Mellow gets prison in 'Bonusgate'

SCRANTON - Robert J. Mellow, a former leader of Pennsylvania's Senate Democrats whose portrait hangs in the state Capitol, was sentenced Friday to 16 months in prison on public-corruption charges.

U.S. District Judge Joel Slomsky ordered Mellow, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy in May, to pay nearly $80,000 in restitution to the state Senate, along with a $40,000 fine to the federal government. Mellow has already paid $31,000 in restitution for filing a bogus tax return.

The former lawmaker issued a brief apology to the court. "I'm embarrassed and I'm ashamed. . . . I'm very, very sorry," he said.

Mellow was charged with tapping Senate staff for political fund-raising and campaign work in violation of state law. He continued misusing staff even as fellow lawmakers were prosecuted as part of the state attorney general's "Bonusgate" investigation, in which lawmakers were accused of handing out taxpayer-funded bonuses for campaign work.

At Mellow's direction, staffers planned and ran picnic and golf fund-raisers for his campaign committee, ran a "campaign school" for Democratic candidates, and did other political work while being paid by the Senate - and thus by taxpayers.

Slomsky said Mellow knew better.

"No one has the right to misuse public dollars, your dollars that you send to Harrisburg," the judge said. "It's certainly not in the job description of a state senator to use public money for private political purposes."

Slomsky also ordered Mellow to spend three years on supervised release after his prison sentence. Mellow is to report Jan. 15 to the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Defense attorney Daniel Brier argued that Mellow, 69, should be spared prison and instead receive probation because of his charitable works, poor health, and the fact that he is a caregiver for his severely disabled adult daughter.

Another defense lawyer, Sal Cognetti, argued that the line between campaigning and legislating was blurry for most of Mellow's time in office.

Cognetti read a few of the more than 200 character letters submitted on his client's behalf by constituents, clergy, business and community leaders, and politicians ranging from former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell to former GOP State Sen. and Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis Sempa said Mellow deliberately evaded the law to further his own political career and deserved to go to prison.

"This is a sad day in Pennsylvania political history, because someone who was such an accomplished and effective legislator threw it all away," he said.

Mellow served for 40 years in the state Senate and was among that chamber's most powerful members. He was the Democrats' floor leader for most of the last two decades he was in office, and his portrait hangs in the Capitol because he briefly served as Senate president pro tempore in the 1990s.