More charges are expected in the ongoing Bonusgate investigation that has shaken Harrisburg’s political community – just not before the end of the year.

That is what Attorney General Tom Corbett, fresh off the high of his successful reelection bid, told reporters yesterday in a wide-ranging postelection news conference.

“What I know right now, I would believe there are going to be charges,” Corbett said.

But pressed to give a timeline, he added that he did not believe such charges would be brought before the end of the year.

For several hours yesterday, the former chief of staff to the highest-ranking Democrat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives testified before a grand jury investigating whether public dollars were illegally used for campaign purposes.

Mike Manzo, the onetime top aide to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene), appeared before the panel a week after giving explosive testimony in open court implicating his former boss in the scandal known as Bonusgate.  read more »

Two defendants in the Bonusgate probe are cooperating with prosecutors and might take the stand when a preliminary hearing in the case resumes today, a lawyer for a Pennsylvania lawmaker charged in the case said Tuesday.

Philip Ignelzi, the attorney for state Rep. Sean Ramaley, said he didn’t know the identities of the two defendants. But he did say the lead prosecutor in the landmark public corruption case made the announcement during a private conference Tuesday with a Dauphin County judge and defense lawyers.

“No one outside of the 50th District is giving me a shot. To everyone, I am the underdog,” says the 58-year-old DeWeese, whose only job as an adult has been serving as a state representative for Pennsylvania’s southwestern corner.

DeWeese has spent 18 months trying to convince prosecutors he had no role in Bonusgate, the scandal in which tax dollars were allegedly used to underwrite political campaigns. He has not been charged, although the state attorney general’s probe continues and a dozen insiders from the House Democratic caucus that DeWeese runs have been swept up in the investigation.  read more »

State Attorney General Tom Corbett’s office is continuing its widening investigation into government corruption, but sources said that no indictments are expected this week.

Corbett’s office has stepped up its probe into Republican caucuses in recent weeks. Last month, he announced the indictment of 12 people associated with the House Democratic caucus on theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest charges.  read more »

But for DeWeese, who in the 1990s finally did become speaker, 2008 is the summer of his discontent.

And at the age of 58, he’s in the fight of his political life.

First, he’s contending with the fallout from Attorney General Tom Corbett’s Bonusgate investigation, which so far has focused almost exclusively on House Democrats. Second, he’s fending off an internal mutiny over his handling of the scandal. And back home, he’s locked in a tough re-election campaign against a Republican opponent who came close to defeating him in 2006.

But like the former Marine he is, DeWeese has shown no signs of backing off.

They’ve got a 32% approval rating. I’m not complaining – Congress hovers around 9-10%.

The state legislature is suffering from dismal public-approval ratings, and three out of four Pennsylvania voters believe it will not take steps to clean up corruption in the wake of the Bonusgate scandal.

Those are among the results of the latest Quinnipiac University poll, which also found that few voters – only one in 10 – believe that House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D., Greene) should keep his leadership post.  read more »

Around House Democratic Whip Mike Veon’s office, they had a nickname for Jeff Foreman — ‘‘The Grim Reaper.’‘

During campaign season, Foreman would work his way through his boss’ offices on the Capitol’s fourth floor, court documents show. Stopping at each desk, he’d ask each employee if they wouldn’t mind ‘‘volunteering’‘ to help elect Democrats.

Then Veon’s chief of staff, Foreman rarely took no for an answer, the documents show, and he once reduced a reluctant employee to tears because she knew she’d have to miss trick-or-treating with her young son to comply with his request.  read more »