Orelli resigns New Castle council seat

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — An ex-employee of Mike Veon, a former state representative who’s now charged in a scandal involving misuse of taxpayer money, is resigning his New Castle City Council seat.

Chet Orelli, who has been on the five-member city council for 2 1/2 years, said his last council meeting is tonight.

He is moving to Cincinnati to take a job there, he said.

Orelli said the council will have to appoint another person to fill the remainder of his four-year term.

Orelli said he’ll also leave the staff of state Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-10th, where he was policy adviser. He had worked for Gibbons for 1 1/2 years.

Orelli, who worked in Veon’s Beaver Falls office, was caught up in the scandal that resulted in his ex-boss being charged with theft, criminal conspiracy and conflict of interest by the state’s attorney general’s office.

Veon, who was House minority whip, and 11 others were charged in July in the bonus investigation. Lawmakers used their employees to do campaign work, then paid them bonuses out of taxpayers’ money for that work, Attorney General Tom Corbett is charging.