll clean it up. I'm looking for that reform train to get back on the tracks."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)Staff writer Tom Murse can be reached at tmurse@LNPnews.com or 481-6021.
(1188)
