Fumo prosecutors: Bar boasts of success
Federal prosecutors yesterday asked the judge presiding over State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo's forthcoming corruption trial to bar Fumo from boasting to the jury about his legislative successes and the money he has brought to the Philadelphia region.
Federal prosecutors yesterday asked the judge presiding over State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo's forthcoming corruption trial to bar Fumo from boasting to the jury about his legislative successes and the money he has brought to the Philadelphia region.
Fumo's record during his 30 years in Harrisburg is "totally irrelevant" to the case against him, the government said.
To tell jurors about it would be "grossly prejudicial," prosecutors said, and would amount to an improper tactic of "jury nullification" - encouraging jurors to reward Fumo for his successes.
But Fumo's defense team argued that it needed to detail Fumo's concrete accomplishments. It said such testimony would counter what the defense said was a prosecution suggestion that Fumo had used his staff only for his personal or political benefit.
Moreover, the defense said that highlighting Fumo's legislative priorities would explain why his aides "made themselves available to him at all hours of the day and night."
They worked that way, not because Fumo, a Democrat from South Philadelphia, required it, but because they "were devoted to his causes," the defense said.
As minority chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Fumo, 65, has been at the center of numerous policy and political and controversies.
His staff has exceeded 70 and had an annual payroll of $3.5 million. In Harrisburg, his staff has been widely regarded as a highly effective crew.
As has been oft-told, his aides have worn polo shirts with the acronym WGSD, which stands for, in a polite formulation, "We Get Stuff Done."
The arguments before the jury come as the long-delayed trial is about to start. Jury selection began last month but came to a halt after the judge grew too ill to continue. Judge Ronald L. Buckwater stepped in last week to take charge, and opening statements are expected to begin Oct. 20.
In a caustic legal filing, Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Pease and Robert A. Zauzmer derided Fumo's "irrelevant and unproven claims about his legislative successes," such as his statement that he had brought $8 billion in aid to the region.
The two prosecutors also said Fumo's list of trial exhibits included "an astonishing collection of irrelevant and prejudicial documents" in which others praised Fumo or he praised himself.
At one point, the two prosecutors mocked the defense argument, characterizing it as akin to having a Fumo aide say: "I really admired the senator's efforts on gambling legislation, so I went after hours and cleaned his house."
More seriously, the prosecutors cited other federal opinions in which judges rejected a bid by the former governor of Illinois, George Ryan, to cite his stand against the death penalty as admissible evidence in Ryan's corruption trial. Ryan began serving a 61/2-year sentence last year.
Defense lawyer Dennis J. Cogan and the other members of his team have yet to file a detailed argument making their case for exploring Fumo's legislative record. However, prosecutors made public yesterday sections of a defense e-mail discussing the issue.
In it, the defense team said that "Fumo's civic accomplishments" were "his staff's accomplishments as well."
Such evidence, the defense said, was "relevant to show why his staffers would go above and beyond what their roles required and perform personal services for him on their own time."
The government is trying to prove that Fumo, among other numerous allegations, used his staff as personal servants and political operatives.
