Two politicians facing criminal counts, one a Democrat, the other a Republican, filed nearly identical motions yesterday to have charges against them thrown out, saying the law on which they are based is unconstitutionally vague.

An attorney representing both state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, and state Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, filed the motions in Allegheny and Dauphin county courts. He asked judges to throw out all charges against Ms. Orie and Mr. DeWeese, saying the state's conflict-of-interest law is vague and being misapplied by prosecutors.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. this month accused Ms. Orie of using her state-financed district office in McCandless to campaign for her sister, Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, and of using state-paid staff to perform a variety of political chores.

Mr. DeWeese was accused in December by Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett of keeping a staff member on the state payroll to handle political fundraising and other nongovernmental tasks.

In both instances, Mr. DeWeese's attorney William Costopoulos argues that the core of the charges revolve around the state's conflict-of-interest law which he said should not be employed for criminal prosecutions.

"Unless the courts intervene and strike down the current version of the conflict-of-interest statute as unconstitutional, we will continue to see individual prosecutors pursuing their own agendas and creating de facto ethics codes and policy rules for elected public officials through the criminal justice system -- just as they are in the instant cases," Mr. Costopoulos wrote.

Kevin Harley, a spokesman for Mr. Corbett, said the filing was "untimely" and that Mr. Costopoulos should not have made it prior to Mr. DeWeese's preliminary hearing, when the Dauphin courts would officially take jurisdiction.

He also said the law has already been tested by the state's Supreme Court and found constitutional.

A spokesman for Mr. Zappala's office declined comment.

Mr. Costopoulos yesterday said he believes the criminal counts growing out of the Bonusgate case should have been handled by the state's ethics commission.

"I just don't believe all these people are evil. I don't believe they were engaging in activity with any criminal intent," he said.

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