State Attorney General Tom Corbett announced Thursday that criminal charges are being filed against 12 people accused in a scheme that used tax revenue for political purposes.

HARRISBURG— The first defendant accused of participating in a scheme to have Pennsylvania taxpayers' money used for political campaigns has been brought to court.

Brett Cott said nothing to reporters this morning as he was led in handcuffs to a district judge's office in Harrisburg. He's a political strategist and former aide to fellow defendant Mike Veon, a former state representative. He also worked for House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese, who hasn't been charged.

A grand jury has found that legislative employees got taxpayer-funded bonuses for doing campaign work. The grand jury also found that state computers and equipment were commandeered for political campaigning and public contracts were issued for partisan purposes.

"It's a very sad day in Pennsylvania," Attorney General Tom Corbett said in announcing the charges.

Former Democratic whip Veon; Rep. Sean Ramaley, a Beaver County Democrat currently running for state Senate; and Michael Manzo, forced out in November as chief of staff to DeWeese, D-Greene, were among the 12 people who were charged.

Corbett, a Republican and potential 2010 gubernatorial candidate, said he expects more arrests. He declined to say whether the investigation has uncovered evidence of similar illegal acts within the House Republican, Senate Republican or Senate Democratic caucuses.

"We have pushed this through fairly and as speedily as we can," Corbett said. "We will continue to do that with the other three caucuses."

Robert G. Del Greco Jr., Veon's lawyer, said Thursday that Veon has consistently asserted he is innocent of any wrongdoing. Ramaley's lawyer, Philip Ignelzi, said his client denies the charges and "did his job. He did what he was required to do, he did what he was asked to do." Manzo's lawyer, Jim Eisenhower, did not return a phone message seeking comment late Thursday.

Among the allegations disclosed in two lengthy grand jury presentments released to the public on Thursday:

n When Ramaley ran for the House in 2004, Veon hired him for a part-time, no-work "legislative assistant" job at his Beaver Falls district office, from which Ramaley campaigned. Ramaley was charged with six counts.

• Veon ran a massive and primarily taxpayer-paid political fundraising operation from an office suite in the Capitol. The office raised campaign funds, booked event locations, designed menus and mailed out fundraiser invitations and campaign brochures. Grand jurors wrote they "discovered and reviewed an extraordinary history, dating back many years, of consistent abuses of taxpayer resources" by Veon and his staff.

• As many as 50 House Democratic staffers participated in a 2004 challenge to presidential hopeful Ralph Nader's attempt to get on the Pennsylvania ballot. After Nader was rejected, Veon's congratulatory e-mail to his staff said they "have given John Kerry an even better opportunity to win this state." A similar effort was involved in challenging Carl Romanelli's ballot position in the race against Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bob Casey in 2006.

• Manzo, whose wife also works for the House Democrats and faces charges in the case, carried on an affair with a woman that began when she was a female intern in 2004 and continued late into 2007. Manzo created a taxpayer-funded job for the woman in Pittsburgh, where she attended graduate school. Although most of the time she had no work to do, she was paid as much as $36,000 in one year. Michael Manzo faces 47 counts; Rachel Manzo, the House Democratic Policy Committee executive director, faces 12 counts.

• Veon used two public employees to take his and his wife's motorcycles to a rally in Sturgis, S.D., in 2004 so that the Veons could fly there and have the motorcycles waiting. The employees' travel expenses, nearly $1,500, were paid by taxpayers. Veon faces 59 counts.

• Jeff Foreman, chief counsel to House Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon, and a former top Veon aide, engaged in private legal work from his Capitol offices, and three times logged more than 24 work hours in a given day between the two jobs. Royce Morris, Foreman's lawyer, declined to comment about whether Foreman believes he did anything illegal.

The investigation was initiated after The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported in 2007 that secretive legislative bonuses for "meritorious or bonus pay" were being given out.

Letters to the recipients that bore DeWeese's signature instructed them to keep quiet about the supplemental payments. DeWeese has said he did not know about the letters or the scope of the bonuses. DeWeese was not charged and Corbett declined to comment about him.