From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

HARRISBURG – They cost only a dime each, but it added up quickly.

Over more than two years, as they toiled in the minority, Democrats in the state House allegedly purchased millions of e-mail addresses to send campaign-related propaganda to Pennsylvania voters who were stuck paying the political tab – $1.2 million.

And that’s not including several hundred thousand more in public funds that went to a tech consultant – the son of a state representative – who allegedly made it all look like a legitimate legislative endeavor.

Details of the conspiracy were laid out recently in the 74-page grand-jury indictments against a dozen Harrisburg insiders in what has become known as Bonusgate.

They are charged with carrying out a massive conspiracy to use public funds and staff to underwrite political campaigns.

But lost in the sensationalism of the charges, which included allegations of a sex-for-state-job swap involving a former beauty queen, was the e-mail scam that authorities say ended up costing taxpayers, in total, more than $1.7 million over five years.

State Attorney General’s Office prosecutors dubbed the scam the LCOMM EFFORT – short for Leader’s Communications Office. A leader of one government watchdog group called it “a theft of democracy.”

The Leader’s Communications Office, prosecutors allege, was the brainchild of Rep. Michael Veon, then the No. 2 House Democrat, and Michael Manzo, the former chief of staff to Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese.

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