Court documents detail alleged Pa. job-for-sex deal

HARRISBURG - They met in a bar in 2004.

He was the top aide to the top Democrat in the House. She was a 21-year-old graduate student with dreams of becoming a lawyer. They had a few drinks. They went to his car for a quick tryst.

A year later, according to a Pennsylvania grand jury, Angela Bertugli had a state job, which was arranged by Michael Manzo, 39, the man with whom she allegedly was having a fling and who was then chief of staff to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene).

"Bertugli concluded, with certainty, that Manzo hired her because she was having sex with him," a grand jury presentment released yesterday said.

The job-for-sex allegation was a surprising revelation in the 74-page presentment that accused Manzo and 11 others of using taxpayer dollars to support political campaigns.

Bertugli was not charged, and she has apparently cooperated with authorities.

According to court documents, she told officials that she never was interviewed for the state job, nor did she fill out an application.

On the surface, she was supposed to have been hired to staff "the Pittsburgh Field Office" for the House's newly formed Allegheny County delegation. She was told by Manzo to report to work in September 2005, at a dingy office above a cigar shop in Pittsburgh.

She worked three days a week and was paid $21,000 annually in what prosecutors called a "ghost" job.

For 70 percent of the time, Bertugli had nothing to do, prosecutors said, so she studied. When she did work, it often was on campaign tasks, not government duties.

She did such a good job at doing nothing, prosecutors allege, that she got a raise in 2006 to nearly $30,000. That year, there were $7,100 in bonuses on top of that.

"The percentages of school work/idleness and campaign work remained constant until she left the Pittsburgh office in July 2007," court documents filed yesterday read. "Bertugli's sexual encounters with Manzo when he was in Pittsburgh continued as well."

With Manzo's help, Bertugli got into law school in Harrisburg - and her job was transferred to the Capitol.

Manzo's attorney, James Eisenhower, yesterday disputed that Bertugli's employment amounted to a "ghost job." He said he believed his client would be vindicated. "It was a real job, and she was qualified for it," he said.

Manzo and his wife, Rachel, were married in 2006. Rachel Manzo, also an aide to House Democrats, also was charged in the indictment.

Michael Manzo was among seven top Democratic aides forced from their jobs by DeWeese in November. About the same time, the Bertugli-Manzo relationship ended.