Tom Corbett

Attorney General Tom Corbett is fending off questions raised about his own campaign and criticisms from Democratic opponent John Morganelli in the wake of the "Bonusgate" bombshell he dropped two weeks ago.

The criticisms could potentially slow momentum for the rumored GOP gubernatorial candidate after he earned praise immediately following the charges.

A story from the Lebanon Daily News on Sunday detailed how employees of the attorney general's office have taken leaves of absence to work on Corbett's re-election campaign. Although this kind of campaign work is common and far from the accusations leveled Corbett level at the House Democratic Caucus, it did raise the specter of hypocrisy and whether the attorney general should hold himself to a higher standard.

Attorney General Tom CorbettThe campaign for Democratic attorney general candidate John Morganelli is accusing incumbent Tom Corbett of the same illegal politicking the Republican has charged occurred in the House Democratic Caucus during 'Bonusgate.'

Citing a Sunday newspaper article in the Lebanon Daily News, the campaign said some Corbett staffers have doubled as campaigners as the attorney general tries to fend off Morganelli in a race many have tagged as competitive. Although dual roles are not illegal, Morganelli's campaign alleges some of those staffers were reimbursed for campaign work with taxpayer money.

"During the period that they were doing the political work, they did NOT take a leave of absence, but still were on the state payroll," the campaign said in a statement. "It is the same conduct, in part, for which Senator Fumo is being prosecuted for."

Every morning this week, PolitickerPA.com will publish an allegation from the "Bonusgate" presentment released Thursday by Attorney General Tom Corbett. Although the indictments have received intense scrutiny, many interesting stories within the voluminous presentment have still gone unreported.

PolitickerPA.com reminds readers these are still only allegations, and each person implicated is still innocent until proven guilty.

According to Attorney General Tom Corbett's report, House Democratic Caucus leaders at times demanded state workers campaign for lawmakers.

Especially when Mike Veon's former Chief of Staff Jeff Foreman walked up to their desk.

This week we have a special Bonusgate edition of Winners and Losers.

HARRISBURG -- Highlights from the question-and-answer session of Attorney General Tom Corbett's press conference today when he indicted 12 former and current House Democratic staffers and lawmakers:

• Corbett: "Very sad day in Pennsylvania."
• Corbett stressed today's revelations are only the first phase of indictments in this investigation.
• He refused to comment whether House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene County) is implicated in the ongoing investigation, or about how much the Democratic leader knew about the widespread use of bonuses.

Is it ever to early to start picking sides?  Sure the 2008 election has not even hit its peak yet, but it’s never too early to start talking about 2010.  At least that is how it seems when you look at my inbox today. 

Earlier today, U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan announced he would be stepping down later this month. 

Responding to criticism of an anti-gun advertising campaign, Attorney General Tom Corbett's spokesman this afternoon said John Morganelli "is just flat wrong on his facts."

The comments by the spokesman, Kevin Harley, came after Morganelli, a Democrat who is running against the Republican Corbett, accused the incumbent of using the taxpayer-funded advertisements as on-the-sly political self-promotion.

"It's unfortunate that he would use such an important program as the gun violence taskforce to take a cheap political shot," Harley said. "The fact is these are not political advertisements."

He defended the ad campaign, airing on radio stations in the Philadelphia area, as a necessary and appropriate way to educate citizens about the dangers of straw purchasing of guns.

"The funds for this have come out of the gun violence taskforce budget, which fro the beginning a public education component was always going to be a part."

Brian Nutt, who is managing Corbett's reelection campaign, said: "Mr. Morganelli has shown once again that he doesn't allow facts or truth to stand in the wy of any allegations he makes."

This article is by Alex Roarty in Harrisburg and Dan Hirschhorn in Philadelphia.

Democratic Attorney General candidate Tom Morganelli is accusing Republican incumbent Tom Corbett of using up to a million dollars in taxpayer money to fund personal political advertisements on-the-sly.

Morganelli, the Northampton County district attorney, focused his criticism on money that was allocated to address illegal gun trafficking. The money was entrusted to Corbett's office, which has been running radio advertisements that Morganelli said "do nothing about illegal guns."

"These are nothing but political advertisements disguised as 'public service announcements' saturating the airwaves of SE Pennsylvania in an election year solely designed to raise Mr. Corbett’s name identification," Morganelli wrote in an e-mail to reporters Sunday. "Mr. Corbett has decided, like those under investigation in 'Bonusgate' that our tax dollars, rather than his campaign funds, can be used for his re-election campaign."