HARRISBURG -- It's not fair.

That appears to be the theme through 600 pages of exhibits submitted yesterday in Dauphin County Court to support a defense motion to drop charges against former state Rep. Michael Veon and other defendants in a government corruption case known as Bonusgate.

Attorneys for Mr. Veon say their client, along with 11 other Democrats charged last year, were singled out by a Republican attorney general seeking political gain as he explores a run for governor.

"The battle lines in this case are drawn down party lines," attorneys Joel Sansone and Daniel Raynak said in a motion to have charges dismissed.

The case centers on the use of taxpayer money to subsidize political campaigns, including payments of bonuses to state employees who worked to get their bosses re-elected.

The conduct "was neither illegal nor unusual," Mr. Sansone and Mr. Raynak argued.

To make their point, they produced a compilation of e-mail messages, campaign literature, election expenditure reports and news stories that refer to campaign work by Republican and Democratic staffers who have not been charged with any crimes.

The court filing does not argue that any of that work was illegal -- just that it's no different than that done by the 12 now facing charges. At least two other defendants, top legislative aide Brett Cott and former caucus director of technology Steve Keefer, have also filed motions to have their cases quashed.

But Kevin Harley, spokesman for Attorney General Tom Corbett, said there's a world of difference.

"It's an orchestrated scheme that Veon ran. Suite 626 [in the state Capitol] was a literal campaign operation filled with printing presses, phone banks and people who did nothing but fundraising. It goes beyond the pale," he said.

It's not realistic to expect the attorney general to investigate every instance of someone sending a campaign-related e-mail message on the taxpayers' dime, Mr. Harley said.

Exhibits filed yesterday by Mr. Veon's attorneys focus on campaign activity by former state Rep. Stephen Stetler of York; House Democratic Whip Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg; his spokesman, Tom Andrews; and Kevin Sidella, who simultaneously served as a legislative aide and campaign treasurer to Mr. DeWeese.

"DeWeese supervised, directed and collaborated with the House caucus staff on his personal political re-election campaigns," the attorneys wrote in a memo accompanying yesterday's filing. "DeWeese state House staff directly worked on DeWeese's re-election campaigns using state resources on state time."

Mr. DeWeese responded in a written statement.

"Prosecutors made their charging decisions based on the totality of the evidence, which included thousands of e-mails and other documents that my team preserved and I turned over to investigators. They also had the sworn testimony of approximately 200 witnesses who I urged to fully cooperate," he wrote. "It would be inappropriate to comment on desperate tactics that the criminal defense attorneys are using to muddy the waters."

Exhibits in yesterday's filing include news stories that refer to campaign work done by House and Senate Republican staffers who, attorneys say, were as extensively involved in political campaigns as Democratic staffers but have not been charged.

It alleges, for example, that 20 House Republican staffers are "active political operatives" whose high degree of campaign involvement is illustrated by extensive expense reimbursements from re-election committees.

Other exhibits include dozens of e-mail messages showing Mr. Stetler's intimate involvement with campaign work between 1999 and 2003, when he was a state representative and officer of the House Democratic Campaign Committee.

Mr. Stetler, who now is state revenue secretary, sent campaign-related messages to and received responses from legislative aides during the work day and over the state e-mail system.

Mr. Stetler could not be reached for comment.

Other exhibits in the filing include about 200 e-mail messages between Mr. Andrews, Mr. Sidella and Eric Buxton, a contractor who coordinated mass mailings of campaign-related e-mail. Most of the communication among the three occurred during the work day, using state-provided e-mail accounts meant for legislative business.

Among discussions between Mr. Sidella and Mr. Buxton were plans to send mass mailings of an "all-hands-on-deck" plea to all caucus employees' House e-mail addresses, urging them to help with door-to-door campaign efforts, phone banks and political mailings after work and during lunch breaks.

Meanwhile, in a series of 93 e-mail messages, Mr. Andrews and Mr. Buxton discussed newspaper endorsements, the placement of videos on Mr. DeWeese's campaign Web site and plans to target mailings to certain groups such as men or members of the National Rifle Association.

All the while, Mr. Sidella and Mr. Andrews were on House payroll. Both declined to comment yesterday.

Another staffer whose name surfaced in court exhibits said she typically spent "a lot of time over the years" doing campaign work.

Initially, she said, it didn't seem like a big deal because made up for the time by doing legislative work after hours. After a while, she realized the political work was not only illegal but unfair for outsiders to have to run against incumbents whose campaigns are being run by state workers on state time.

Although she was granted immunity from criminal prosecution when she testified before a grand jury last year, she fears for her job if she were to speak out.

"Maybe I deserve to be fired. Every day I regret that I let myself get involved in any of this, but in my crazy brain I was afraid [if I didn't do campaign work] I would either be fired or shunned to the point of not having a meaningful job," said the staffer, who asked not to be identified.

"I did those things and I knew they were wrong. I feel horrible about it and I don't know how to fix it," she said. "One of these days I'm going to have to tell my kids why mommy broke the law, and it's going to be really sucky. The whole thing is awful."

Arguments on the defense motions are expected to be heard July 6 and 7 in Dauphin County Common Pleas Court.