Charges vs. DeWeese ordered held for trial
HARRISBURG — Political corruption charges against a senior Democrat in the state House were sent to court Monday for trial after a district judge heard employees describe working on campaigns on state time.
The preliminary hearing for state Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, a former House speaker and majority leader, was the latest courtroom episode in the attorney general's office's 3Z\x-year investigation into the alleged diversion of taxpayer resources for electioneering.
Some of the most critical evidence in the five-hour hearing took the form of DeWeese's December testimony to an investigative grand jury.
In it, DeWeese acknowledged having campaign fundraising specialists on his staff and expressed regret over a successful campaign to remove Ralph Nader from the 2004 presidential ballot in Pennsylvania — an effort that enlisted legislative employees during work hours.
"Looking back, it was wrong — they shouldn't have done it, but it was part of the political culture on Capitol Hill," DeWeese told the jury, according to the transcript read by deputy attorney general Michael Sprow.
DeWeese also told the grand jury that some state Senate employees had their official Capitol phone numbers listed in Campaigns & Elections magazine.
His attorney asked Linglestown District Judge William Wenner to order prosecutors to produce the entire 203-page transcript of DeWeese's testimony, so he could put it into proper context.
Defense attorney Bill Costopoulos said that transcript, along with "proffer" notes from DeWeese's previous meetings with the attorney general's office, would show that DeWeese has maintained the campaign work performed by his staff was done using compensatory time, and not on taxpayers' dime.
"I always asked for vacation days, for personal days and to make sure people were using comp hours, so that's why I feel solid in my circumstance," DeWeese told reporters after the hearing. He said he can produce numerous witnesses to back up his recollection.
Prosecutors argued that grand jury rules prevented them from releasing the transcript overnight, but they offered to have an agent wait with Costopoulos and Wenner while they read it.
The judge refused Costopoulos' request, the prosecution rested and the felony charges against DeWeese of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest were forwarded to Dauphin County court for trial.
Earlier Monday, one of DeWeese's former fundraising aides testified that DeWeese reassured him about performing campaign-related work on state time.
Kevin Sidella said that in 2002 he and DeWeese were alone in a vehicle, driving from the state Capitol to DeWeese's apartment, when Sidella asked him about the propriety of the research he was performing.
DeWeese's response, Sidella told the judge: "Our saving grace is everybody does it."
Sidella, who currently works as a political consultant, said there were times when more than 40 percent of his time on the Legislature's payroll was spent doing campaign work.
Sidella described a campaign meeting in DeWeese's Waynesburg home during which DeWeese became angry at a legislative aide for failing to put up enough yard signs.
In another episode, district office aide Sheilah Novasky testified she had to talk DeWeese out of firing a woman who left a polling place early on primary Election Day.
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