HARRISBURG -- An outspoken foe of the legislative pay raise is now taking aim at a new target -- "special meritorious bonus payments'' that were quietly given to some House Democratic staffers this month without explanation.

Gene Stilp, leader of a citizens group called Taxpayers and Ratepayers United, filed a lawsuit yesterday in Commonwealth Court, naming as defendants House Democratic leader Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg, Republican leader Sam Smith of Punxsutawney, new House Speaker Dennis O'Brien, R-Philadelphia, and acting state Treasurer Anthony Wagner.

Mr. Stilp wants Mr. DeWeese, in particular, to disclose how much money he spent on the staffer bonuses, the names of the people who got them, whether the bonuses were given for campaign work rather than legislative work, and what the source of the money was.

Mr. Stilp maintained it would be illegal to use taxpayers' funds for political purposes. He is asking the court to order an immediate halt to the payment of any bonuses "for non-legislative work'' and order that "any payment for non-legislative work be returned to the Commonwealth.''

Mr. Stilp conceded, however, that he doesn't have proof that any money was actually paid for non-legislative work.

Mr. DeWeese brushed by a Post-Gazette reporter at the Capitol yesterday, refused to answer any questions about the bonuses and said to talk to his aide, Tom Andrews, who didn't want to say much about the bonuses, calling them "an internal personnel matter.''

But he added, "The House Democratic Caucus understands the difference between campaign work and legislative work and we deny the claims made in the lawsuit.'' He said he wouldn't comment further because of the pending litigation.

Two other critics of state government were concerned about the bonuses, but said they have no firm indication that taxpayer money was used improperly.

"If this is a ruse to circumvent laws that prevent the use of staff on government payrolls to do electioneering work, then I think there's a serious problem involved,'' said Common Cause/Pa. Director Barry Kauffman.

Tim Potts of Democracy Rising Pa. said, "One of the reasons it's so hard to get your hands on legislative spending is that there are accounts all over the place. You pretty much have to guess'' where funds came from.

Republicans denied ever giving taxpayer-paid bonuses for political work.

"Have we given out bonuses to people who are at a salary cap when they do exceptional legislative work? Yes, we have,'' said Steve Miskin, an aide to Mr. Smith. "Have our bonuses ever been connected to a campaign? Absolutely not. If these bonuses [paid by DeWeese] were at all related to campaign work, it's absolutely wrong.''

Mr. Stilp, who was a leader of the effort to fight a legislative pay raise in 2005-06, said he learned about the bonuses from an article in Saturday's Harrisburg Patriot-News. The article said that Mr. DeWeese sent a letter to the bonus recipients and urged them to keep quiet about the money, saying, "We cannot stress strongly enough the need for you not to discuss this with any other person or member.''

Mr. DeWeese refused yesterday to release the letter.

"What's the need for the secrecy?'' Mr. Stilp said today. "It doesn't seem like a good signal to be putting out in this new era of supposed legislative reform. This is the kind of thing the reforms were supposed to stop.''