DeWeese says he never saw bonus checks
UNIONTOWN – More than 700 House Democratic aides cashed taxpayer-funded bonus checks totaling $1.9 million at the end of 2006, but House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese said those checks never crossed his desk. Each of the aides who received a bonus check also got a memorandum from DeWeese’s office telling them not to discuss their extra pay with co-workers.
However, DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, insisted a subordinate signed that document handed out to bonus recipients, many of whom also worked on Democratic House member’s campaigns in 2006.
As a state grand jury probe churns on into whether the bonuses were improper rewards for political work, DeWeese remains assertive in his defense that he did nothing wrong.
“I believe that when the dust settles, my behavior will be perceived as appropriate,” he said during an a Jan. 4. interview with the Herald-Standard Editorial Board. “I feel very, very good about my own situation, although I certainly wish this challenge had not been forthcoming.”
DeWeese has visited many major newspapers during the last month trying to shift the focus from the ongoing bonus probe to the legislative agenda Democrats have pushed with their fragile one-seat majority.
“I’m the spokesperson for the Democratic caucus,” he said.
“I’m moving around the state trying to mix it up, and be out front with the public relations effort.”
In DeWeese’s eyes, House Democrats are mired in the bonus scandal because of his hands-off management style and possibly a few missteps by senior Democratic aides.
“In the Marine Corps, we are taught to trust our subordinates and delegate. Historically, I have delegated,” DeWeese said.
He portrayed himself as so detached from day-to-day decisions that he initially was unaware of the extent of the secret bonus program, which he ended last summer.
“I was under the impression that there were 712 Christmas bonuses (totaling about $400,000),” he said, adding that he later found out that nearly five times that amount had been doled out to staffers. Senior staff had advised me that there were absolutely no connections between bonuses and campaign work.”
After learning that the caucus was headed for some turbulence after the extent of the bonuses became public, DeWeese said he swiftly hired William Chadwick, a former Philadelphia assistant district attorney and state Inspector General under Govs. Robert P. Casey Sr. and Tom Ridge.
Chadwick’s risk-management consulting firm, based in Washington, D.C., has a $25,000-per-month contract with the House Democrats.
DeWeese said the decision was unpopular with some Democratic House members concerned about having an ex-prosecutor nosing around.
“When I found out there was something wrong, I called somebody in from the outside,” he said of Chadwick.
Chadwick’s work has resulted in a new code of conduct for lawmakers and staff, ethics training for the caucus and audits and reviews of operations, DeWeese said.
Chadwick is also cooperating with the grand jury investigation into the bonuses.
No one has been charged as a result of the investigation into the bonuses handed out by legislative leaders of both parties in the House and Senate.
However, more than a dozen House Democratic staffers have been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury and House Republicans received a subpoena to turn over personnel files.
DeWeese said the investigation has not taken a personal toll.
“I’ve had to work a lot harder, I go to the gym four times a week, I haven’t lost any weight, I haven’t lost any sleep,” he said.
But the ordeal has taught him a valuable lesson.
“I do need to be more involved in the details,” DeWeese offered.