Another scandal for Mike Veon?

Mike Veon, a former top Democratic leader in the state House and the man at the center of the Bonusgate corruption scandal, may also have ties to another potential scandal involving taxpayer dollars.

From an editorial in today's edition of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Mr. Veon of Beaver County, the Democrats' ex-House whip, is awaiting trial on 59 counts of theft, conspiracy and conflict of interest. Now comes word that Veon's suspect, public-money-guzzling nonprofit empire had a fifth organization, Beaver County Sports and Recreation, that improperly obtained $200,000 in tax dollars.

DCED says the group claimed it was a nonprofit on its grant application. But it never formed under the state's nonprofit laws. And DCED never checked. It took the sports group's word for it. A "community service group" connected to Veon received $100,000 in the same fashion.

The newspaper appropriately asks: "Is the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) nothing more than a giant, state-sanctioned money-laundering operation?"

Read the full editorial at the newspaper's Web site.