An early red flag related to potential abuse of politician-linked nonprofit organizations came in 2005 when the headline "Six lawmakers funnel $29 million to pet nonprofits" appeared in a Pittsburgh newspaper. Now, following revelations connected to the criminal investigations targeting former state Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver, and former state Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, there will be an overdue examination of nonprofit organizations with close ties to top state lawmakers.

The current focus is on Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit set up and run by former Fumo aides. Fumo's ongoing corruption trial has revealed that as much as $1 million in purchases or services provided by Citizens' Alliance benefited Fumo.

Fumo's lawyers argue that since he helped bring money to the charity, he was entitled to special economic benefits. But any sensible person understands that that is just wrong.

Fumo did direct plenty of money to Citizens' Alliance, including some of the $29 million in state funds mentioned in the Pittsburgh newspaper story. He also was able to convince a Philadelphia electric utility to contribute $17 million to Citizens' Alliance. Fumo encouraged the Delaware Port Authority to make a $10 million donation to Citizens' Alliance.

Fumo's trial has not yet revealed how or why those huge donations were made or if Fumo had exercised political power to elicit such extraordinarily large donations.

With Citizens' Alliance flush with cash, it bought thousands of dollars worth of power tools and other items for Fumo. The Philadephia nonprofit even purchased a bulldozer that was delivered to Fumo's country estate near Harrisburg.

Testimony in the corruption trial revealed that Citizens' Alliance bought a $54,000 SUV for its director and also secretly funded a lawsuit against a Fumo political enemy.

Over the past three years, Citizens' Alliance has spent $2 million on legal services related to defense of Fumo's co-defendant in the corruption trial, Ruth Arnao, a former Fumo aide and former executive director of Citizens' Alliance. And in 2007, the nonprofit handed out only $93,000 in grants.

In Western Pennsylvania, a nonprofit with close ties to Veon deserves the same level of scrutiny now focused on Citizens' Alliance. Veon, who is facing 54 counts of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest related to the Bonusgate scandal in Harrisburg, founded the Beaver Initiative for Growth (BIG) and helped direct about $10 million in state grants to the organization while he had a leadership role in the state House.

According to published reports, partial spending records from BIG reveal that more than $2 million went to consultants, most of whom had ties to Veon or other leading Democrats.

In October, it was reported that state officials had demanded financial records from BIG and two other nonprofits with close connections to Veon.

Other news reports indicate that investigators from the Attorney General's office have been reviewing records of several nonprofits with close ties to Veon. No official statements have been issued as a result of those investigations, but it is likely that Veon's nonprofits were used in much the same way as Fumo's — as a sort of personal piggy bank to reward the chief Harrisburg benefactor — financially or politically.

With what's already known about Veon's and Fumo's pet nonprofits, state officials should perform audits on any nonprofit created by a state lawmaker or with especially close ties to a lawmaker or former lawmaker. The potential for abuse is clear, and taxpayers have a right to know where the money went, and who benefited.