Bonusgate figures resign legislative posts
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HARRISBURG -- Two prominent House employees who were questioned in a government corruption probe have resigned in the last two days.
Tuesday was the last work day for Brett O. Feese, a former lawmaker who became the House Republican caucus' chief legal counsel and director of litigation.
Al Bowman, who worked for the House Policy Committee, gave two weeks' notice yesterday.
Caucus spokesman Steve Miskin characterized Mr. Feese's departure as a retirement. He said he didn't know why Mr. Feese decided to leave the Legislature, where he's worked for 15 years.
In an e-mail message, Mr. Bowman said he was tired of spending long days at the Capitol and wanted to spend more time with his children. House records list his salary at $98,865.
Mr. Feese and Mr. Bowman are among several House Republicans invited to appear before a grand jury investigating a government corruption scandal that has become known as Bonusgate.
Mr. Feese had been the Legislature's highest-paid employee -- even after a pay cut in 2007 when critics raised questions. At that time, he had a $155,000 salary as chief counsel plus a $95,000 state contract to provide litigation services. After criticism, Republican leaders nixed the contract in 2007 and raised his salary to $197,000.
Neither Mr. Feese nor his attorney Jane G. Penny could be reached this evening.
Mr. Feese represented Lycoming County in the Legislature from 1994 to 2006 and was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee when his party held the majority.
"He did not allow the administration to get away with not answering questions during budget hearings. Now the administration refuses to answer questions or spends 15 minutes saying absolutely nothing," Mr. Miskin said. "As chairman, Feese didn't allow that. If an administration official didn't answer, he'd interrogate them until they responded."
Mr. Miskin said that made him an effective committee chairman.
As legal counsel, he was able to save the caucus millions of dollars by handling litigation in-house, Mr. Miskin said.
First Published November 5, 2009 5:23 pm
