OFF THE FLOOR: Corbett's Bonusgate decisions could define career, re-election.

OFF THE FLOOR A Capitolwire ColumnByPeter L. DeCourseyBureau Chief CapitolwireHARRISBURG (Oct. 22) – Attorney General Tom Corbett believes he ought to personally decide onhow to deal with the Republican bonusgate figures, even though that group of inter-connected major Corbett benefactors is vital to his hopes for re-election.Corbett wants to be Eliot Ness prosecuting political corruption and simultaneously hang onto hisInsider’s Insider card in the Pennsylvania GOP, so he can raise enough money to get re-elected.To steal from an old Saturday Night Live routine, he wants to be both a dessert topping and a floor waxall in one package.The problem is that in life, and especially in public office, you have to choose between tasting goodand leaving the floor with a sparkling shine.Corbett's apparent refusal to choose between what look like competing options was raised by Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, along with Chris Casey and Jim Eisenhower,the Democrats who may challenge Corbett in 2008.All three say Corbett should appoint an independent "Bonusgate" prosecutor because his re-electiondepends upon the good will of some legislative leaders whose activities his investigation ought toreview.Corbett is investigating whether $3.6 million in bonuses paid by legislative leaders to staffers in 2005and 2006 violated state laws. The probe also looks at other cases of alleged legislative corruption,according to reports in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and other publications.Since House Democrats not only accounted for $2.3 million of that amount, 64 percent of the total, butalso spent $1.9 million last year alone, as and after they won back the House, they are properly a major focus of the investigation.But House Democrats and some leaders say Corbett is ignoring Republicans in his investigation. Houseand Senate GOP staff account for more than $1.2 million of the bonuses over the two years. They saythey have been asked for information but no staffers or members have been subpoenaed.The fact that House Democrats quadrupled their bonuses after winning back the House makes them afertile ground to probe if those bonuses were related to political work by staffers. So does the fact,uncovered by the Post-Gazette, that 45 House Democratic staffers worked weekdays on campaigns in2006 while collecting their state salaries.But how about the House GOP?They say they “dramatically” cut bonuses in 2006. And they did that after the election results made itclear they had taken a 109-94 majority and either lost control of the House or would cling to it by asingle vote. They say their decision to slice staff bonuses came before they were absolutely certain theylost the House. That timing, they say, clears them of any charges of political calculation.Maybe, or perhaps House GOP leaders cut bonuses as a message to staff about what happens when

your 15-vote lead shrinks to one or disappears completely. Only way to tell would be to investigate.And why were the bonuses kept secret by all four caucuses, anyway? What was the intent there?How about the Senate? Well, over there, staffers, who spent a lot of time in 2006 doing campaign work for Senate leaders or gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann, got roughly the same five-figure bonuses in2006 they got in 2005, even while working less for the state. House Democratic staffers who areaccused of doing that for former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, D-Beaver, are getting lots of Corbett's time and energy. And plenty of leaks to reporters about their activities, too.Corbett can’t, legally, explain what he is doing and why, because a grand jury is still investigating.And this is emphatically not a question about Corbett’s integrity, which as far as I know, is as strong asmost anyone else’s in Pennsylvania politics.But follow the money.In 2004, Corbett spent $3.1 million to get re-elected. More than $2 million of it came from Republicaninsiders.The Republican State Committee, Republican National Committeeman Bob Asher and the RepublicanAttorney General’s Association provided $1.7 million.Donors whom former Senate GOP leaders or former House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, coulddivert from Corbett with a single phone call gave almost $500,000 more. So about 70 percent of Corbett’s money came from two circles which are both tightly controlled by a handful of powerfulRepublican politicians and donors.That is the smallest and most inter-connected group of donors I have ever seen for a statewidecandidate who raised $3 million.And remember, while all the attention so far has been about staffers, staffers accepting bonuses mayhave broken no laws. It’s the legislative leaders who handed out bonuses who are in big legal, orange-wardrobe-type trouble if Corbett proves that they funneled taxpayer money to staffers for campaignwork or any other illegal purpose.So Corbett has to go get money from a Republican State Committee and state party that Asher, Perzel,and former Senate President Pro Tem Robert C. Jubelirer, R-Blair, have played like a well-tuned pianofor decades.While deciding what to do about the GOP legislative leader aspects of Bonusgate.Again, this is not a discussion about the moral character of Tom Corbett. But what he is doing is likesticking your head in the mouth of one shark after another: just one mistake and you're the HeadlessHorseman at the Halloween Play.The problems with appointing a special counsel are simple: if he does that, Corbett looks like hecouldn't see this issue until Morganelli, his potential Democratic opponent, pointed it out.Also, if Corbett appoints a special counsel, that guy becomes Eliot Ness and Corbett becomes the guywho stepped aside because of politics and appointed the Eliot Ness Guy.Of course, Corbett could still imitate former Attorney General Mike Fisher and indict a high-levelRepublican or two, which would quiet any such criticisms.But while supporters tout Corbett's staff's conviction of state Rep. Jeff Habay, R-Allegheny, as proof of his willingness to take on his party, he inherited that case. Habay was charged with misusing his officefor campaign purposes not by Corbett, but by Jerry Pappert, Corbett's predecessor.