1-26 BONUSGATE - Leave Slips
FROM THE PATRIOT NEWS NEWSPAPER
State Rep. Bill DeWeese occasionally issued orders telling his employees not to do political campaign work on state time, former aide Kevin Sidella testified Wednesday.
Yet that was window-dressing, Sidella told a Dauphin County jury that is weighing corruption charges against the Greene County Democrat and former House speaker.
“Bill didn’t really care,” said Sidella, who is a Swatara Twp. commissioner. “He just said that to cover himself.”
Pennsyvlania Rep. Bill DeWeese occasionally issued orders telling his employees not to do political campaign work on state time, former aide Kevin Sidella testified.
Sidella said he and other DeWeese staffers regularly worked on political campaigns on the taxpayers’ dime when they were supposed to be doing the public’s business.
Campaign work was a de facto requirement of staying on DeWeese’s payroll, he said.
“Keeping the boss happy was the message that was sent down often,” Sidella said. “Was I aware that if you worked on campaigns you moved up on the staff? By 2004, it was apparent. By 2006, it was the rule.”
Sidella testified under a grant of immunity from the state attorney general’s office, which charged DeWeese, 61, with theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest for allegedly using his staff and state resources for election campaigns and pet projects.
Prosecutors claim the offenses occurred from 2001 to 2006, when DeWeese was House minority leader.
William Costopoulos, DeWeese’s lawyer, spent much of Wednesday morning hammering at Sidella’s credibility and trying to convince the jurors that Sidella was trying to dodge criminal charges at DeWeese’s expense.
Costopoulos is arguing that DeWeese didn’t know his workers were campaigning on state time and that they violated his directive to do political work only on their own time.
Under Costopoulos’ questioning, Sidella said he received $20,000 in illegal bonuses from the House Democratic Caucus for doing campaign work in 2006, one of many such raises awarded in the so-called Bonusgate scandal.
“It was for being a good soldier, for working on campaigns,” Sidella said of his bonuses.
Costopoulos pressed Sidella on his role in Bonusgate. Prosecutions in that scandal led to the conviction and imprisonment of several conspirators, including former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, who is serving a 6-to-14-year state prison term.
Sidella said he knew a “disaster was brewing” when The Patriot-News broke the story of Bonusgate in early 2007.
He said he decided to cooperate with prosecutors investigating the scam when he realized no one would protect his interests.
“It was every man for himself?” Costopoulos asked.
“That’s what it seemed like,” Sidella replied.
He said DeWeese, a 35-year legislator whose 50th House District seat is up for election, often would require him to use his lunch hour or compensatory time to discuss the campaign fundraising that was a major part of his job.
But that didn’t cover the prep work he needed to do for those meetings, he said.
Sidella said the campaigning for DeWeese was especially intense in 2006, when DeWeese faced a strong opponent a year after voting for a controversial legislative pay raise.
“In 2006, I was basically a campaign manager for Bill,” he said.
When Costopoulos asked if he filed leave slips to do election work, Sidella said, “Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. There was so much campaign activity that it was hard to keep track of everything.”
DeWeese wouldn’t have known if his employees were taking leave time for election duties, Sidella said.
He said keeping track of staff time was the job of DeWeese’s chief of staff, Michael Manzo, who testified against DeWeese on Monday and Tuesday.
“Mike Manzo would have been the guy who signed off on that,” he said. “There was a carbon copy, but I doubt [DeWeese] looked at it. He wasn’t a paperwork kind of guy.”
After Sidella, prosecutors called staffers from DeWeese’s district offices, who testified that they did election tasks during the work day.
Brenda Devecka, who still works for DeWeese, said he often told staff to use leave time for political work.
“You were not to do that work at the expense of the taxpayers? And he made that clear?” Costopoulos asked.
“Yes, he did,” Devecka said.
“Everything I did was voluntary. I wanted to do it,” she said of her election work.
Other current and former staffers painted a different picture.
Angel Kirby-Willard, an ex-employee of DeWeese’s Waynesburg office, said election work “was something that was explained as a requirement for the job.
“I was told that if Bill didn’t have a job, we didn’t have jobs,” she said.
“The message was, ‘Pick up your campaign work or go find another job?’” Deputy Attorney General Michael Sprow asked.
