How A Pennsylvania Lawmaker Used Staff For Personal Needs

When you are royalty, life must be something like this.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Bill DeWeese has been in a wide range of leadership positions in the state House from minority and majority leader to House Speaker.

Undoubtedly, his days were busy with legislative work, but, according to Grand Jury testimony, DeWeese thought he was entitled to use state staff for a host of personal needs.

A wide ranging investigation into Pennsylvania state politics, known as Bonusgate, has turned up numerous campaign and staff abuses. Although politicians have often used staff for personal matters, few have done it with the enthusiasm that DeWeese employed.

One former DeWeese staffer said, “(DeWeese) would take a piece of paper, rip it up into 100 tiny little pieces and hand it to you. It didn’t matter if there was a garbage can sitting right in front of him. He just wanted someone else to throw it away. It was very peculiar.”

Peculiar, yes. Yet it is more than that. Arrogance. Hubris. It is an abuse of the basic democratic principles that a representative is supposed to work for the people.

DeWeese also kept a personal driver. He demanded that the car was always waxed. The driver was supposed to keep a list of items in the trunk orderly and stocked. The driver also was required to draw symbols on a card showing where all the items were so DeWeese could easily access them.

Other staffers did DeWeese’s grocery shopping, picked up his dry cleaning, made sure the carpets were clean in his home and even bought condoms for him.

The condoms were needed because DeWeese, a single man, had a stable of up to seven women that his scheduler was supposed to call and arrange to accompany DeWeese to dinner every night. Paying for the dinner was a lobbyist who the scheduler selected from a list. If one lobbyist or girlfriend could not make it to dinner, then the scheduler moved down the list to the next one.

What a great servant of the people.

Another staffer kept DeWeese’s personal affairs in order, including balancing his checkbook. Staffers also had to withdraw money from his account at an ATM because DeWeese had not learned how to operate one.

It was not just having people taking care of his every whim that stood out, but the “peculiar” things that he would ask staffers to do. For example, DeWeese would ask for a small salad in a big bowl or present a cup and ask for 12 M&M’s. Bizarre stuff.

Obviously, DeWeese wanted taxpayer-paid staff to do everything for him and expected it as his right.

Now that DeWeese is removed from his leadership position, and the abuse of staff has been noted, it must be quite a change for DeWeese. I bet he knows how to take his own cash out of an ATM now.

DeWeese is currently facing criminal charges of using his office staff for his campaign. That is no surprise either.