HARRISBURG - State Rep. Sean Ramaley of Economy, a
state Senate candidate, and former state Rep. Mike Veon were two of 12
people connected to the state House Democratic Caucus charged Thursday
after grand jurors concluded that millions of taxpayer dollars were
illegally used to support political campaigns.

Advertisement

"It's a very sad day in Pennsylvania," Attorney General Tom Corbett said in announcing the charges.

Grand
jurors determined 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.

Besides
Ramaley, D-16, several of those charged had close ties to Veon, who
lost to state Rep. Jim Marshall, R-14, Big Beaver, in November 2006.

Beaver
Falls resident Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, 45, Veon's former district
director; Brett Cott, a Veon staffer in Harrisburg who worked as Veon's
campaign spokesman here in 2006; Jeff Foreman, a former top aide to
Veon; and Stephen Keefer, the caucus's director of information
technology who signed and submitted Veon's campaign finance reports in
2006, were charged with various counts of theft and conspiracy.

After
losing to Marshall, Veon, 51, moved to Harrisburg and opened a lobbying
firm, which he closed earlier this year as Corbett's probe tightened
around him.

Monaca native Michael Manzo, forced out in November
as chief of staff to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene
County, also was charged.

"I wasn't surprised to hear the (Veon) indictment," Marshall said. "I'm kind of
surprised as to how many counts there were."

However,
Marshall said he was "totally shocked" at the charges against Ramaley,
33. "To me, he had such a 'clean-cut boy' image," said Marshall.

"I
don't think anybody was quite expecting what we heard today," said
state Rep. Vince Biancucci, D-15, Center Township, who insisted that he
didn't know about any illegal practices going on during his years spent
in the House with Veon.

Veon faces 59 counts, up to 381 years
in prison and a maximum of $805,000 in fines. Ramaley faces six counts,
up to 40 years in prison and a maximum of $85,000 in fines.
Kevin Harley, Corbett's spokesman, said Veon and Ramaley could lose their legislative pension benefits if they are found guilty.

Robert
G. Del Greco Jr., Veon's lawyer, said Thursday that Veon has
consistently asserted he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Ramaley's
lawyer, Philip Ignelzi, said his client did the job he was asked to do.


Ramaley was charged with four counts of theft, and one count
each of conspiracy and conflict of interest stemming from a "no-work"
part-time job given to him by Veon in 2004. The grand jury determined
that Ramaley was hired as a legislative assistant after he won 16th
Legislative District primary, but only used the position to run his
general election campaign out of Veon's office.

"I'm totally taken back by that, because I think Sean's a tremendous person," Biancucci said.

With
two Beaver County legislators in the center of the allegations, Vince
LaValle, who recently resigned as chairman of the county's Democratic
committee, said he hoped people wouldn't paint all county Democrats
with the same broad brush.

"You cannot say that this is how
Beaver County politicians operate," LaValle said. "This is not
indicative of Democratic politics in Beaver County."

Among the allegations disclosed in two lengthy grand jury
presentments released to the public on Thursday:

•
Veon "ran an illegal campaign organization from his office" in the
Capitol. The massive operation 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.

• 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's staffers, including Cott and
Perretta-Rosepink, worked extensively on the county judge campaign of
then-Assistant District Attorney Kim Tesla in 2005. Tesla lost to
county Judge Debbie Kunselman in the 2005 Democratic primary but won a
judge seat last year. Grand jurors also determined that Veon aides
worked on the 2005 campaign of District Judge Joseph Schafer of Center
Township.

•
Melissa Lewis, a former legislative assistant for Veon, testified that,
"The district office legislative employees ordered by Perretta-Rosepink
to work on political campaigns of Veon's choosing were not required to
take leave."

• Manzo, whose wife, Rachel, also works for the
House Democrats and faces charges in the case, carried on an affair
with a young woman that began when she was an intern in 2004 and
continued until November 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.

•
Former state Rep. Frank LaGrotta of Ellwood City, convicted earlier
this year of conflict of interest for putting relatives in nonexistent
jobs, testified that Rachel Manzo told him she was leaving her office
to work on Veon's 2006 primary campaign. "When LaGrotta objected, and
pointed out that he also had a primary challenger, Rachel Manzo was
able to simply ignore him," the grand jury found.

•
Foreman, chief counsel to House Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon
County, conducted private legal work in his Capitol offices and three
times logged more than 24 work hours in a given day between the two
jobs.

DeWeese issued a statement Thursday saying he was outraged by the allegations.

"I
feel searing disappointment over the actions of those I trusted, yet I
am also proud of the staff in our caucus who came forward and told the
truth."