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In February 2008, prosecutors from the attorney general's office went to the Capitol with a subpoena, looking for boxes of campaign documents. John Zimmerman, aide to former House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, was one of those saying they didn't exist.

According to a statewide grand jury, Mr. Perzel's chief of staff, Paul Towhey, had several boxes prosecutors were looking for removed to the offices of the House Republican Campaign Committee's offices on 3rd Street. Phone records showed regular communication between Mr. Towhey and Mr. Zimmerman at the time, and messenger records and security video showed the boxes being removed.

That led Mr. Zimmerman, 61, of Dauphin County, an open records officer working for the House GOP legal counsel's office, to being charged with two counts of hindering prosecution and obstruction.

He has worked for the state since June 1999. Last year his salary was $84,798.

In 2006 Mr. Zimmerman -- then special projects coordinator for Mr. Perzel -- responded to a letter to the editor in the Northeast Times newsweekly, which claimed Perzel staffers were doing campaign work at an event for seniors. He wrote that the letter, from a woman in Lawndale, contained "blatant inaccuracies" and was "hysterical."

"The event was coordinated by the speaker's legislative staff, which performs its duties in a non-partisan way ... Contrary to the letter-writer's accusations, no one working for Speaker Perzel that day campaigned in any way for the speaker's re-election. To print such an allegation without verifying the writer's accuracy is irresponsible," he wrote.

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