State Sen. Jane Orie and her sister, Janine Orie, will stand trial on allegations that they used the senator’s taxpayer-funded staff for campaign purposes, an Allegheny County judge ruled Wednesday.
 
The ruling also means the sisters will stand trial for conspiring to use the senator’s staff to aid the campaign of a third sister, Joan Orie Melvin, who successfully ran for a seat on the state Supreme Court in 2009.  The ruling follows three days of testimony from current and former Sen. Orie staffers who testified that they conducted campaign work on legislative time at the senator’s direction or that of her sister, Janine Orie, who served as an aide to Judge, now Justice, Orie Melvin.
 
The senator’s attorney called the prosecutor’s evidence “trivial,” and claimed that though staff members helped with the campaign, they did so on their own or on compensatory time.
 
The sisters, Republicans, claim that they are innocent and that the charges, brought by a Democratic prosecutor, are motivated by politics. The Allegheny County District Attorney, Stephen Zappala Jr. charged the sisters in April after several staffers claimed they engaged in, or saw others participate in, campaign or fundraising work for Orie between 2001 and 2009.
 
More coverage is available in the Philadelphia Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.