“Yes, it was,” Kirby-Willard said.
State Rep. Bill DeWeese occasionally issued orders telling his employees not to do political campaign work on state time, former aide Kevin Sidella testified Wednesday.
Yet that was window-dressing, Sidella told a Dauphin County jury that is weighing corruption charges against the Greene County Democrat and former House speaker.
“Bill didn’t really care,” said Sidella, who is a Swatara Twp. commissioner. “He just said that to cover himself.”
Pennsyvlania Rep. Bill DeWeese occasionally issued orders telling his employees not to do political campaign work on state time, former aide Kevin Sidella testified.
Sidella said he and other DeWeese staffers regularly worked on political campaigns on the taxpayers’ dime when they were supposed to be doing the public’s business.
Campaign work was a de facto requirement of staying on DeWeese’s payroll, he said.
“Keeping the boss happy was the message that was sent down often,” Sidella said. “Was I aware that if you worked on campaigns you moved up on the staff? By 2004, it was apparent. By 2006, it was the rule.”
Sidella testified under a grant of immunity from the state attorney general’s office, which charged DeWeese, 61, with theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest for allegedly using his staff and state resources for election campaigns and pet projects.
Prosecutors claim the offenses occurred from 2001 to 2006, when DeWeese was House minority leader.
William Costopoulos, DeWeese’s lawyer, spent much of Wednesday morning hammering at Sidella’s credibility and trying to convince the jurors that Sidella was trying to dodge criminal charges at DeWeese’s expense.
Costopoulos is arguing that DeWeese didn’t know his workers were campaigning on state time and that they violated his directive to do political work only on their own time.
Under Costopoulos’ questioning, Sidella said he received $20,000 in illegal bonuses from the House Democratic Caucus for doing campaign work in 2006, one of many such raises awarded in the so-called Bonusgate scandal.
“It was for being a good soldier, for working on campaigns,” Sidella said of his bonuses.
Costopoulos pressed Sidella on his role in Bonusgate. Prosecutions in that scandal led to the conviction and imprisonment of several conspirators, including former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, who is serving a 6-to-14-year state prison term.
Sidella said he knew a “disaster was brewing” when The Patriot-News broke the story of Bonusgate in early 2007.
He said he decided to cooperate with prosecutors investigating the scam when he realized no one would protect his interests.
“It was every man for himself?” Costopoulos asked.
“That’s what it seemed like,” Sidella replied.
He said DeWeese, a 35-year legislator whose 50th House District seat is up for election, often would require him to use his lunch hour or compensatory time to discuss the campaign fundraising that was a major part of his job.
But that didn’t cover the prep work he needed to do for those meetings, he said.
Sidella said the campaigning for DeWeese was especially intense in 2006, when DeWeese faced a strong opponent a year after voting for a controversial legislative pay raise.
“In 2006, I was basically a campaign manager for Bill,” he said.
When Costopoulos asked if he filed leave slips to do election work, Sidella said, “Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. There was so much campaign activity that it was hard to keep track of everything.”
DeWeese wouldn’t have known if his employees were taking leave time for election duties, Sidella said.
He said keeping track of staff time was the job of DeWeese’s chief of staff, Michael Manzo, who testified against DeWeese on Monday and Tuesday.
“Mike Manzo would have been the guy who signed off on that,” he said. “There was a carbon copy, but I doubt [DeWeese] looked at it. He wasn’t a paperwork kind of guy.”
After Sidella, prosecutors called staffers from DeWeese’s district offices, who testified that they did election tasks during the work day.
Brenda Devecka, who still works for DeWeese, said he often told staff to use leave time for political work.
“You were not to do that work at the expense of the taxpayers? And he made that clear?” Costopoulos asked.
“Yes, he did,” Devecka said.
“Everything I did was voluntary. I wanted to do it,” she said of her election work.
Other current and former staffers painted a different picture.
Angel Kirby-Willard, an ex-employee of DeWeese’s Waynesburg office, said election work “was something that was explained as a requirement for the job.
“I was told that if Bill didn’t have a job, we didn’t have jobs,” she said.
“The message was, ‘Pick up your campaign work or go find another job?’” Deputy Attorney General Michael Sprow asked.
“Yes, it was,” Kirby-Willard said.