Why wait for the attorney general to indict DeWeese?

I love this story from today's edition of The Herald-Standard in Uniontown.

Talk about taking the law into your own hands.

Two Pennsylvania citizen activists have decided to serve a "civil indictment" against Bill DeWeese, Democratic Majority Leader of the state House of Representatives.

That's Dennis Baylor and Gene Stilp, representing "Taxpayers and Ratepayers United PAC," outside the district offices of state Rep. Bill DeWeese in Waynesburg on Wednesday.

DeWeese is knee-deep in a scandal known as "Bonusgate," in which Legislative staffers worked on political campaigns on government time.

DeWeese, leader of the majority Democrats in the House, has fired seven of his owns staff members and is attempting to pull the Sgt. Schultz defense: "I know nothing."

It strains credulity to believe that some of his top staffers were working on political campaigns unbeknown to DeWeese, who approved nearly $2 million on bonuses for these very same staffers and others working for the Democratic caucus.

While Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett, who is conducting a criminal investigation, has not said who the target of his investigation is, DeWeese has a big bulls eye on his back.

Stilp and Baylor, representing the Taxpayers and Ratepayers United PAC, arrived in front of DeWeese's office in Stilp's "Pink Pig Bus" to issue a symbolic "citizens' indictment" to DeWeese, according to The Herald-Standard.

"We are issuing these citizen indictments now because we are approaching the first year anniversary of the official filing date of the complaint that launched the 'bonusgate' scandal investigation and the attorney general has not issued any indictments directly related to bonusgate," Stilp told reporter Steve Barrett.

Corbett is investigating whether Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate handed out $3.6 million to staffers during 2005 and 2006 as a reward for work on campaigns and whether state resources were used for political purposes, according to the newspaper.

No one has been charged in the bonus probe, but at least a dozen Democratic staffers have been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury handling the case in Harrisburg, Barrett reports.

Stilp and Baylor told Barrett they can't wait for the attorney general's investigation to conclude.

"Bill DeWeese is always in the middle of every scandal that shakes the capital," Stilp told the newspaper. "We cannot afford to keep him as a leader ... He has to step down from his leadership now. We are fed up, and that's why we're here today."

Stilp said the two men also would be traveling in the bus to other parts of the state to issue similar indictments to other legislators, including Sen. Gerald Lavalle in Beaver County and Rep. Sam Smith in Jefferson County, as well as Sen. Vince Fumo and House Speaker Emeritus John Perzel, according to the newspaper.

"It is time for a change," Stilp told Barrett. "But it's ultimately up to the people to make that statement. The commonwealth cannot survive this kind of leadership."

Read the full story at The Herald-Standard's Web site.

Photo credit: Steve Barrett/The Herald-Standard