While federal officials declined to say what they were investigating, The Inquirer reported in 2009 that Mellow had billed the state for more than $200,000 in rents for a district office in a building he co-owned.
To be sure, not everyone thinks the latest headlines will stir the public pot in the same way as, say, the legislators' middle-of-the-night vote in 2005 to raise their pay.
Berwood A. Yost, a political pollster at Franklin and Marshall College, said Pennsylvanians were already so soured on their elected officials that another prison term or FBI raid "doesn't change anything" in voters' bleak outlook.
"To quote an old Pink Floyd song, it's just another brick in the wall," Yost said. "It's sad to say that this is business as usual."
He added: "I think it just continues to reinforce the perception that this sort of behavior is a frequent and recurring thing in Pennsylvania - and in the Pennsylvania legislature in particular."
But Daniel M. Shea, a political scientist who runs the Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College, said that despite their cynicism toward politicians, reform-minded voters could take encouragement from Friday's events.
"During periods of reform, change happens in a number of directions," he said. "Voters are part of that. And legal investigations and court actions can be part of that."
He added: "I think members of the public could see this as a change that is helping to turn the page in Pennsylvania politics."
Contact staff writer Angela Couloumbis at 717-787-5934 or acouloumbis@phillynews.com.Inquirer staff writer Tom Infield contributed to this article.
