Fumo shares his 'awkward' side

Vince Fumo says he was no power-hungry dictator, bossing around his staff, abusing taxpayer resources for self-aggrandizement. No, by his account he's a painfully shy introvert who made mistakes of the heart.

He told a jury in his federal corruption trial yesterday that this was why a state-paid private eye ended up tailing an ex-girlfriend.

To lift his spirits, Fumo said, the detective had agreed to investigate Fumo's old love - free.

"At the time, I was heartbroken. I was jealous. I was in love, and she had broken off with me," Fumo said. "I was moping around. He tried to cheer me up."

He added: "I think anyone who has been in that situation would understand. Not forgivable, but it is what it is."

For long stretches during his nearly five hours on the stand yesterday, Fumo seemed to be in a therapist's office rather than a courtroom. His mission seemed to be to humble himself in a bid to defuse some of the ugliest aspects of the case against him.

To a hushed, standing-room-only audience and an impassive jury, the 65-year-old Fumo, his face as pale as the pink stripes in his rep tie, apologized again and again.

He said he was sorry about those profanity-filled orders to his staff, which have been flashed repeatedly on TV monitors to the jury during the 16-week trial. "I'm basically a shy person, but an e-mail in a sense allows you to be a different person," he said.

He said he was wrong to have his computer technicians secretly rig his daughter's computer so he could read her e-mail. "I was very concerned about her, concerned about my relationship with her, trying to get some insight," Fumo said.

And he said he regretted that private eye Frank D. Wallace had spied on businesswoman Dorothy Egrie after she dumped him.

"I'm not proud of it," he said. "It's probably something I shouldn't have done."

One thing that Fumo couldn't recall was precisely who put the spying in motion. "I don't know if he volunteered or I asked him," Fumo said.

Unlike Gov. Rendell, who testified for 12 minutes on Fumo's behalf as a character witness earlier in the day, Fumo said he had no appetite for the rituals of the professional pol: the knocking on doors, the handshaking, the public events.

"I hate it," he said. "I just feel awkward."

Nonetheless, in a trial that has stripped Fumo of much of his privacy, the former Democratic state senator from Philadelphia had to bare even more yesterday. Perhaps his most excruciating testimony had to do with his tortured relationship with his older daughter, Nicole.

Fumo told the jury that his long-running feud with her had been "very draining, stressful and sad."

That relationship probably hit bottom in October when her husband, Christian Marrone, appeared as one of the first witnesses against his father-in-law.

While his wife sat in the audience, Marrone testified that while working as a legislative aide to Fumo - before he married Fumo's daughter - he spent most of his time serving as project manager for the renovation of Fumo's 29-room mansion in the city's Spring Garden neighborhood. The defense contends that Marrone is out to get Fumo.

Father and daughter have not spoken during the breaks in the trial, passing each other in silence.

Their last conversation, Fumo testified, was "probably two years ago, maybe more."

Fumo said the relationship deteriorated after his first marriage ended in 1985.

"We had a very good relationship during the marriage," he said. "After the divorce, it was difficult on her, as it is in all families."

To back up the portrait of Fumo as anguished father, defense lawyer Dennis J. Cogan had his client put on his half-rim glasses to read a 2000 e-mail to Nicole.

"I know life has not been easy for you and to whatever extent I have contributed to your unhappiness I am truly sorry," the message read.

"You see, kids don't come with instruction books, and I don't know everything about how to raise children. None of us do. But we all try. I was screwed up as a kid myself and that spilled over into adulthood. It took years and years of therapy to try to get me to figure out where I had screwed up my life and that I needed medication."

(The Marrones have told reporters that Nicole never received the e-mail and that they doubt its authenticity.)

After Fumo finished reading the 2000 message, Cogan asked him why he had not attended his daughter's 2002 wedding.

"I was disinvited," Fumo replied. He then took off his glasses to daub a tear in his eye.

Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 04:55 16+0000

Nicole @fumo

From: "Senator Vincent J. Fumo" <vjf@fumo.com>

Subject: Hi Pretty!

I am on the plane to Paris and I can't sleep so I thought I would write you! I do hope you're feeling better.

Are you still seeing the psychiatrist at Lankanau? Would you like to see the guy I have located for you through Dick Sprague? You said that you would see him after you had all of your tests for asthma and your heart, etc. I do think you should at least meet with him. And if you want, I am available to go sometimes with you as well.

I LOVE YOU honey! I want you to be happy and peaceful. And that doesn't mean that I want you to do everything that I think is best for you (even though I would). I just want you to be sincerely happy and content with life.

I am glad that you are now going to church and I hope and pray that you will find God and that He will help heal the wounds of your mind and soul.

I know that life has not been easy for you and to whatever extent I have contributed to your unhappiness I am truly sorry. You see, kids don't come with instruction books, and I don't know everything about how to raise children. None of us do. But we all try. I was screwed up as a kid myself and that spilled over into adulthood. It took years and years of therapy to try and get me to figure out where I had screwed up my life and that I needed medication.

I am happier now than I have ever been but that doesn't necessarily say much! I love you and need your love of me as well. You are of me! And whatever mistakes we made in the past are done. We both have to go forward and learn how to love and respect each other.

I think, even though at times you seem to be mad at me for whatever, deep down inside you know that I will ALWAYS TAKE CARE OF YOU! And that doesn't mean just financially.

I want to teach you all that I know about life, love, business and politics! Maybe your kids will do better because of what you and I have been through!

Who knows! All we can do is hope and pray and keep trying.

You never hit a home run unless you keep coming up to bat, no matter how many times you strike out!

I LOVE YOU!

DAD

XO

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