Former House Speaker Bill DeWeese ordered to stand trial.

[femmocrat]

DeWeese ordered to stand trial
Told grand jury aides campaigned while on state time
Tuesday, July 27, 2010

By Tracie Mauriello, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
Bradley C. Bower/Associated Press


HARRISBURG -- State Rep. Bill DeWeese told a grand jury in December that his state-paid aides regularly campaigned during business hours from their desks in state offices.

A transcript of that testimony was read Monday during a preliminary hearing on charges that Mr. DeWeese illegally used state resources for political gain.

Asked whether he was concerned that political work was being done on state time, Mr. DeWeese told grand jurors that it wasn't unusual. "That was part of the culture. Looking back, it was wrong. We shouldn't have done it, but it was part of the political culture on Capitol Hill," he said.

Prosecutors said Mr. DeWeese's own words helped them make their case against him during a preliminary hearing Monday.

"The defendant has clearly admitted to the crimes with which he was charged," Senior Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Brown told Harrisburg District Judge William Wenner.

snip

It is illegal to campaign using public resources such as employee time, state buildings or taxpayer-funded equipment.

Through testimony from three witnesses Monday, prosecutors painted a picture of a campaign machine that involved more than a dozen aides from Mr. DeWeese's Capitol and district offices. They planned fund-raisers, distributed yard signs, arranged political meetings, dug up dirt on political opponents, knocked on doors, supervised poll watchers and recruited drivers to transport voters to polling places.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10208/1075604-454.stm#ixzz0utKjwvUK