Did DeWeese know?
HARRISBURG
He pointed the finger at his one-time Democrat leadership partner, former Rep. Mike Veon, of Beaver Falls, and DeWeese's former chief of staff, Mike Manzo. In July, Veon and Manzo were among 12 former House Democrats charged with felonies in the bonus scandal. DeWeese, who was majority leader for the 2006-2007 session, has not been charged.
It's difficult to believe that DeWeese didn't know what was going on. Whether DeWeese specifically took part in directing the scheme is another question.
DeWeese, of Greene County, portrays the bonus scandal as being perpetrated by staffers run amok. These employees all were under his chain of command.
DeWeese, using former state Inspector General Bill Chadwick as a paid consultant, turned over information to Attorney General Tom Corbett in 2007. It's presumed by some that he threw the former staffers under the bus in an attempt to save himself. Many Democrats are wondering who else DeWeese fingered.
Last November, Manzo, who has agreed to plead guilty, testified in open court that he believed DeWeese knew about the bonuses for campaign work.
Manzo spent several long hours testifying before the grand jury.
Will DeWeese be charged?
Among 25,000 e-mails that Corbett provided to defendants through the discovery process, numerous e-mails have emerged that cast serious doubt on DeWeese's claim that he knew nothing about the bonus scheme. Brett Cott, a former Veon aide charged in the scheme, provided the e-mails.
"U R Welcome," DeWeese told Democrat staffer Karen Steiner in December 2004 after Steiner wrote to thank DeWeese for the bonus she received "for campaigning." DeWeese did not recall the e-mail and other staffers sometimes respond to the huge volume of e-mail he receives, aide Tom Andrews said. Moreover, given the proximity to Christmas, this might have been mistaken as a thank you for a routine Christmas bonus, Andrews said.
The e-mail clearly said "campaigning."
An Aug. 26, 2006, e-mail from former staffer Rachel Manzo, Mike's wife, thanked Veon and DeWeese for her bonus. She received a bonus of more than $15,000. The e-mail to DeWeese and Veon thanked the "two honorable men that spend more time with my husband than I do 😉 I sincerely appreciate the recent, unexpected meritorious bonus. I enjoy working for both of you and look forward to November."
"U bet," DeWeese replied.
True, Rachel Manzo refers to a "meritorious" bonus but she also strongly hints at the campaign element via the reference to the November election.
"Just got home and got my mail," co-defendant Cott, an active campaigner, wrote in August 2006. "Thanks for the very generous bonus," Cott wrote.
"U earned it," DeWeese wrote.
DeWeese says prosecutors decided not to charge him based on the evidence he turned over to the attorney general during the past two years.
Corbett says no such thing. It's still an open investigation, he says.
The ongoing saga of what DeWeese knew and when he knew it is somewhat tiring. He was either extremely naive and blind to what went on around him or he is not owning up to his involvement.
