HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — In a Harrisburg courtroom, a former top Pennsylvania legislative staffer and key witness in the “Bonusgate” scandal (see related stories) was sentenced to prison today.

Despite his extensive cooperation with prosecutors, Mike Manzo — former chief of staff to former Pennsylvania House speaker and former Democratic leader William DeWeese –- was sentenced to 18 to 48 months in prison for his guilty pleas to public corruption charges.

As he left the courtroom, Manzo told reporters he was disappointed by others involved in the case who sought to blame the “culture” of Harrisburg for their actions:

“I never bought into that.  You take responsibility for your own actions.  And I find it offensive how casually some people that were involved in this case were quick to pawn if off on somebody else.”

Meanwhile, while detailing for the judge the extent of Manzo’s cooperation, prosecutor Frank Fina said the former staffer has contributed a “wealth of knowledge” about a “large number of investigations yet to be revealed” that are entirely separate from what the court has seen.

Later, Fina refused to elaborate for reporters.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) – For the second time this year, a sitting member of the Pennsylvania legislature has been convicted of using taxpayer resources for campaign purposes.

A jury in Pittsburgh has convicted Allegheny County state Senator Jane Orie, who had been the Republican whip of the Senate, on 14 counts related to charges that she used her taxpayer-funded legislative staff to do political work.

“I can tell you that we’re disappointed and there’s no positive spin I can put on it,” says Orie’s attorney William Costopoulos. “That having been said, the appellate process will be pursued.”

Orie’s conviction comes less than two weeks after the former longtime Democratic leader of the Pennsylvania Senate, Robert Mellow, agreed to plead guilty, and less than two months after current state House Democrat William DeWeese was convicted.

Just last week, former Republican House Speaker John Perzel was sentenced to prison. All of those cases also involved misuse of taxpayer-funded staff and resources.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — A once-powerful Pennsylvania House speaker was found guilty today of corruption and related charges.

William DeWeese was Democratic leader of the state House when he was accused of using public resources, mainly staff, for campaign purposes (see previous stories).   He is still a sitting member of the House.

This morning, a jury in Harrisburg found him guilty of three of four counts of theft and one count of conspiracy, relating to allegations that he required taxpayer-paid staff members to work on his election campaigns as part of their jobs.

A female in the courtroom, apparently a supporter of DeWeese, cried aloud as the verdict was read.

DeWeese’s lawyer vowed to appeal the verdict, and a defiant DeWeese said afterward that he would seek re-election.

“I believe that in the court of public opinion, I shall be favorably received to some substantial degree,” he told reporters.  “That’s up to the voters. But I will certainly continue to run for renomination and re-election.”

He quipped that he is volunteering to help escort Gov. Corbett to the podium for his next budget address.

But prosecutor Ken Brown thinks the verdict will send a different message:

“The jury clearly listened to the Commonwealth’s evidence, and they found the defendant to be what the Commonwealth said he was from the moment these charges were filed: that he’s common criminal,” Brown said.

DeWeese would be required to give up his House seat upon sentencing.

The former Democratic House leader was one of the last to be charged among the 25 people connected to the House Democratic and Republican caucuses who were arrested in a five-year-old state corruption investigation begun by then-attorney general (now governor) Tom Corbett.

Brown, the prosecutor, says sentencing guidelines suggest a minimum of nine to 16 months in prison for each guilty count.

DeWeese had been a member of House Democratic leadership for two decades.  The 61-year-old Greene County lawmaker was the only sitting legislator to go to trial.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - Jury deliberations are set to begin this morning in the public corruption trial of former state House speaker William DeWeese.

DeWeese, who is still member of the Pennsylvania House, is accused of using taxpayer-paid staff in his Harrisburg and district offices for campaign purposes.

DeWeese took the stand in his own defense as testimony came to a close (see related story).

“I do believe that Bill DeWeese needed to testify,” defense attorney William Costopoulos said.  “I believe the jury wanted to hear from him, and I thought he did very, very well.”

