HARRISBURG -- A series of defense witnesses yesterday in the public corruption trial of former state Rep. Sean Ramaley painted a picture of a mom-and-pop campaign operation run out of a makeshift basement office next to a laundry room in a Beaver County home.

Mr. Ramaley's family helped stuff envelopes at the dining room table, and when the operation eventually moved from a basement in Economy to a rented storefront in Ambridge, his mother delivered homemade casseroles to sustain volunteers. Mr. Ramaley held campaign meetings at Brighton Hot Dog Shoppes or at Eat 'n Park.

Testimony was in sharp contrast to accounts offered Friday and Monday by witnesses for the prosecution in the government corruption case against Mr. Ramaley.

The former lawmaker is accused of taking a no-work state job while he ran for office in 2004 and doing campaign work on state time.

Several former co-workers and campaign volunteers testified Monday that they never saw Mr. Ramaley do any legitimate legislative work during the six-month period he was employed by former House Democratic Whip Mike Veon.

One witness, former legislative aide Melissa Lewis, had said Mr. Ramaley stopped reporting to work in September when he opened his Ambridge campaign office.

That isn't so, said Mr. Ramaley's mother, Christine, who was among several witnesses for the defense testifying yesterday.

Mrs. Ramaley said she saw her son leave the house every morning and head to Mr. Veon's office for his part-time job that paid $2,600 a month. His work hours were 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., he had told his mother.

"He's a very hard worker," said Mrs. Ramaley, who wept on the stand. She said he took the job because "he figured he would be able to learn how to run a legislative office. He had a good chance to win his seat and he figured [the job would help him] know how to handle everything."

Prosecutors, though, say he took the job so he could continue earning an income and could have an office from which to run his campaign.

Witnesses for the defense said they only campaign work they saw Mr. Ramaley do was after-hours and outside Mr. Veon's district office.

"I spent a lot of time with Sean" during the campaign, said his friend and campaign volunteer Dan Miller. "I found out that he could not campaign until after 1 p.m.. My recollection was that either he said, 'I am working for the state,' or 'I am working for a state representative.'"

Mr. Miller said his campaign-related conversations with Mr. Ramaley always occurred in the evening or on weekends.

Testimony is expected to continue today before Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Lewis.

Closing arguments are expected Thursday. Then the case will be in the hands of a jury of six men and six women who will decide whether Mr. Ramaley is guilty of theft, conflict of interest and conspiracy.

The trial is the first in a series of cases against House Democrats and staffers, many of whom who are accused of using state funds to pay bonuses to staff members for campaign work.

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