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| A Fumo-like case in western Pa. |
| 2009-03-27 |
| Eight months after being swept up in the Bonusgate scandal, a former top Democrat in the Pennsylvania House is facing a new set of corruption charges - this time for allegedly using money from a Western Pennsylvania nonprofit he controlled for political purposes. While announcing the latest charges against Mike Veon yesterday, Attorney General Tom Corbett disclosed that he would examine whether other legislators had misused nonprofits. But he refused to say how many might be involved. At a news conference in Pittsburgh, he did say the Veon case was unmistakably similar to the one just wrapped up in a Philadelphia federal courtroom against former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo. "This is clearly now the second time that a government has charged that money has been misappropriated," Corbett said. "That indicates to me that the legislature and everybody needs to take a look at how money is being spent and how it is directed and who is controlling it." Veon, 52, a former House majority whip who lost a reelection bid in 2006, was charged with more than two dozen counts of theft, conflict of interest, and other offenses on allegations he used tens of thousands in state grants for political purposes. A grand jury in Pittsburgh found that Veon - who served 22 years in the House from Beaver, a town about 15 miles northwest of Pittsburgh - had used grants he secured for the Beaver Initiative for Growth, or BIG, to pay bonuses to campaign staff and for leases on political offices, among other things. And it found that Veon had arranged for a consulting company to hire his brother, Mark, for $160,000 over 18 months after that company received a contract from BIG. Attempts to reach Veon's attorney were unsuccessful. Also charged yesterday was Veon's former top aide, Annamarie Peretta-Rosepink, 46. She had worked as a legislative aide and the top financial officer at BIG. Veon, known as a shrewd political strategist, formed the nonprofit in 1991 as a clearinghouse for state grants to be used for economic development in Beaver. Veon, the grand jury found, told BIG aides in 2003 to expect major grants because Gov. Rendell, a Democrat, had just taken office. Between 1998 and 2002, the group received $659,000 in state grants. That skyrocketed to $9.9 million from 2003 to 2006. Of the $4.7 million spent by BIG from 2004 to 2006, only 23 percent - less than $1.1 million - went to program expenses. The other 77 percent went for salary, consultants, and administrative costs, the grand jury found. BIG operated an office in Beaver County and an office on the South Side of Pittsburgh - offices that were never staffed by a BIG employee and were allegedly used as satellite legislative offices for campaign purposes. About $84,000 in BIG money was misappropriated for the rents, the grand jury found. In July, Veon became the biggest name among 12 House Democratic insiders ensnared by a separate grand jury in Harrisburg examining what has become known as Bonusgate. Veon, Corbett has alleged, orchestrated and carried out a scheme to give large government bonuses - $1.7 million over two years - to legislative staffers as rewards for working on campaigns. Charged with 59 counts, Veon is awaiting trial in that case. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Philly.com is owned in part by the Toll Bros., who are conservative. Unfortunately, it is circling the drain. |
| Posted by: Omerenter Henbane5221 2009-03-27 22:09 |
| #1 I'm amazed. They actually mentioned that he is a Democrat. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-03-27 07:24 |