HARRISBURG -- A citizens group called Democracy Rising yesterday called on Attorney General Tom Corbett to investigate claims that state House leaders pushed for judicial funding in 1999 in exchange for two favorable state Supreme Court rulings.

The accusation of a deal between House leaders and court justices was made this week in a lawsuit filed by another government watchdog group, Common Cause/Pennsylvania.

It alleged that then-House Majority leader John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, pressured Republican House members in June 1999 to approve hefty funding for the court system because "we can't afford to lose" two cases that then were pending before the high court.

Common Cause released a sworn statement from former Rep. Edward Krebs, of Lebanon, who said that he was present at the House GOP caucus and heard Mr. Perzel urge funding for the courts so the court rulings would go the Legislature's way. Common Cause said it also had supporting statements from two other, unnamed lawmakers.

One of the 1999 cases pertained to legislative action on a higher gasoline tax and the other was a workers compensation case, Common Cause said.

Tim Potts and Kathleen Daugherty, co-founders of Democracy Rising, said yesterday that the Common Cause accusations are so serious and cast so much doubt about the operations of state government that Mr. Corbett should look into them.

But it isn't certain if Mr. Corbett will get involved.

A Corbett spokesman, Kevin Harley, said he couldn't comment because "we haven't been served yet with Common Cause's amended complaint. We haven't had a chance to review it."

Common Cause filed a federal lawsuit in October seeking to overturn the 16 percent to 34 percent pay raises that the Legislature approved in July for itself, more than 1,000 state judges and members of Gov. Ed Rendell's Cabinet. The raises were repealed in November, but Common Cause is still pressing its lawsuit in federal court.

This week, Common Cause filed an "amended complaint," adding the allegations about the 1999 deal between House GOP leaders and unnamed Supreme Court justices.

Democracy Rising has been an ally of Common Cause in opposing the pay raises. Several other citizens groups also have joined that battle.

A spokesman for Chief Justice Ralph Cappy has labeled the Common Cause allegations about a deal with the House GOP as "reckless and preposterous."

Beth Williams, an aide to Mr. Perzel, said the claims against her boss were "groundless and baseless."

But Mr. Potts and Ms. Daugherty said the Common Cause lawsuit, along with Mr. Krebs' affidavit, are serious indications that leaders of the Legislature and court justices "negotiated the outcome of cases then pending before the Supreme Court in exchange for increased funding of the court system."

"If true," Mr. Potts and Ms. Daugherty added, "these allegations evince a monumental corruption of our constitutional system of representative democracy that must be remedied as quickly and thoroughly as possible."

Bruce Ledewitz, a law school professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, said yesterday that the allegations in the Common Cause lawsuit were serious matters.

If the claims are true, "it's a catastrophe" for state government, said Mr. Ledewitz.

"There should never be a private meeting between a Supreme Court justice and a member of the legislative or executive branch," he said. "If a justice is seeking court funding, he should do it at an open, public hearing.

"Public business should not be conducted in back rooms where deals of some kind are made."