7 former high-level aides plead guilty in Bonusgate

HARRISBURG - Seven former high-level legislative aides, including two married couples, pleaded guilty yesterday in the political corruption scheme known as Bonusgate.

One by one, they appeared before Dauphin County Court President Judge Richard A. Lewis and admitted their role in the bonus-for-campaigning scandal that has snared two dozen people and engulfed the Capitol for three years.

For prosecutors, the guilty pleas line up what could be a potent list of government witness scheduled to testify in two weeks when former State Rep. Mike Veon (D., Beaver) becomes the highest-profile official yet to go on trial in the case.

"Yes, sir," said Mike Manzo, the highest-ranking of the group, when asked by Lewis whether he understood all aspects of his guilty plea to 10 felony counts of theft, conflict of interest, and conspiracy.

Between 2004 and 2006, House Democrats awarded more than $1 million in previously secret government bonuses to hundreds of staffers. Most of that, the government alleges, was given to aides as rewards for working on political campaigns on state time.

It was a scheme allegedly designed by Veon, then the number-two House Democrat, and carried out by Manzo and other top staffers to stick the taxpayers with the cost of helping Democrats win elections.

Manzo, who served as chief of staff to then-Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene), was also charged with putting his girlfriend, a former beauty queen, into a no-work state job in a phony state office above a cigar store in Pittsburgh. Manzo's guilty plea included an admission to that allegation as well.

Immediately after Manzo entered his plea, it was his wife's turn. Rachel Manzo, former executive director of the House Democratic Policy Committee, pleaded guilty to one theft count.

The Manzos had no comment as they left the courtroom side by side. Mike Manzo's attorney, James Eisenhower, said his client "has accepted responsibility for the bad decisions and actions he has taken."

"He's hoping to turn his life around and put this day behind him," added Eisenhower.

The others who pleaded guilty were: Scott Brubaker, the former director of administration for House Democrats; his wife, Jennifer, who directed the Office of Legislative Research; Patrick Lavelle, a former aide in Veon's Harrisburg office; Earl Mosley, the caucus' former personnel director; and Jeff Foreman, Veon's former chief of staff.

At one point yesterday, Deputy Attorney General James Reeder asked Foreman, a lawyer, whether he had read the grand jury's report laying out the crimes alleged against him. Foreman said he did.

"Did the grand jury get it right?" Reeder asked.

Responded Foreman, "Yes, sir."

Sentencing for the seven has not been scheduled, but it will not occur for several months.

Foreman, Mike Manzo, and Scott Brubaker will forfeit their state pensions under the plea deals. It remains unclear whether the others will do the same.

It took nearly two hours for all of the defendants to admit their guilt yesterday.

They entered their pleas with voices that showed no emotion, until the final two. Jennifer Brubaker and Mosley, a former high school football coach in the Harrisburg area, both pushed back tears as they addressed the bench.

Afterward, Reeder called the pleas "a victory for justice, for Pennsylvania, and for the taxpayers."

The deals call for the seven to cooperate with prosecutors, including providing testimony as government witness when Veon and three of his former codefendants go on trial Jan. 19. Voters booted Veon from office in 2006.

Reeder would not characterize the importance of their testimony, but did acknowledge that it would help the government's case.

Former Rep. Sean Ramaley (D., Beaver) was the 12th person swept up in the initial round of Bonusgate charges that Attorney General Tom Corbett filed in July 2008.

Ramaley, who left office in 2006, was acquitted last month of all six counts against him. A jury found that prosecutors failed to prove that Ramaley was employed in a no-work job as a legislative aide in 2004 while he ran for a seat in the state House.

During the last two months, 13 others from both political parties have been charged in the case. They include Reps. John M. Perzel (R., Phila.) and DeWeese - both former House speakers and longtime leaders of their respective caucuses.