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A number of state Sen. Jane Orie's staff members saved evidence of the campaign work going on in her legislative offices because, they told an Allegheny County grand jury, they knew it was "only a matter of time," until she got caught.
On Wednesday, Jane Orie, 48, and her sister Janine Orie, 55, were arrested and charged with theft of services and criminal conspiracy as recommended by a grand jury presentment returned April 1 and unsealed Wednesday. The McCandless Republican and her sister are accused of using staff on the state payroll to help run the campaign of another sister, Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.
Jane Orie also is charged with three counts each of tampering with physical evidence and violating the state public official ethics act.
PDFThe Ories were released on their own recognizance and are scheduled to have preliminary hearings on May 19.
The 66-page filing by District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.'s office describes an "atmosphere of abuse and corruption that permeated" Jane Orie's Senate office, and notes "hypocrisy" between her public persona and how she operated internally.
In a letter to Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati and GOP Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Ms. Orie said she would drop her duties as majority whip until the charges are heard.
"I am confident that I will be exonerated despite what will continue to be the obsessive and vendetta-drawn efforts of Mr. Zappala and those beholden to him," Ms. Orie said.
Mr. Scarnati and Mr. Pileggi said in a statement that Ms. Orie is "a respected and trusted member of the Senate" and "continues to be a tireless advocate for government reform. We are fully confident that she will be exonerated."
In the meantime, Allegheny County Democratic Committee Chairman Jim Burn said his party is quickly trying to find a viable write-in candidate to run in the primary election next month.
But Jane Orie vowed to continue to fight the charges following her arraignment at the McCandless office of Magisterial District Judge William Wagner. She called them "personal," and said that Mr. Zappala is only going after her because her position on gambling threatens his father, a former state Supreme Court justice who works for an agency that promotes casinos.
Janine Orie is employed as a chief administrative judicial assistant for Justice Melvin and currently earns just under $67,000 annually. She began working for her sister in 1998 as a judicial secretary when Justice Melvin was on the state Superior Court.
Justice Melvin is not charged in the case, though it is her 2009 campaign for Supreme Court that prompted the investigation into illegal campaign work at Jane Orie's legislative offices. Justice Melvin's attorney, J. Alan Johnson, had no comment.
According to the grand jury, at least 15 current or former staff members for Jane Orie testified that they either participated in or observed non-legislative work being conducted during business hours. The directive to do political and campaign work, the presentment said, came from the senator, her chief of staff, Jamie Pavlot, and Janine Orie.
Ms. Pavlot testified extensively before the grand jury and has received immunity from prosecution. An employee for 13 years, she said she had been conducting political work for Jane Orie on office time for at least 10 years.
Her attorney, Stephen Stallings, confirmed that Ms. Pavlot remains in her position at the senator's office.
"Ms. Pavlot was a staff employee who did what her boss, a powerful state senator, asked of her," Mr. Stallings said.
The charges against Jane Orie date from 2001 through November 2009, accusing her of using state employees, office space and equipment, as well as the "authority and resources of her office to further the pecuniary and political interests of both herself and her sister, Justice Orie Melvin."
The monetary loss to the state, according to the presentment, ranges from a low of about $37,000 to a high of $74,000. That number is based on testimony of staff members about how much time they spent on non-legislative work, as well as how much money they earned.
That number does not include the financial benefits received by Ms. Orie or Justice Melvin and their campaigns, the presentment said.
The investigation began when Jennifer A. Knapp Rioja, a student intern at Jane Orie's office, first went to the district attorney's office on Oct. 30.
She told the grand jury that she saw Jane Orie's staff members performing political work for Justice Melvin. The activities occurred during regular business hours and included campaign research, fundraising and creating campaign literature, as well as making phones calls.
The grand jury presentment includes examples from multiple staffers, explaining how they stuffed envelopes for Justice Melvin, went door-knocking for her campaign and even drove her across Pennsylvania to campaign events during both of her runs for the state Supreme Court. She ran unsuccessfully in 2003.
Among the allegations is that Jane Orie directed staff members to create mailings, including poll cards featuring Justice Melvin's photograph and anti-abortion stance, and then mail them to area convents, with enough information for each nun living there.
During her testimony, Ms. Rioja quoted staff member Kurt Acker as once saying, "if the Attorney General's Office knew what was occurring in [Sen.] Orie's office, that 'they all would be in handcuffs.' "
Other staff members said they worked on political activities for Ms. Orie in earlier elections, as well. One woman said she was directed by Ms. Pavlot to impersonate the senator during phone calls to citizens.
In addition to accusations about political work being performed in the office, the presentment includes details of how the grand jury found evidence being hidden.
According to Ms. Pavlot, she was at her desk following the November election and had collected older files from the office that were political in nature.
"Pavlot described how Orie, upon seeing [the] files and hearing Pavlot's explanation, told Pavlot that they 'needed to be removed' as [Ms. Orie] grabbed two of the packages of files, hid them under her coat so they couldn't be seen by a casual observer, and then hastily left the office, leaving to dispose of the remaining files," the presentment said.
Ms. Orie was concerned she was under surveillance, Ms. Pavlot said.
Ms. Orie also directed Ms. Pavlot to hang a sign on an office in the building where her legislative office is, calling it the "campaign office of Senator Jane Clare Orie."
"This was done in order to make it appear that the room had been used as an Orie campaign office, unassociated with the Orie Melvin campaign, which, in fact, was untrue," the presentment said. In a message on that topic the grand jury received, Jane Orie wrote: "Yes ... put it on letterhead so we cover ourselves. Tell Josh do letterhead on laptop at home."
As for the charges against Janine Orie, the grand jury wrote: "According to Pavlot, a request from Janine Orie was to be handled as if it was a request directly from Orie herself."
The panel saw at least 86 e-mails "corroborating Janine Orie's interaction with [Jane] Orie's legislative staff concerning campaign activities on behalf of Orie Melvin's candidacy from August through and including October of 2009."
The presentment also reflected what the grand jury called "hypocrisy," noting that Jane Orie's public persona was for running an "office that was portrayed as having scrupulously adhered to the law when it came to assigning work to her legislatively-paid staff."
One staff member testified about writing and sending out political thank-you notes to campaign donors. On the bottom of the letters, were the words "Not paid for at taxpayer's expense."
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