12 charged in public corruption investigation
From Sunshine Review
10 July 2008 Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett announed that 12 suspects have been charged in the first phase of a public corruption investigation. Those charged include a former House Democratic Minority Whip, four current House Democratic staffers, and a state represenative from Beaver County.[1]
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[edit] The Investigation
Corbett's office began their investigation after a series of newspaper reports showed that millions of taxpayer dollars had been used to pay bonuses to employees of the Pennsylvania legislature. Agents from the Public Corruption Unit interviewed hundreds of people and sorted through thousands of documents before grand juries were called in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. In the process of collecting evidence, House Democratic staffers were found destroying documents from the Democratic Legislative Research Office. The Attorney General would seize 20 boxes of documents from this office.
[edit] Illegal Bonuses
The illegal bonus program began in the offices of House Democratic Minority Whip Mike Veon in 2004. Staffers and volunteers were hired under the guise of legitimate legislative work, while they actually spent their time doing campaign work. All of these workers were kept on a list which showed what they had done for the campaign, and this list was used to determine what the bonuses would be.
The bonuses were issued in the following amounts per year:
- 2004 - $188,800
- 2005 - $106,000 plus $61,500 in "executive bonuses"
- 2006 - $1,285,250
[edit] Grand Jury Revelations
The investigations by the two grand juries showed that the bonuses were just part of a much more wide ranging abuse of taxpayer money. They found that Veon ran an entire illegal campaign organization from his offices which included fundraising, opposition research, campaign mailings, email messaging, and petition challenges. He has been charged with "11 counts each of conflict of interest, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, theft of services, theft by deception, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and four counts of criminal conspiracy".[2]
[edit] The other 11 charged
The other 11 charged with crimes include:
- Sean Ramaley - Beaver County Representative
- Michael Manzo - Former chief of staff to Pennsylvania Democratic House Majority Leader H. William DeWeese
- Rachel Manzo - Executive director of the House Democratic Policy Committee
- Scott Brubaker - former director of staffing and administration for the House Democratic Caucus
- Jennifer Brubaker - director of the Legislative Research Office for the House Democratic Caucus
- Brett Cott - former analyst on Veon's capitol staff
- Jeff Foreman - former Veon chief of staff
- Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink - former legislative assistant and district chief of staff in Veon's Beaver County office
- Stephen Keefer - former director of IT for the House Democratic Caucus
- Patrick J. Lavelle - Research analyst for the House Democratic Caucus
- Earl Mosley - former director of personnel for the House Democratic Caucus
Corbett said he expects more charges to be forthcoming.
