HARRISBURG -- Bowing to pressure, House Democrats yesterday released details of $1.9 million in bonuses paid to staffers last year, an amount that Gov. Ed Rendell said astonished him.

		Related coverage Readers Forum: What do you think? Previous coverage GOP halts bonus practice (2/1/07)

"It's stunning to me that [legislative leaders] would do this,'' he said. "It shows the need for reform is urgent.''

Meanwhile, one legislative watchdog has asked the state attorney general to investigate whether bonuses were illegally used to reward staffers for campaign work.

"Last year was an intense political year. Political activity by legislative members and legislative staff may have taken place in taxpayer-funded offices, during taxpayer-funded working hours, using taxpayer-funded equipment and services," activist Gene Stilp said in a letter to Attorney General Tom Corbett.

"You may want to look at bonus payments ... to determine if there have been rewards for political activity or inappropriate political activity in any legislative office even without rewards."

The bonuses paid by House Democrats ranged from $65 to $28,000 and amounted to more than four times as much as in 2005, a non-election year. In all, 678 of the caucus's 814 staffers got bonuses.

After first claiming the bonuses were an "internal caucus matter,'' House Democrats decided to follow in the footsteps of House and Senate Republicans, who released reports on their bonuses earlier in the week.

House Republicans gave $270,000 in bonuses last year, Senate Republicans gave $180,000 and Senate Democrats gave $38,000.

Tom Andrews, spokesman for House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, said that his caucus gave bigger bonuses because its salary scales are lower.

He could not immediately provide those salary scales, which are soon to be adjusted, he said.

Mr. DeWeese believes the bonuses "are a management tool to reward employees who work hard, who work late and who work weekends," Mr. Andrews said.

However, Mr. DeWeese decided yesterday to suspend bonuses in his caucus until the new House Rules Reform Committee discusses them, according to Mr. Andrews, whose bonus last year was $12,750, up from $1,250 the previous year.

Democratic leaders initially told recipients of the bonuses not to discuss them among themselves or with lawmakers. When reporters learned of them, the leaders called the bonuses an internal caucus matter and refused to talk about them.

Late yesterday, though, Mr. Andrews provided a list of bonus recipients.

Democratic leaders had begun their retreat Wednesday night, when they agreed to discuss the bonuses and estimated them at $400,000.

Actually, they were quadruple that estimate.

Mr. Andrews disputed Mr. Stilp's suggestion that the bonuses were tied to campaign work.

"There is no correlation between campaign work, legislative work and legislative bonuses," he said. "They weren't for political work. We know that's illegal."

The bonuses, which averaged $2,800, were given for a variety of reasons, Mr. Andrews said.

Some were Christmas bonuses and others were to compensate employees for time-consuming work on legislative projects. Some were given as a way to boost compensation for employees who had reached the top of their salary scales or to reward employees in advance for a heavier workload anticipated because of the party's move to majority status in the House, he said.

For the most part, recipients of the largest bonuses worked for Mr. DeWeese or former Democratic whip Mike Veon of Beaver Falls.

Most of the large-bonus recipients made contributions to Democratic campaigns, and election reports show that several of them were reimbursed for food, travel and other expenses associated with last fall's election.

Brett Cott, who contributed $1,200 to Democratic campaigns last year, received a $25,065 bonus. He previously worked for the House Democratic Campaign Committee and served as election spokesman for Mr. Veon, who lost his re-election bid in November. In 2005, his bonus was $6,065.

The third-largest bonus, $20,250, went to Mr. DeWeese's top aide, Michael Manzo, and another $15,185 went to Mr. Manzo's wife, Rachel, a staffer on the House Tourism Committee who worked on Mr. Veon's failed campaign. In 2005, Mr. Manzo received $5,750 and Mrs. Manzo $1,065.

The caucus's largest bonus, $28,137, went to Miriam A. Fox, executive director of the House Appropriations Committee. Her bonus in 2005 was $10,315.

The caucus's director of research, Jennifer K. Brubaker, and husband Scott V. Brubaker, who is caucus director of administration, received $17,750 and $15,250, respectively. In 2005, Mrs. Brubaker received $5,750 and Mr. Brubaker $5,500.

Thirty-one staffers in all were given bonuses of $10,000 or more.

Mr. Rendell said he isn't opposed to bonuses, but that they should be "reasonable, a small percentage of salary and, most of all, these bonuses should be disclosed to the public if you're spending public dollars."