HARRISBURG – A former campaign coordinator for Democrats in the Pennsylvania House testified yesterday that his candidates had saved more than $1 million by being able to use the legislature’s taxpayer-supplied high-volume e-mail system.
Dan Wiedemer told jurors in the public corruption trial of former State Rep. Mike Veon (D., Beaver) and three ex-aides that the blast e-mail system was only part of the public resources commandeered to run elections while he served as executive director of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, a nongovernmental campaign organization, from 2003 until 2007.
Wiedemer said the e-mail addresses themselves – purchased with public money – could cost between a nickel and $1.50 each. Blast e-mail systems, which distribute material to large mailing lists, also cost money in staff time and computer server capacity, he said.
“In my mind, it would have been certainly over a million dollars” that was saved, Wiedemer said under questioning by a prosecutor from the state Attorney General’s Office.
Election efforts in 2006 were also bolstered by more than 50 opposition research reports done by state legislative employees, he said.
“Where we could use resources that didn’t cost the campaign committee money, we used it,” said Wiedemer, a House Democratic caucus employee for the last three years, who testified under a grant of immunity and is cooperating with prosecutors.
Wiedemer is the latest prosecution witness to testify in a Dauphin County courtroom in the 41/2-week-old criminal trial of Veon and former aides Brett Cott, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, and Steve Keefer.
Earlier yesterday, an investigator with the Attorney General’s Office testified that taxpayers doled out more than $15,000 from 2004 through 2006 to buy dinners for players at a regular Tuesday night basketball game Veon hosted.
The evidence is being offered to support prosecutors’ allegations that Veon and his codefendants improperly used government-paid resources for nongovernment purposes. They are charged with theft, conspiracy, and conflict of interest.
Tags: Bonusgate
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