On the witness stand, DeWeese said he routinely delegated authority while in Democratic leadership, and never personally pressured anyone to do campaign work.

But in his closing argument, the prosecutor said DeWeese conspired to have senior staffers compel underlings to do campaign work.

And the prosecutor told the jury even if staffers did campaign work on leave time, it’s still a crime if doing political work was linked to keeping their jobs.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — Former Pennsylvania House speaker William DeWeese took the stand today as testimony in his public corruption trial drew to a close.

DeWeese, who is still a member of the House but no longer its speaker, is accused of using his staff and other taxpayer resources for campaign purposes (see previous story).

Today, during almost three hours on the witness stand in his own defense, DeWeese said he delegated authority during his years in House Democratic leadership, and insists that he never put pressure on staffers to campaign for him.

DeWeese insists that he cooperated fully for years with the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office in its investigation of alleged legislative corruption.

Under cross-examination, the prosecution attempted to show that even if DeWeese himself didn’t pressure staffers to do campaign work, his senior staffers did.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - The latest corruption case against a Pennsylvania political figure is scheduled to go to trial Monday morning with opening arguments in the case against a former top Democrat in the state legislature.

William DeWeese, still a member of the state House, is a former House speaker, and was Democratic leader when the state attorney general’s office says he allegedly used state resources for campaign purposes.

DeWeese was not charged in the scandal dubbed “Bonusgate” that resulted in the conviction of DeWeese’s former right-hand man, but DeWeese’s attorney, William Costopoulos, has his own name for this case.

“Our mantra has been from day one that this is ‘Pettygate’ … the only thing that is not petty is the expense of the prosecution.”

Nils Frederiksen is a spokesman for the attorney general.

“The law is very clear and there’s nothing petty about theft or conflict of interest or criminal conspiracy.”

A former DeWeese staffer and co-defendant entered a guilty plea in the case last week.

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KYW’s  Tony Romeo reports that state representative William DeWeese stepped down as party whip — the second-ranking Democrat in the Pennsylvania House — when he was charged. And the alleged wrongdoing occurred while he was the Democratic leader.

During a preliminary hearing, a district judge heard testimony that campaign work was being done in DeWeese’s capitol and district legislative offices (see previous story).

(State Rep. William DeWeese following today's hearing.)

But DeWeese says it wasn’t necessarily done on state time:

“I’d always asked for vacation days, for personal days, and to make sure people were using comp hours.”

But DeWeese did not testify, and prosecutor Ken Brown spoke with reporters after the hearing:

“I’m only going to discuss what was presented in court today,  but there was no discussion in what was revealed that he talked about comp time at all.”

DeWeese’s lawyer called the charges against his client “petty.”

(Photo by KYW’s Tony Romeo)

Politicos on the docket and the ballot
The Tribune-Review’s Deb Erdley has an interesting story today that explains why voters still support politicians even after they’re accused of public corruption.

State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, and state Reps. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, and John Perzel, R-Philadelphia are seeking re-election this year despite corruption charges.

“They are all basically facing the same charges — some aspect of using public resources, whether it be staff or technology, to assist in campaigns in one way or another. This is different from the 1970s, when the charges were usually about taking kickbacks,”  G. Terry Madonna explained in the Trib.

Public corruption charges have evolved in a generation, though, Madonna notes. “This is different from the 1970s, when the charges were usually about taking kickbacks,” he said.

If you want to blow up the government, does it really matter whether you register to vote?
The Post-Gazette has had to correct Jack Kelly’s column from Sunday, in which he just gives an unimaginative rehash of most of the Fox and right-wing-blogosphere blather about liberal media treatment of Faisal Shahzad, the accused would-be Times Square bomber.

The tea bagger sport du jour seems to be looking up the voting records and party affiliation of domestic terrorists.

I guess Kelly didn’t bother to look it up: