HARRISBURG -- A review of salaries paid to state House staffers debunks claims by Democratic leaders who said they needed to pay higher bonuses because Republican employees were making more money.

House Democrats claimed their pay scales were lower after reports showed they paid $1.9 million worth of bonuses, compared to $566,000 in Republican bonuses, last year.

A review of House salaries, however, shows that Democrats are spending $3.5 million more on salaries than Republicans, although both caucuses have roughly the same number of employees. The salary list, released last week, is dated Jan. 30.

Salaries of the House's 835 Democratic staffers total $34,453,541. Salaries of the 839 Republican staffers total $30,969,711.

Stephen Miskin, spokesman for Minority Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, distributed those figures to Capitol reporters late yesterday. A separate salary review this week by the Post-Gazette produced similar results.

Mr. Miskin declined to comment on the disparity in caucus pay.

"We're just trying to put public information forward as honestly as possible. That's why we did this," Mr. Miskin said.

Tom Andrews, spokesman for Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, could not be reached last evening.

He previously said the caucus bonuses -- ranging from $65 to $28,000 -- were given for legislative work done outside normal working hours. In some cases, he said recently, they were given in lieu of raises to employees who had already reached the top of their pay scales.

Mr. Andrews has not responded to repeated requests for copies of those pay scales. He has said Democrats are working on changing the pay scales to bring them in line with the Republicans, but they have not yet been changed.

The Post-Gazette's review of salaries shows that the median pay for legislative assistants, the most common position in the house, is about $26,500 in the Democratic caucus and $28,700 in the Republican caucus.

Both caucuses, though, pay some assistants substantially more.

The highest paid is Gary Davis, a legislative assistant to Rep. Mario Civera, R-Delaware. Mr. Davis is paid $85,722.

On the Democratic side are David Wyszynski, receiving $77,610 as a legislative assistant to Rep. Michael McGeehan, of Philadelphia, and Frank LaGrotta, a former representative who lost his seat in the November election, but not his salary. Mr. LaGrotta is now a legislative assistant to Mr. DeWeese and is paid $73,614, the same as rank-and-file House members.

Records show that 132 House employees earn more than that. Of them, 75 work for the Democratic caucus and 46 for the Republican caucus. The others work in nonpartisan jobs, most through the House Bipartisan Management Committee or as research liaisons between the caucuses.

Many of the highest-paid employees are among those who also received the biggest of the bonuses that caucus leaders quietly handed out last year.

The bonuses were not tied to campaign work, Mr. Andrews and Mr. DeWeese have said, although a review by the Post-Gazette found that 80 of the top 100 bonus recipients were involved in caucus leaders' re-election campaigns last year.

It is illegal to use taxpayer money as payment for campaign work.

Now, Attorney General Tom Corbett is investigating.

Meanwhile caucus leaders have suspended bonuses and some reform-minded lawmakers are calling either for a permanent end to them or for an equitable and transparent process for awarding them.

Mr. DeWeese initially refused to provide an accounting of the bonus money but relented after leaders of other caucuses released details of bonuses given to their employees.