Bonusgate: Campaigning distracts from constituent services in Beaver County

HARRISBURG -- An aide to former House Minority Whip Mike Veon (D-Beaver County) testified Tuesday he was directed to campaign full-time for then state representative candidate Sean Ramaley while ostensibly assigned to Veon's district office for constituent services.

Stephen Webb, who worked in the House Democratic Research Office, was one of a parade of witnesses called by prosecutors during the preliminary hearing for State Rep. Sean Ramaley (D-Beaver County) and ex-Veon staffer Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink, the only two of 12 charged in "Bonusgate" who didn't wave their hearing.

The focus of the afternoon's  testimony focused on Beaver County, where Ramaley, Perretta-Rosepink, and Veon are from. Webb's testimony, much of which was made public during the attorney general's presentment in July, in particular harped on what he said was his role as Ramaley's de-facto campaign manager before the candidate's general election face-off in November of 2004.

He testified Veon and House Democratic staffer Brett Cott, also charged in Bonusgate, called him into his Harrisburg office in July 2004 to tell him the caucus needed Webb to run the campaign for Ramaley, who had just emerged from a competitive primary in Beaver County and was working as an intern in Veon's district office. Webb had worked on campaigns before, he said, and always left his job with the state while doing so.

But Webb said this time Veon informed him he would be paid as a staffer in his district office who specialized in building codes. Webb called this his "cover story" and said he helped only one constituent during his time in the office.

Staffers could get away with working on campaigns while officially assigned to constituent duties, Webb said, because the office did so much with constituent service the campaigners could be easily hidden.

"They just said the office produced enough work that it wouldn't be a question," Webb testified.

Webb said he worked with Ramaley for about a month, until late August. The two made fundraising phone calls in the morning and knocked on doors in the afternoon, Webb said. They were rarely out of touch with each for any length of time, he said, from 9 a.m. until night.

That the two ended their relationship, Webb said, with an argument between Ramaley and another staffer apparently angered Veon, who re-assigned Webb to Butler County.

Ramaley's attorney fired back at Webb's testimony, alleging Ramaley was unaware Webb was being paid by taxpayer money. He said Webb didn't know for certain that Ramaley, who was in another room than Webb, was making fundraising phone calls instead of helping constituents.