By Ralph Cipriano

He wore a loud Hawaiian shirt and talked frankly about life on Vince Fumo’s 100-acre farm outside of Harrisburg.

"Farming work ain't easy, Charlie Sholders testified in federal court today. "We used to get up at 6 in the morning to feed the horses and the goats."

Sholders told the jurors about the many challenges he faced managing Fumo’s farm. First, the horses developed eczema patches that sent a couple of "city slickers" on the senator’s staff into a tizzy.

Then the goats got pregnant. And they kept getting pregnant every four months.

Sholders, a retired employee of the Pennsylvania state senate who now lives in Florida, was summoned by government prosecutors to testify about the year that he lived on Vince Fumo’s farm rent-free, with his wife, two daughters and three grandchildren, in exchange for looking after the senator’s farm, with its two horses and 14 goats.

Fumo is charged in a 139-count federal indictment with using contractors and state employees such as Sholders as servants, allowing Fumo to lead a lavish lifestyle and allegedly defraud the state senate and two non-profit agencies out of $3.5 million worth of goods and services. The former state senator who served for three decades in Harrisburg has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of fraud, obstruction of justice and filing false tax returns.

As the trial entered its sixth week, Sholders testified about how he was paid by state taxpayers as an employee working for the state Senate, where he was classified as a clerk earning $34,000, and subsequently an administrative aide earning up to $47,000.

Sholders, who resembled former Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan, in both his appearance and his gruff but folksy manner, worked for Fumo for 14 years. His official job descriptions filed with the state senate said listed his duties as directing some purchasing, overseeing duplicating procedures, as well as helping to set policy objectives, but Sholders testified that he never performed any of these functions.

What Sholders did do was drive the senator around Harrisburg, where his duties included helping the senator shop for bargains at Sam’s Club. And then, every week, when the state Senate was through with business, Sholders would drive Fumo back to Philadelphia, where they would occasionally dine at LaVeranda, the senator’s favorite restaurant on Delaware Avenue.

Then in 2003, Fumo bought his 100-acre farm, and decided he needed a live-in manager. Sholders told jurors that he was well qualified for the farm job. The 69-year-old retired employee said he had worked on horse farms since he was 15, and he had also raced harness horses.

Sholders lived on Vince Fumo’s farm from the fall of 2003 to December of 2004. He said he divided his time between his Senate duties as well as helping his wife, Margaret, take care of the farm. Sholders told jurors how the senator paid Margaret Sholders $200 a week because she had so much work to do at the farm.

But then Sam, one of Fumo’s horses, developed "hot spots all over his body and neck," a Fumo female staffer wrote the senator. Both of the senator’s horses, the aide wrote the senator, did not appear well-groomed. On a subsequent visit to the farm, a female staffer reported to Fumo that the "stalls were just a mess," and that the horses did not appear to be getting enough exercise. Another female staffer wrote another e-mail to Fumo describing Sholders and his wife as "a bunch of lazy asses."

Sholders told jurors he was not happy that the two female staffers were "criticizing my wife," when in reality, the aides knew "very little" about horses and farm life. Sholders then proceeded to get even with one of the employees, a Fumo secretary, by describing to prosecutors she would routinely doctor the senator’s LaVeranda bills to cover up his purchases of beer and wine.

Fumo’s secretary simply rewrote the senator’s bills from LaVeranda, to inflate the food costs and eliminate the liquor bill, Sholders told jurors.

Sholders also testified about how Fumo’s farm was equipped with a tractor and a backhoe provided by the Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a nonprofit founded by Fumo. Sholders also described two dogs on the farm named PECO and Verizon, which drew laughs from spectators and jurors, several of whom shook their heads.

Jurors previously have heard testimony about how Fumo allegedly shook down PECO officials for a $17 million donation to the Citizens Alliance, and how Verizon officials had balked at a similar demand from Fumo.

Sholders testified that his relations with Fumo and his staff went south after Fumo staffers complained about the condition of the farm and the senator’s animals. Sholders said he was summoned to a meeting with senior Fumo staffers, and told "to shape up or ship out."

He ended up shipping out after a senior Fumo aide told him he had a conflict of interest, and that he couldn’t continue to work for the Senate while he was living on the farm.

But it wasn’t a clean sweep for the government today. Sholders had previously testified to a grand jury in 2006 that his days at the farm were so hectic he didn’t even make it to the office some afternoons. But today, after the prosecutor tried to elicit similar testimony in federal court, Sholders told jurors he had gotten confused during his grand jury testimony, and that the government got his story wrong. In reality, Sholders told jurors, he didn’t miss out on any senate duties because of farm work.

During cross-examination, Sholders was asked about the contradiction by defense lawyer Dennis Cogan. The witness explained himself by saying "I was scared," when he testified to the grand jury.

"What were you frightened of?" Cogan asked Sholders. "Mr. Pease," Sholders said, referring to U.S. Attorney John Pease, watching from the prosecutor's table.