Thursday, August 18, 2011
Associated Press
HARRISBURG
Two former aides to one-time state House Speaker John Perzel on Wednesday entered the first Republican guilty pleas in a legislative corruption case that revolves around the alleged illegal diversion of millions of taxpayer dollars into political campaigns.
At a hearing in Dauphin County court, Samuel Stokes, Perzel’s brother-in-law, pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy and conflict of interest. Former Perzel campaign aide Don McClintock pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy.
Under agreements with the attorney general’s office, both men are required to cooperate with prosecutors in the consolidated trial of the other Republican defendants that is scheduled to start Sept. 12.
Paul Towhey, one of two former Perzel chiefs of staff charged in the case, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea Friday.
Barring any additional plea deals, that leaves six defendants to stand trial together, including Perzel, a Philadelphia resident, and another former high-ranking state representative, Brett Feese of Lycoming County.
A 10th GOP defendant, former Perzel aide John Zimmerman, is charged with hindering apprehension, obstruction and conspiracy. His case is being prosecuted separately.
Stokes, 68, and McClintock, 43, ran the full-time campaign office that Perzel set up after his narrow 2000 re-election victory, prosecutors said. Perzel put Stokes on the caucus payroll, but a grand jury said his time was spent primarily on campaign work, according to prosecutors.
Neither man was willing to talk with reporters after the hearing before Judge Richard Lewis. Perzel has maintained his innocence.
Perzel, 61, long one of the state GOP’s top fundraisers and campaign strategists, gave up the speakership in 2007 after Democrats won control of the House. He lost his House seat in the 2010 election and subsequently retired.
Figures released Wednesday by the State Employees Retirement System show Perzel is receiving pension checks worth $85,653 a year. He also collected a lump-sum payment of $203,936 that represented his own contributions to the retirement system, plus interest.
State prosecutors say Perzel was the architect of a scheme in which House GOP leaders and their aides spent millions of dollars on computer technology to gain an advantage in political campaigns. He’s charged with 82 counts that include theft, conflict of interest and conspiracy.