HARRISBURG -- As then-House Minority Whip Mike Veon fought for his political life in 2006, the lines between campaign and state work blurred to the point they were sometimes indistinguishable, with phone canvassers using lists of constituents who had visited his state office and with state workers assembling phone scripts and voter registration strategies.

More than 80 e-mails obtained by the Post-Gazette show how the Veon campaign drew dozens of state workers from Harrisburg and beyond to Beaver Falls in spring and fall of 2006 to work for his reelection. Most of those were later among the roughly 700 state employees who received large, taxpayer-funded bonus payments, ostensibly for outstanding state work, even while some of them spent little time at their state jobs that year.

Mr. Veon, D-Beaver, was unsuccessful in holding on to his seat in the 14th state House district in the wake of voter outrage over the 2005 pay raise bill. He was alone among state legislators in refusing to vote to rescind the unpopular raise and, while he managed to win renomination, narrowly lost the general election to Republican Jim Marshall.

Internal e-mails from that campaign show frequent exchanges between Mr. Veon's state employees, using the state's computer system, and field workers armed with hand-held Blackberry devices and campaign e-mail accounts. Both Mr. Veon and his top aide, Brett Cott, dispensed advice from their Harrisburg offices, while the top Veon aide in Beaver County, Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, frequently mixed state-funded office work with political efforts.

On the morning of June 7, 2006, for example, Ms. Perretta-Rosepink dispatched a letter to members of the district staff advising them to forward voter registration information to campaign workers.

"If anyone comes into the district offices to register to vote, please send an email to: Eric, Reed, Greg, Brian and myself. This should include their name, address and phone number.

"They are in the process of registering folks to vote and some of them may stop here instead of the headquarters. They are tracking all new voter registrations from the calls they are making and will be helpful on follow ups."

A staff member promptly replied with an e-mail saying she had registered a voter and forwarded the voter's address and contact information to the campaign.

The convergence of governance and politics has long been a reality -- sometimes inescapable in electoral democracies, where policy accomplishments and constituent service are rewarded by voters. But political reform activists said the sometimes seamless connections between Mr. Veon's state-funded offices and his 2006 campaign point to a clear problem.

"This whole thing proves why we need very bright lines for political conduct by public officials," said Tim Potts, a former top House aide and now director of the reform group Democracy Rising Pennsylvania.

Mr. Potts blamed an absence of strong guidelines and enforcement for the problem.

"The Legislature is the most political of the three branches and that's why you have to have much clearer lines of what's acceptable and what's not acceptable and why you need to have vigorous enforcement -- neither of which Pennsylvania has right now," he said.

One of the clearest examples of the blending of state resources and partisan political activity came through the state computer system on March 10, 2006.

Christopher Stets, a legislative aide, forwarded, via his House e-mail account, a script for telephone canvassers to use in Mr. Veon's primary race against challenger Jay Paisley, a former councilman and retired teacher.

The script reads: "Mike wanted me to give you a call to see what issues are most important to you. Also he want[s] to remind you that if you ever need any help to call his district office in Beaver Falls at 847-1352."

An addendum to the instructions says to use "Midland," where Mr. Veon had opened a satellite state House office, instead of "Beaver Falls" if the call is to Midland, Industry or Ohioville.

Mr. Stets was among state employees who received large bonuses -- his exceeded $12,000 -- although he was listed as off state work for seven months, concentrating on the Veon reelection campaign.

The script was sent to both Brett Cott, Mr. Veon's top aide, and Chet Orelli, a Veon office employee, at their state accounts. It was copied to two campaign workers at Mr. Veon's campaign e-mail account.

Mr. Paisley said he had once been a strong Veon supporter and worked closely with him in the past. He said the Veon House staff were regular features in political campaigns.

"He was very aggressive. I saw his staff do political work for years. Of course he would say 'comp time' and all this other nonsense," Mr. Paisley said.

He said he became aware of the Harrisburg contingent after supporters reported seeing young men in suits, carrying Blackberry devices, knocking on doors in Beaver Falls and other towns.

"They looked like fish out of water," Mr. Paisley said.

After Mr. Veon won his primary and had entered a difficult general election, campaign workers made plans for the voter registration drive and, based on indications in a series of e-mails June 9, 2006, were prepared to draw on lists of constituents who had sought help at Mr. Veon's official district office.

One campaign aide proposed a script informing constituents who had not registered to vote that the Veon campaign office could assist them in doing so.

Mr. Cott, writing from his state e-mail account, notified several campaign aides, as well as Ms. Perretta-Rosepink, head of the Beaver Falls district office, that he had consulted with attorneys who advised against sending any letters to constituents about registering.

"Need to emphasize that you NOT mention that we know they've used the DO [district office]. Nothing illegal but just trying to be clear about not getting into any gray areas," Mr. Cott wrote.

Neither Mr. Cott, Mr. Stets, Mr. Veon nor Mrs. Perretta-Rosepink repsonded to calls or e-mails from the Post-Gazette seeking comment.

Details also emerge from a set of campaign e-mails cataloging daily door-knocking by volunteers. They include names of volunteers -- state employees are broken out into their own category -- with occasional notes on workers who gave standout performances on a given day.

The Pennsylvania attorney general is investigating whether there is a link between campaign work by state employees and subsequent year-end bonuses paid out of state funds, essentially constituting a misuse of state funds for political work.