Bonusgate hearing: Veon staffer says she ignored duties for campaign work
By Alex Roarty, PolitickerPA.com ReporterA staffer in former House Minority Whip Mike Veon's (D-Beavery County) district office testified Tuesday she dedicated large swaths of time to campaign work at the expense of her assigned constituent and legislative duties.
Melissa Lewis, a former legislative aide in Veon's Beaver Falls district office, alleged the widespread illegal activity while testifying in a Dauphin County Courthouse at the preliminary hearings of state Rep. Sean Ramaley (D-Beaver County) and House aide Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink. Ramaley and Perretta-Rosepink were the only two defendants of the 12 charged in connection with Bonugate who didn't wave their preliminary hearing.
Lewis gave detailed accounts of the campaign work she was asked to do in Veon's district office at the direction of Perretta-Rosepink, often alleging her boss blatantly ignored legislative work while assigning her to work on campaigns. The campaign work was strenuous, Lewis said, particularly when working to remove third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader from the ballot in 2004.
"It was massive, completely consuming." Lewis said. "That was what we did every day."
She alleged she went line-by-line through Nader's nominating petitions before handing off names that could be challenged to a Pittsburgh law firm.
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Word on the street here in
Word on the street here in Pittsburgh is that the lawyers Lewis gave the list of names billed for the work done by Lewis as if they had done it.
Follow the money, it lead to the lawyers and back around again.
Joe R, Just curious what you
Joe R,
Just curious what you mean about that "word on the street"? Court records say the lawyers who filed the challenge were from Reed Smith, and back in 2004 they said they were working pro bono. Who would they have billed? And what for?
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