Kerns Gets Tough on Bonusgate

It's been too long...4 years is long enough to go without a chairman with a set of coglione ottone. Click on the link below to see the Times Herald story by Margaret Gibbons.
GOP Wants Bonusgate Money Repaid
By: MARGARET GIBBONS , Times Herald Staff

COURTHOUSE - The head of the Montgomery County Republican Committee Monday called on state Rep. Rick Taylor, D-151st Dist., to reimburse state coffers for all illegal "bonus" money state workers received for working on his 2006 campaign.

Specifically, said county GOP Chairman Robert J. Kerns, Taylor should pay back the part of the $15,185 bonus in state money that state legislative aide Rachel Manzo received for work she did on Taylor's campaign, including serving as the campaign manager in the couple of weeks leading up to the November 2006 election.

Manzo, the executive director of the state House Democratic Policy Committee, was among the dozen Democrats arrested last week on political corruption charges involving the payment of "bonuses" to state employees for their work on Democratic campaigns.

In addition, said Kerns, another state House employee, Beth Marietta, testified before a grand jury that she worked on Taylor's campaign and was paid by the state House, not by Taylor or the House Democratic Campaign Committee (HDCC).

Kerns demanded that Taylor reimburse the state for funds Marietta received, either in bonus money or salary, while she worked on Taylor's campaign.

Kerns also called on Taylor to release a list of all his campaign workers so their names can be compared with investigation information released last week by state Attorney Tom Corbett to determine whether any of those workers collected state salaries or bonuses while working in Taylor's behalf.

"He (Taylor) has an obligation to remedy this by providing full disclosure and reimbursing taxpayers for every dime of public money and resources that were expended on his political campaign," Kerns said in a press release.

"This is not an issue of shades of gray," said Kerns. "This is an issue of right and wrong. Rick Taylor needs to right his wrongs."

Taylor campaign manager Danny Friedman late Monday afternoon issued a response statement claiming that the "Republican attack machine is now on the move" and calling Kerns' demands "partisan attacks, silly gimmicks."

"Last week, (the Taylor) campaign released a statement which expressed Representative Taylor's outrage at the actions which led to these indictments," Friedman said in his response. "If convicted, these rogue operatives should be punished to the fullest extent of the law including payment of full restitution by those convicted to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania."

Taylor, who defeated GOP incumbent Eugene McGill in 2006 to win election to his first two-year term in the state House, last week explained that, in the fall of 2006, he decided to change campaign managers. He contacted the House Democratic Campaign Committee (HDCC), which was paying for his campaign manager, to alert it to the situation and to request a replacement.

The HDCC sent Manzo to work on his behalf as campaign manager during the last several weeks preceding the election, according to Taylor. He said he believed that the HDCC was paying her.

Taylor in last week's statement said at no time was he aware that Manzo was being paid or rewarded with public money. In addition, he said at the time, he was unaware of any other state employee who volunteered for his campaign being paid with public dollars.

Horsham Republican Todd Stephens, a county prosecutor, this year is challenging Taylor who is seeking re-election to a second term.

The 151st District includes Ambler and parts of Lower Gwynedd, Montgomery Township, Upper Dublin, Abington and Horsham.

Margaret Gibbons can be reached at mgibbons@timesherald.com or 610-272-2501 ext. 216.