Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink

HARRISBURG -- Testimony given by "Bonusgate" defendant-turned-witness Patrick Lavelle Jr. was swept away when Michael Manzo, the former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, took the stand Wednesday to give his explosive testimony.

But the former aide to House Minority Whip Mike Veon (D-Beaver County) gave a detailed account in a Court of Common Pleas in Dauphin County of he alleges was his nearly full-time job as his boss' fundraiser while ostensibly working as a state employee.

Lavelle raised about $2.5 million for Veon, he testified, organizing fundraisers under the direction of his boss and Jeff Foreman, a former Veon aide. Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink, who sat 15 yards from Lavelle as a defendant while he testified, helped him organize the events, he said.

Sean Ramaley and Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink stand outside the courthouse after a judge decided they must stand trial: Politicker Photo

Dauphin County President Judge Richard Lewis said Wednesday the prosecution showed enough evidence during this week's preliminary hearing to take their cases against "Bonusgate" defendants Sean Ramaley and Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink to trial.

HARRISBURG -- Even after the former lawmaker waved his preliminary hearing, ex-House Minority Whip Mike Veon (D-Beaver County) and his Beaver Falls district office took center stage at Tuesday's "Bonusgate" hearing at a Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas in Dauphin County.

The former power broker's name was used early and often during the preliminary trial of two Beaver County politicos -- state Rep. Sean Ramaley (D-Beaver County) and Veon's district office director Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink --  often by prosecutors who accussed his district office of being a haven for illegal taxpayer-funded campaigning.

Ramaley and Perretta-Rosepink, who sat stone-faced next to each during the nearly daylong trial, were the only two of the 12 charged House Democratic staffers and lawmakers who did not wave their preliminary hearing.

The hearing provided little information not present in the voluminous presentment unveiled by Attorney General Tom Corbett in July. It did, however, provide the faces behind many of the presentment's accusations and gave the defendants' attorneys a chance to cross-examine.  

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.

A 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 Anna Marie Perretta-Rosepink. Ramaley and House aide Perretta-Rosepink were the only two defendants of the 12 charged in connection with Bonugate who didn't wave their preliminary hearing.