The Perzel plea: It's expected today; but what's the deal?

THE THREE-decade public career of John Perzel, who climbed from the maitre d' stand of a Northeast Philly restaurant to speaker of the state House, will sputter to an ignominious end today when he pleads guilty to corruption charges.

Perzel, deposed by voters from his House seat in November, vowed just two weeks ago to go to trial after learning that his brother-in-law and two former aides were pleading guilty and cooperating with prosecutors in a trial set for next month.

Perzel's attorney, Brian McMonagle, declined yesterday to comment on the guilty plea anticipated this afternoon in Dauphin County Common Pleas Court.

Perzel's plea will require him to testify, if prosecutors call him during trial next month, against his former chief of staff, Brian Preski, and former state House Republican Whip Brett Feese.

Perzel, 61, was a powerful force in the General Assembly, adept in helping candidates win and keep seats while punishing political foes for any sign of dissent.

A well-known technophile, the tools Perzel hoped to use to maintain power became his undoing.

He faces 82 counts of conspiracy, theft and conflict of interest for allegedly using $10 million in state money to coordinate political campaigns, including computer software designed for that.

Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office, declined to identify the charges to which Perzel and Eric Ruth, a former staffer, will plead guilty.

Two factors were thought to be weighing heavily on Perzel's decision: His wife, Sheryl, is limited in her mobility because of multiple sclerosis, and a guilty plea would endanger his $85,653 annual state pension.

Perzel's case was seen in Harrisburg as the Republican side to the long-running "Bonusgate" investigation that had already resulted in charges against Democrats.

Gov. Corbett ran the investigation in his last job as attorney general and campaigned last year on his reform efforts.

Perzel is not the first speaker from Philadelphia to fall from corruption charges. Speaker Herbert "Herb" Fineman served 23 years in the House before resigning in 1977 to serve nearly a year in prison on a federal obstruction-of-justice charge.

Perzel's brother-in-law, Samuel "Buzz" Stokes, and two other former staffers pleaded guilty two weeks ago. Preski, Feese and two others are scheduled for trial on Sept. 26.

Attorneys for Feese and one of his former staffers, Jill Seaman, yesterday said that they would continue with the trial. An attorney for Elmer "Al" Bowman, another Feese staffer, did not respond to a request for comment.

Joshua Lock, Feese's attorney, speculated that Bowman has been cooperating with prosecutors and will not be tried. "Before this spate of recent pleas, he had jumped ship," Lock explained.

Frederiksen, the attorney general's spokesman, would only say: "To date, there's been no plea entered by Mr. Bowman."

A trial on charges against a 10th defendant, John Zimmerman, is not expected to start until December.