HARRISBURG -- Brett Cott, a high-ranking policy analyst in the state House of Representatives, spent 11 weeks straight in Beaver Falls last year working on former House Democratic Whip Michael Veon's unsuccessful re-election campaign.

Patrick Grill, also a policy analyst, squeezed in at least 10 trips from Harrisburg to Waynesburg to campaign for Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese.

Both continued to draw their state salaries while they campaigned, according to records obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Mr. Cott's annual salary is $87,412 and Mr. Grill's is $67,552.

Altogether, at least 45 House Democratic employees campaigned on weekdays last year but never left the state payroll and still received bonuses as a reward for their state work, the records show.

Mr. Cott received a $25,065 bonus and Mr. Grill received $12,685. They were among 717 House Democratic staffers who received taxpayer-fund bonuses worth $1.9 million.

Bonuses paid to legislative staffers now are the focus of a state attorney general's investigation into whether public money and resources were illegally used to subsidize campaigns.

Democratic leaders have denied wrongdoing, saying employees used accrued vacation and compensatory time for their campaign work. But they refused to provide documents to the Post-Gazette that back up that claim.

State legislative employees earn between five and 25 vacation days plus three personal days a year. Additionally, key employees who work on legislation often stay late into the night, accumulating substantial compensatory time.

The Post-Gazette examined pay records for employees who received the biggest bonuses and for those who were involved in campaigns for caucus leaders or the House Democratic Campaign Committee.

The extent of their political involvement varied widely.

Policy analyst Jonathan L. Price, for example, put more than 3,000 miles on his car campaigning throughout the state, including taking trips to Wilkes-Barre, Waynesburg, West Chester and Hazleton. Campaign finance records show he rounded up last-minute votes in tight races, researched the backgrounds of Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents and spent at least 10 days in Chester County during a month-long post-election recount.

All the while he collected his $84,396 state salary.

Mr. Price, who received a $12,750 bonus last year, did not return phone calls seeking comment, nor did Mr. Cott. Mr. Grill, when reached, declined to comment.

Legislative leaders insist the bonuses were rewards for exemplary legislative work, not for campaigning. However records show that many who received them were away from their state jobs for extended periods in 2006, a crucial election year in which incumbents faced voters for the first time since the 2005 pay-raise debacle.

House Democrats saw it as their chance to seize control of the chamber after spending 12 years in the minority. They accomplished the feat by a one-seat margin that came down to the narrowest of victories in Chester County.

Campaign records revealing

Campaign expense receipts, which are public records under state law, provide a glimpse into legislative staffers' involvement in the effort.

Mr. Cott rented a room at the Alpine Inn in Beaver Falls from January 26 until April 19, ending his stay there shortly after he submitted a $22.14 receipt for a shower curtain he bought for one of the two apartments Mr. Veon's re-election committee was renting for out-of-town campaign workers. It is unclear whether Mr. Cott, who has a Harrisburg mailing address and works in the state Capitol, stayed at that apartment.

Other receipts show Mr. Cott also spent time in Mr. Veon's district in August and October and that he also assisted with the campaign from suburban Harrisburg, where he ran errands to buy office supplies including $300 worth of envelopes for election-related mailings.

He also served as treasurer of the Conservative Committee Against Higher Taxes, which raised money exclusively for Mr. Veon.

All the while, he was being paid his $87,412 salary as a legislative policy analyst assigned to Mr. Veon.

As director and assistant treasurer of the Kansas Democratic State Committee a decade ago, Mr. Cott was charged with four counts of violating that state's campaign finance law, including failure to disclose numerous campaign contributions, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported in 1998. He was fined $4,000.

Mr. Grill's campaign involvement, meanwhile, stretched from January to April and from August to November, House Democratic Campaign Committee records show.

He made copies of documents at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh, dined with Mr. DeWeese at Rohanna's Restaurant in Waynesburg, reviewed meeting minutes and racked up at least 5,600 campaign miles on his car.

All the while, he collected his $67,552 state salary.

Scott Brubaker, director of staffing and administration for the Democratic caucus, said he could not comment on leave taken by individual employees but said it is a sound practice to allow flexible leave.

"There are many human resources studies which indicate that flexibility in taking time off is highly valued by employees, particularly younger employees," he said. "Consequently, our management philosophy is to encourage supervisors to be as flexible as possible in accommodating employees' requests to use the leave time they have earned. We believe that this practice enhances our ability to attract and retain quality employees."

Government watchdogs, meanwhile, say the practice of allowing employees to take such extended leave raises the question of whether those workers are needed in the first place.

"It leads to all sorts of questions," said Barry Kauffman, executive director of Pennsylvania Common Cause. "Are state legislative payrolls being padded with personnel to make sure people are available to do political work? Is staff being managed intentionally to have people accumulating this amount of time?"

In the private sector, Mr. Kauffman said, long hours are part of the job for high-level staffers and it should be the same for top aides to legislative leaders such as Mr. Cott, Mr. Grill and Mr. Price.

"Extended hours goes with the job. That's the reason they're getting those kinds of high level salaries," he said.