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Legislative staffers tied to former House Speaker John Perzel allegedly instituted what they called "working over lunch" to cover for doing campaign tasks on taxpayer time. One of those workers -- an assistant to former state Rep. Brett Feese -- was Jill Seaman.

A statewide grand jury said Ms. Seaman, 57, of Dauphin County, commonly attended meetings Mr. Perzel's team called on using taxpayer-funded technology to further Republican wins each election day. She was "heavily involved" in obtaining voter data for use by the House Republican Campaign Committee as a legislative staffer, going to work for Mr. Feese in April 2002.

From 2002 through 2006, she attended HRCC meetings (Mr. Feese, a former Lycoming County district attorney, would take over the HRCC in 1997, and become chief legal counsel to the House GOP caucus in 2007), typed up meeting minutes and dispensed them to Mr. Perzel and others. The grand jury found some 100 e-mails showing her doing campaign work as a legislative staffer and her name was on more than $1.1 million in technology invoices paid by the state Treasury.

As of last year, House salary records listed her as an executive assistant paralegal, working for Mr. Feese, at a salary of $64,713. She started working for the state in February 1999 and is still on the payroll.

The grand jury said she took four campaign trips at taxpayer expense to the tune of $3,700.

According to former staffers in Mr. Feese's House office, Ms. Seaman directed underlings to print and stuff envelopes for Feese campaign events and create a computer database of campaign contributions. She kept blank campaign stationery and envelopes at her House desk and issued comp time to staffers for doing campaign work.

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