DeWeese trial opens in political corruption case

HARRISBURG - He is nothing more than "a common thief," prosecutors argued.

He is an innocent man framed by corrupt underlings, his defense attorney countered.

Those were the two versions presented of Rep. Bill DeWeese, the onetime Democratic leader from southwestern Pennsylvania, at the start of his trial Monday morning in a Dauphin County courtroom just blocks from the state Capitol.

DeWeese, 61, is charged with theft and other crimes in a political corruption case stemming from the state Attorney General's "Bonusgate" investigation. Prosecutors allege that as the Democratic House leader, DeWeese directed and condoned political activity by state employees who were on the taxpayers' dime and time.

Not only did he expect his staff to work on his campaigns, prosecutors alleged, he demanded it. And he would become furious when legislative employees did not participate in political activity, even going so far as to threaten to fire them.

When he was not expecting them to do political tasks, he never hesitated to ask them to run personal errands: pick up his dry-cleaning, do his grocery shopping, book tickets for his personal travel.

"What the evidence will show is that this defendant was a common thief with uncommon access to other people's time, other people's money, and other people's efforts," said Senior Deputy Attorney General Ken Brown in his opening statement to the jury of seven women and five men. "We are talking about public moneys that were taken by this defendant and used for his own campaign work and for his own personal amusement."

DeWeese's lawyer, William Costopoulos, countered that the Democratic lawmaker was wrongly being held up as the guilty party by others who were facing serious criminal charges and who would say anything and blame anyone to stay out of jail.

Among those witnesses Costopoulos singled out: Mike Manzo, DeWeese's former chief of staff, who was charged in the original Bonusgate case and who pleaded guilty in return for his testimony.

Costopoulos said DeWeese was not disputing that campaign work occurred during legislative hours. But he argued that the Democrat, a veteran of the Marine Corps, always urged his legislative staff to take appropriate leave when they performed campaign work, whether that be vacation, personal, or compensatory time.

"They are going to trash him," Costopoulos told the jury, pointing to the prosecution team. "Thief. Politician."

But he argued that the truth is that DeWeese wanted only one thing, and that was to be the best Democratic leader in Pennsylvania history.

"And they are even going to make fun of him for that," Costopoulos said.

Three witnesses, including Manzo, took the stand Monday, detailing what it was like to work for DeWeese at the height of his power between 2000 and 2007.

Manzo described a man who was "not a stellar legislator but . . . a great politician" who enjoyed the trappings of the office.

"Bill spent a lot of time focusing on how to make Bill happy," Manzo told the jury.

Among the things that made him happy was being in a leadership position, said Manzo, and DeWeese worked hard at maintaining his status as the top Democrat in the House. He had a bevy of staffers to help him and tapped them not just for legislative work, but for everything from political fund-raising calls to doing opposition research on his campaign opponents, mostly at a cost to taxpayers.

Other witnesses testified that DeWeese used them to organize what they called "history dinners" and for what DeWeese allegedly referred to as his "phony-baloney master's program." Those were part of the Democrat's attempt, every year, at studying an issue in depth. The topics ranged from the Civil War to African American history, from Jewish history to French Impressionism.

The staffers would seek out professors and organize dinners with them, and help arrange for travel to places like Philadelphia and Boston to further DeWeese's educational pursuit that year.

In cross-examining the prosecution witnesses, Costopoulos pointed out that the dinners were not financed by taxpayers - lobbyists usually picked up the bill - and that the professors paid their own way.

Throughout the day, DeWeese was alternately perched on the edge of his seat, furiously taking notes, or nodding vigorously when a witness said something on cross-examination that seemed to help his case.

His trial is expected to last two weeks. Aside from Manzo, another key prosecution witness is onetime aide Kevin Sidella, whom prosecutors contend DeWeese hired onto his state-paid legislative staff to do nothing but political work.

DeWeese was charged in late 2009 along with former State Rep. Steve Stetler of York County and onetime DeWeese aide Sharon Rodavich. Stetler is scheduled to be tried later this year, while Rodavich last week entered a guilty plea.

or @AngelasInk on Twitter.