HARRISBURG -- Defense attorneys on Wednesday tried to poke holes in prosecutors' claim that state-funded bonuses were distributed to House Democratic staffers as rewards for campaign work.

That contention is at the center of a corruption case against former state Rep. Mike Veon and three former aides.

Former Veon staffer Rich Pronesti -- who now works for state Rep. Jenn Mann, D-Lehigh -- testified Wednesday that he did no campaign work in 2004 but received a $2,000 bonus. He said he did campaign work in 2005 but received no bonus.

"There was no correlation between the campaign work he did and getting a bonus. It's the complete opposite," Veon attorney Dan Raynak said after court adjourned.

Prosecutors say Mr. Pronesti's case is an anomaly and doesn't diminish the rest of the evidence, including direct testimony from people who conspired to use the bonuses to reward legislative staffers for campaign work.

Also yesterday, jurors heard from aides Esther Reever, who said she often worked on campaign mailings in a legislative office, and Pat Cook, who used to quietly haul the stuffed envelopes through the Capitol to the basement mailroom.

He testified that P.J. Lavelle -- a former legislative staffer who pleaded guilty in the corruption case -- gave him the mailings on a covered cart and told him to watch taking these down" because "he didn't want people to see them."

Ms. Reever said she, too, was told to conceal campaign work. She said she stuffed envelopes with political literature and recorded campaign contributions in a database.

"I felt we were doing something wrong, but I felt I had to do what I had to do for my job," Ms. Reever testified.

Like Ms. Reever and Mr. Pronesti, Mr. Cook testified that he regularly campaigned during regular work hours, including on overnight trips to Beaver County to knock on voters' doors and drop off campaign literature in Mr. Veon's district.

But, he said, on other days he did legislative tasks outside regular work hours. He said he didn't keep track of those hours.

Veon attorney Joel Sansone said "he had accumulated more [compensatory] time than he ever would have needed" to do campaign work. "It wasn't on state time."

Mr. Cook testified that on one work day, Mr. Veon instructed him to drive state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District, to pick up nominating petitions from a district secretary who met them half way. The petitions were due to the Department of State that day, and Mr. Wheatley hurried back to Harrisburg with them.

Mr. Cook also served as a driver for Mr. Veon and ran personal errands to pick up the representative's dry cleaning, buy his cigars and take his shoes to be shined, Mr. Cook testified.

Mr. Wheatley could not immediately be reached for comment.

The corruption case is in its fourth week of testimony in Dauphin County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Richard A. Lewis had expected the case to wrap up by the end of this week, but prosecutors still have at least 18 witnesses they intend to call and defense attorneys have at least a dozen of their own.

"We're nowhere near the end of this trial," Veon attorney Joel Sansone said.

Judge Lewis asked the prosecution to aim for March 6 as a final day to present testimony.

He said he had wanted to give each side a firm deadline but believes case law would prevent that.

"I don't think I have the authority to draw a line in the sand, but I think I have authority to suggest a certain deadline," he said.

Testimony is scheduled to resume in the morning.

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