HARRISBURG — House Minority Leader Sam Smith said Tuesday that if prosecutors' allegations are true in a widening political corruption investigation then he was misled about the illegal use of millions of taxpayer dollars to boost Republican political campaigns.

Smith made his first public comments since Attorney General Tom Corbett announced charges last week against former House Speaker John Perzel and nine others with connections to the state House GOP.

Smith, the Republican floor leader since 2003, signed millions of dollars worth of contracts for a New Orleans company that, prosecutors allege, produced a computerized database of voter information that ended up being used in political campaigns.

But he said he was always advised by caucus lawyers and others that the contracts had legitimate, legislative purposes to continue the caucus' computer and communications systems.

"If those allegations are true, that's the caveat, then I would say that I was misled about ... what those contracts were actually being used for," Smith told reporters.

Smith, R-Jefferson, refused to say whether he believes Perzel or anyone else lied to him. Asked whether Perzel, Perzel's former chief of staff Brian Preski and former House GOP chief counsel Brett Feese misled him, he said: "If those allegations are true, then yeah, because that's what I'm basing this on. I was misled."

Perzel, Preski, Feese and the seven other defendants all pleaded not guilty when they were arraigned Friday in Dauphin County.

Corbett said Perzel and Preski led an illegal effort to use computer-driven methods to compile and sort voter data to buttress GOP campaign efforts, including Perzel's own. The grand jury calculated that the House Republican caucus spent more than $20 million between 2000 and 2007 on projects that, at least in part, were aimed at helping its candidates prevail.

Perzel, of Philadelphia, lost both the speakership and control of the caucus when Democrats won the House majority in late 2006. Smith, who had been the caucus' second-ranking official, took the reins and, he said, has changed caucus policies as the investigation identified problems.

According to the grand jury report issued last week, Smith received information and sat in on meetings that prosecutors allege had a connection to the illegal diversion of public money and resources. Political work was pervasive among employees in at least two caucus offices and one of the grand jury witnesses who testified under a grant of immunity worked for Smith, prosecutors say.

Sixteen months ago, Corbett's office charged a dozen people connected to the House Democratic caucus, including former Democratic Whip Michael Veon, with similar offenses. The central allegation in that case involves the alleged use of employee bonuses to underwrite campaign efforts with public money.

At least five of the Democratic-linked defendants have signed guilty plea agreements.