HARRISBURG - A House Democratic staffer shed light on a political operation that was controlled by a now-disbanded Capitol work group during her testimony in the Bonusgate public corruption case.

Barbara Grill testified Monday that she and her co-workers occupied the Leaders Communication Office, which was created in 2004 and was closed when investigators began a government corruption probe.

She said that office coordinated efforts to send mass e-mails to constituents and voters. Some of the messages were legislative and some were political, she said.

Former state Rep. Mike Veon - who is on trial along with three former aides in the so-called Bonusgate case - knew about the campaign work, she said. She recalled a September 2006 meeting of press secretaries and others that he convened.

"Mike Veon asked us to create a bigger buzz about winning back the majority. He wanted us to put a program together to make people get on board with that and create some momentum," Mrs. Grill said. Mr. Veon didn't say it had to be done on work time, but indicated it was urgent.

Part of the effort included talking to political pundits that campaign operatives knew would be called upon by reporters to comment on key House races for the November election.

At other times, she sent voters "really mean" e-mail messages attacking Republican candidates. She testified that Mr. Veon and aide Mike Manzo signed off on those messages. Mr. Manzo, who was chief of staff to Rep. Bill DeWeese, has pleaded guilty to his role in the alleged corruption scheme and is cooperating with prosecutors.

"No one ever said, 'This is part of your job.' I was just asked to do it and I did it," Mrs. Grill said.

She believes that for her effort she was rewarded with several taxpayer-funded bonuses. She said she suspected the money was for campaign work in 2004 when she received the first check for $3,000 or $4,000. Her husband Patrick, also a caucus staffer, had been more extensively involved in campaigns and received a bigger bonus.

"We commented to one another, 'I think this is for campaign work,'" she testified.

The purpose of the bonuses became even clearer to Mrs. Grill in 2005 when she was told to go downstairs in the Capitol to pick up another "special meritorious bonus." When she arrived, there was a long line of other staffers also retrieving checks. All of them had worked on a special election for Democratic candidate Linda Minger, Mrs. Grill said.

The alleged plan to award bonuses to state employees for campaign work done on state time is at the center of the corruption case. Mr. Veon and co-defendants Brett Cott, Stephen Keefer and Annamarie Perretta-Rosepink are accused of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest for allegedly using taxpayer resources to fund political campaigns.

Mr. Veon represented Beaver County in the House for 22 years.

Mrs. Grill is the 17th witness to testify in the case. The prosecution could rest its case by the end of the week.

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