Jul 25, 2010 By Jennifer Harr 5 min read

State Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, will have a preliminary hearing Monday in Dauphin County to determine if he will stand trial on charges of theft and conflict of interest filed against him late last year by state Attorney General Tom Corbett. Magisterial District Judge William C. Wenner will conduct the hearing and determine if prosecutors have a case against DeWeese and his legislative aide, Sharon Rodavich. Wenner will either order DeWeese and Rodavich to stand trial on the charges or dismiss them.

Generally, the prosecution calls witnesses to support their case and defense attorneys cross-examine those witnesses. DeWeese isn’t expected to testify as is the case with the overwhelming majority of defendants in preliminary hearings.

Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a spokesman for Corbett, said that the facts in the case will speak for themselves.

“But it is important to remember that this is a preliminary hearing, just one step in a lengthy process,” Hagen-Frederiksen said. “The purpose of the hearing is not to try the entire case, but to determine whether the commonwealth has presented enough evidence to hold the charges for trial.”

DeWeese, Rodavich and former York County Rep. Steve Stetler were all charged in December 2009 with theft and conflict of interest. Stetler already had a preliminary hearing, and all of the charges filed against him were held for court.

DeWeese, 60, and Stetler, 61, are charged with using government employees and resources to run campaigns on work time at taxpayers’ expense. Rodavich allegedly ran DeWeese’s campaign out of his Waynesburg office and performed solely campaign-related work.

The charges were filed following a grand jury investigation into the corruption of public officials. The grand jury’s findings alleged that DeWeese conducted fundraising from 2001-2007 “primarily at the expense of Pennsylvania’s taxpayers.”

To do so, he employed Kevin Sidella on his legislative staff. DeWeese’s former chief aide, Michael Manzo, testified that it was clear from the get-go that Sidella’s real job was to work on campaign fundraising and other election-related issues – and DeWeese knew that.

Manzo, indicted in 2007, initially faced 47 charges, but entered guilty pleas to six counts of conflict of interest, three counts of theft by deception and one count of criminal conspiracy to commit conflict of interest in January.

He was scheduled for sentencing in June, but it was continued for six months at prosecutors’ request.

Among other things, Manzo was accused of hiring his girlfriend to do very little work.

The charges he faced stemmed from “Bonusgate,” where a dozen people were charged with handing out bonuses for campaign work done on legislative time.

Testifying under a grant of immunity, Sidella told the grand jury he raised millions of dollars between 2001 and 2006. During those five years, Sidella was paid over $275,000, according to prosecutors.

Several staffers in DeWeese’s offices testified that they knew the difference between legitimate legislative work and campaign work. They told the grand jury that their work was never limited to the appropriate legislative work.

“Representative DeWeese’s legislative staff and campaign staff were virtually one in the same,” the presentment read. “Practically every aspect of his campaign, whether fundraising, mailers, advertisements, signs or door-to-door canvassing, was performed by legislative employees.”

In 2006, when DeWeese faced a challenge in the primary, the representative said he wanted a big effort on his behalf, Manzo testified.

Manzo said DeWeese was “obsessed” with whether staffers were giving their full effort to his campaign.

Manzo testified, “it was pretty well understood that if you worked for Bill, you had to get your butt out there and knock on doors.”

Waynesburg office staffer Sheliah Novasky testified before the grand jury that staffers were given a “campaign bible” that assigned them to specific areas in DeWeese’s district in 2006. Novasky testified with a grant of immunity.

When employees complained that campaign work was interfering with their personal lives and commitments, Rodavich, 54, of Carmichaels, said it was part of their job, Novasky testified.

Rodavich, the outreach director at the Waynesburg office, is alleged to have used her time at work to run DeWeese’s campaign, organize high school cheerleading competitions and plan her daughter’s wedding, prosecutors alleged.

“Of the numerous legislative staffers who testified before the grand jury, from DeWeese’s district and Capitol offices, not a single one was able to identify any specific legislative work actually performed by Sharon Rodavich,” the grand jury’s findings read.

Manzo testified Rodavich only did political tasks, and indicated she had a serious attendance problem and was rarely in the office, according to the presentment. Rodavich’s co-workers echoed that sentiment in their testimony before the grand jury, and an attorney with the House Democratic Caucus said DeWeese knew of her attendance problems.

Despite her alleged attendance problems, as of 2007, Rodavich had accrued 585 hours of sick leave, 641 1/2 hours of vacation time, 65 hours of personal leave and 137 1/4 hours of compensatory time.

The total of that time amounts to about 178 1/2 eight-hour work days. Between 1999 and 2007, she was paid in excess of $230,000, according to the findings.

Five staffers also testified Rodavich and Novasky ran the office with an iron fist.

“Before the 2006 election season began, staffers were told to find other jobs if they didn’t like campaigning,” prosecutors alleged.

One staffer, Angel Kirby-Willard, was in the midst of a high-risk pregnancy at that time, and was performing limited duties. She indicated that Rodavich and Novasky warned her that her work was “not up to speed,” according to the filing.

While the women said they would cut her some slack, they also told her she should be in the office making calls and writing campaign-related letters.

Rodavich also allegedly pulled staffer Carol Bohach aside and told her that she wasn’t doing enough work for DeWeese’s re-election campaign.

During a campaign meeting, Bohach testified she brought up the case of former state Rep. Jeff Habay, who was found guilty of using taxpayer resources to do campaign work.

When she brought that up, Bohach testified, “You could hear a pin drop.”

In response, Rodavich told her, “We have always done it this way. Bill has always let us do this.”