HARRISBURG -- State prosecutors yesterday refiled a majority of criminal counts against former House Minority Whip Michael Veon and his former top district aide -- charges that had been dismissed during a preliminary hearing last week.

The charges grew out of a state investigation into the Beaver Initiative for Growth, a nonprofit development agency created by Mr. Veon that dispensed millions of dollars in state economic development funds. Prosecutors say BIG essentially became a political arm for Mr. Veon, who represented Beaver County in the Legislature for 22 years.

A statewide grand jury sitting in Pittsburgh reported in March that Mr. Veon, 52, used state grants for political gain.

Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink, who headed Mr. Veon's legislative office in Beaver Falls, also was charged with several criminal counts for allegedly misapplying state funds. She served as fiscal officer for the nonprofit.

The charges were dismissed last week by Harrisburg District Judge Joseph Solomon, who told prosecutors he did not believe the evidence they presented at the preliminary hearing last week would suffice for a conviction.

Prosecutors yesterday filed a motion to have the next preliminary hearing held before a Dauphin County Common Pleas judge. The motion says Judge Solomon applied the wrong standard of proof in his decision and made statements during last week's hearing that suggested he had determined the outcome before hearing all the evidence.

During a full-day hearing last week, Judge Solomon said he had heard enough evidence by noon and urged attorneys to hurry along.

Later, in his decision to dismiss all charges, the judge said there might be one or two counts that "possibly could get held for court. But ... in front of a jury I don't think you're going to be able to sustain guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."

That was the wrong standard to use, Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony Krastek said in yesterday's motion to have the new charges heard by a different judge.

"It is clear from District Justice Solomon's comments that he expected the commonwealth to present 'conclusive' evidence or proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Mr. Krastek wrote. Preliminary hearings, which are designed to protect defendants from unlawful detention, require only that the prosecution establish "that a crime was committed and the accused is probably the one who committed it."

Judge Solomon did not return a call to the Post-Gazette yesterday, but told The Associated Press he will recuse himself because of comments Mr. Krastek made to him after last week's hearing.

"It's always easier to deflect attention from yourself and place blame on others than it is to accept responsibility for a poorly conducted prosecution," he told The AP. "I'm not ruling out that there may still be a case, but they didn't make it at the preliminary hearing."

Ms. Peretta-Rosepink, 46, of Beaver Falls, is disappointed but not surprised that the charges against her were refiled, said her attorney, Michael Palermo, of Carlisle.

"We had a neutral arbiter on these charges already and he decided there wasn't enough evidence. I thought it was fair," Mr. Palermo said.

Mr. Veon's attorney, Daniel Raynak of Phoenix, Ariz., agreed.

"Mr. Veon was completely and totally vindicated by a judge who used the proper standard and decided that the prosecution could not even meet the lowest possible threshold of evidence required in a preliminary proceeding," he said in a statement. "Judge Solomon's decision demonstrated that these charges against Mr. Veon should never have been brought in the first place."

He said Mr. Krastek's motion is politically motivated. Mr. Krastek's boss, Attorney General Tom Corbett, is a Republican with eyes on the governor's office, while both defendants and Judge Solomon are Democrats.

Ms. Perretta-Rosepink now faces six charges, the same as in the original filing. Mr. Veon faces 19, down from 26 originally filed.

In court last week Mr. Krastek conceded that he had not presented enough evidence to substantiate charges related to the use of state-provided grants to pay people for work on political campaigns.

Also dropped was a charge related to payments of $150 a month in BIG money to a custodian who prosecutors say cleaned areas of the office used by legislative aids, not employees of the nonprofit.

"We withdrew charges on the [campaign work] because what witnesses said in court did not match up with what they had said to the grand jury," which recommended the charges, said Kevin Harley, spokesman for Mr. Corbett's office. Another charge was dropped because "it was a minor charge and we didn't think we needed to bring the elderly gentleman [the custodian based in Beaver County] back out for another hearing in Harrisburg."

Charges against Mr. Veon and Ms. Perretta-Rosepink in connection with a payroll bonus scandal, part of a wide-ranging probe into allegations that House Democrats used state funds to reward political work by staff members, were sent on to court in an earlier preliminary hearing presided over by Dauphin County President Judge Richard A. Lewis.

The attorney general's office has been conducting an investigation into whether House and Senate Republicans engaged in a similar scheme.