By Ralph Cipriano
In his two days on the stand, Vince Fumo has been a dispassionate witness, speaking candidly about his own sins and not getting agitated even when discussing his political enemies.
Government prosecutors, however, have appeared steamed about having to sit through Vince's anecdotes and frequently expansive testimony. Prosecutors have sought heatedly and unsuccessfully numerous times in the last two days to limit the scope of Vince's testimony with objections. But after a prosecution case that lasted 14 weeks, Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter seems intent on letting the defendant have his say.
In court today, however, after Fumo left the stand for a recess, the judge sent the jury home early for the day, and then prosecutors erupted.
"The jury is being given a false reality," Ast. U.S. Attorney Robert Zauzmer complained to the judge. "The jury is not being told the truth about his life." The prosecutor asked the judge for permission to fill the jury in on Fumo's past, namely a 1980 conviction, later overturned, for putting Democrats on the state payroll as "ghost employees."
Specifically, Prosecutor Zauzmer argued that in Fumo's own words, his 1980 conviction was "a searing experience," and that experience was "something the jury needs to know." "We think it's dramatically relevant at this point," Zauzmer argued. The prosecutor also asked the judge for permission to impeach Fumo's recent testimony with comments from an old 1985 Philadelphia Inquirer magazine story.
Here's what Zauzmer wants jurors to hear. In the article, Fumo described his month-long trial and conviction as "costly educational experiences."
"It was the price I paid," Fumo was quoted as saying in the 1985 article, "but it has made me more sensitive in those areas probably than anyone else in the state." What was galling Zauzmer was that in his two days on the stand, Fumo has been able to represent to jurors that he wasn't aware of any formal ethical distinctions between having state employees do personal and political favors. Meanwhile, Zauzmer argued, jurors aren't being told that Fumo has already been indicted and convicted for ethical violations involving state employees.
The other prosecutor in the trial, John Pease, also asked the judge for permission to impeach Fumo with his testimony in the 1980 case. Pease heatedly explained to the judge that otherwise, Fumo will get away with telling jurors that he wasn't aware that there was anything wrong with dispatching his own staffers on many personal errands with "political purposes."
"It's outrageous," a clearly angry Pease shouted to the judge.
"Compose yourself," the judge advised Pease. This is the same Judge Buckwalter who rejected a similar motion last October by the prosecution to impeach Fumo with the old 1980 case and the old 1985 Inquirer magazine article. The prosecutors argued that when Judge Buckwalter made that previous decision, he indicated he would reconsider the issue if Fumo testified in his own defense, as Fumo has done.
The judge, however, once again expressed reservations today about using the old 1980 case, as well as the 1985 interview against the defendant. Judge Buckwalter told prosecutors they had plenty of material to cross-examine Fumo about, without throwing in those old clunkers. A judge overturned Fumo's 1980 conviction, and that decision was upheld on appeal.
"He was a young man," Judge Buckwalter said of Fumo's former transgressions. Defense lawyer Dennis Cogan argued that Fumo wasn't even a state senator when he was accused of breaking the law. "They keep moving the line back," Cogan complained about prosecutors, noting that the 1980 case took place before computers.
Judge Buckwalter said he needed to look over previous memorandums of law submitted by both sides before making a ruling on the prosecution's latest requests. But the judge didn't give the prosecutors much hope. "Don't be prepared to introduce this tomorrow," the judge warned Pease and Zauzmer.
That wasn't the only thing the prosecutors were hot over today. Earlier, Prosecutor Pease complained to the judge about missing defense exhibits, including some possible emails between Fumo and his former attorney, Richard A. Sprague.
Pease said that if there was any such communication, "We should have it by now." Pease told the judge the government was unlikely to call Sprague as a witness against Fumo, although that decision could change.
"We may never call Mr. Sprague," Pease told the judge, but he added, "We don't know what Mr. Fumo is going to say."
Before the prosecutors erupted today, Fumo was having a great time, regaling jurors with his account of how he separated PECO executives from $17 million.
Fumo said he was meeting with PECO Chairman and CEO Corbin McNeil. "Corbin met with me privately," Fumo told the jurors. "And we discussed a settlement." Fumo told the jury that he demanded 10 percent rate rollbacks from PECO, as well as a rate freeze.
"We joked about it," Fumo said. "That's when I asked him for the money for Citizens Alliance. He said, 'no problem.' "
Fumo testified that PECO CEO McNeil subsequently told him he was happy to reach a settlement and get Fumo off his back. "Quite frankly, you're a pain in the ass," Fumo quoted McNeil as saying. "He said that jokingly," Fumo added.
Fumo also told jurors about how he was subsequently lobbied by the late Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron. "I had no idea who Ken Lay was," Fumo testified. Fumo said Lay told him he had made a big mistake in going against PECO's wishes to have utilities deregulated in Pennsylvania.
Fumo said he listened to Lay's pitch, which included a claim that utility deregulation would result in substantial savings for consumers. "At the time, he (Lay) had the Inquirer on his side," Fumo recalled. But the former state senator told the jury he was always skeptical about that sales pitch.
In the end, Fumo told the jury, he decided he was getting a line from "a snakeoil salesman. I literally threw him out of my office," Fumo said.
Fumo also gleefully told jurors what his favorite nonprofit, the Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, did with some of that money. He talked about how the nonprofit that he described as "my baby" -- "I gave birth to it, and nursed it along" -- bought two buildings, a closed Catholic school at Ninth and Christian, and another building at 13th and Wharton, and turned them into the Christopher Columbus Charter School.
"It was a major undertaking to start a school," Fumo testified. "They wanted the very best that they could get for those kids."
Fumo told jurors how the effort was led by his co-defendant, Ruth Arnao, former executive director of the Citizens Alliance. Fumo talked about how when he first hired Arnao, she was a former waitress and secretary.
"Ruthie's a phenomenally hardworking person" with a "kind heart," Fumo said. "She made it (the school) a lot nicer than it had to be."
Fumo then explained to the jurors, four of whom are African Americans, how the largely minority student population of African-Americans and Asians loved the new school.
"Parents love it," Fumo said. "There's a waiting list to get in."
No wonder today when court was over, Fumo was smiling and the prosecutors looked angry and frustrated.
The trial resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m. Defense lawyer Cogan told the judge he has about an hour left of direct testimony. And then prosecutors will get a chance to cross-examine Fumo, and wipe that smile off his face.
