John Baer: John Baer: We've only just begun

THINK OF IT as the latest (but not the last) wave in an ocean of shame.

Criminal charges announced yesterday against a dozen amazingly arrogant "public servants" from your Legislature vividly underscore the need in Harrisburg for a thorough cathartic cleansing.

I'm talking flamethrowers followed by fire hoses.

The breadth and depth of allegations of theft, abuse and sleaze, including handing out public jobs and taxpayer-financed bonuses for sex, reveals a culture crying to be crushed.

This comes on top of the pay-raise scandal, the Vince Fumo scandal and the Legislature's ongoing general ineptness.

And the notion - promoted by some partisans - that this is a political witch hunt against Democrats waged by a Republican prosecutor who wants to run for governor?

Please.

Overwhelming evidence of entrenched, calculated practices to steal tax dollars for personal and political gain implies even wider institutional corruption.

The fact that those charged so far are House Democrats might raise eyebrows in an election year.

But they handed out more in secret bonuses - $1.3 million - than any of the four caucuses, so they go first.

And does any sensate person believe only Democrats are capable of criminality?

That so many stole so much for so long, in bonuses and more, millions of dollars over multiple years (THAT WE KNOW OF!), for political campaigns suggests broad knowledge of such practice and probable Republican emulation.

Expect more charges against those of both parties.

"Let me be perfectly clear," Attorney General Tom Corbett said yesterday while announcing the charges, "this is not the conclusion . . . we are investigating all four caucuses."

He added that the scope and magnitude of the continuing probe is "really hard to describe" and extends beyond bonus issues.

The fun stuff that's alleged is likely to get the most attention in yesterday's indictments:

* Mike Manzo, former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, recruiting a 21-year-old college intern as a no-show employee and mistress.

* Former House whip Mike Veon, using staff and tax dollars to drive his and his wife's motorcycles to South Dakota for their vacation and then fly back, and using tax dollars to feed Tuesday night basketball buddies post-game meals totaling more than $22,000 over four years.

* A House attorney, Jeff Foreman, pulling $126,200 in public salary and another $14,815 in bonus pay, while maintaining a private law practice in Harrisburg, billing at $200 an hour, and sometimes charging taxpayers and clients for more than 24 hours a day.

Greed and avarice, no doubt.

But it's the sweeping use of tax dollars, public employees on public time and public resources (offices, phones, copiers, printers, computers) to run campaigns, do opposition research, print campaign materials, fundraise and more that is at the heart of the institution's ills.

Evidence says there's a pattern of an inordinate amount of time and money spent on partisan self-protection rather than service to taxpayers - who, of course, foot the bill.

If these charges are right, these people are doing more than lining their pockets.

They are stealing from those who rely on government services.

They are defrauding every taxpayer in Pennsylvania.

And they are further eroding what might be left of public confidence in Harrisburg.

Gene Stilp travels with a giant pig to portray the Legislature and was the first to file a complaint with Corbett after bonuses to legislative aides were reported by the Harrisburg Patriot-News in January 2007.

Yesterday he praised the charges, saying, "This first chapter was written thoroughly and I anticipate the next chapter will be written thoroughly . . . this will impact on Pennsylvania politics for 50 years."

Reform activist Tim Potts of Democracy Rising said: "This proves conclusively the Legislature can't police itself and can't reform itself. We need a Constitutional Convention."

I don't know. I think we need flamethrowers and fire hoses. *

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