Perzel was target of alleged spying

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo and former House Speaker John M. Perzel have long had a running battle, scrapping for the titles of most powerful Philadelphia legislator and best Harrisburg deal maker.

In a world where knowledge is power, Fumo tried to get an edge: He allegedly spied on Perzel.

Last week's federal indictment of Fumo, the South Philadelphia Democrat, alleges he used a state-paid private investigator to "try to learn derogatory information" about his political rivals, including an unnamed "House leader in Harrisburg."

The Inquirer has learned the leader is Perzel, the influential Republican from the Northeast.

The indictment also says Fumo's investigator tried to dig up dirt, at taxpayer expense, on a City Council member and a candidate for the Supreme Court, both unnamed. Sources have identified them as former Councilman Rick Mariano and Justice Michael J. Eakin.

In a statement, Perzel said he was surprised to learn that Fumo allegedly had him "under surveillance."

"But since first getting elected to public office 30 years ago, my life has been an open book, so you grow accustomed to these intrusions and violations of your privacy," he said.

As previously reported, Fumo allegedly used Frank D. Wallace, a former top Philadelphia police inspector, to spy on his ex-wife and former girlfriends, electrician union boss John Dougherty, and Ed Rendell, a candidate for governor at the time.

Friday, for the first time, Rendell spoke publicly about being the subject of the spying.

"It doesn't bother me. It did surprise me. But you know, I've been in political life since 1977. I'm used to living in a fishbowl," Rendell told reporters at a Washington news conference on state financing of transportation.

Fumo, the indictment says, assigned Wallace in 2001 to see whether Rendell was using nonunion labor to build a Shore home. In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Fumo was among the biggest supporters of Rendell's opponent, Bob Casey Jr., now a U.S. senator.

Rendell said his wife, Marjorie, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, had handled the construction project.

"The house was done by Midge," Rendell said. "The best investigators in the world could investigate what Midge did and find nothing wrong."

It's unclear what Fumo allegedly had Wallace try to uncover on Perzel, Mariano and Eakin, or exactly when that sleuthing was done.

Perzel was ousted as speaker last month after Democrats seized control of the House in the fall election. He had held the post since 2003, and had been House majority leader for eight years before that.

He clashed with Fumo over issues such as the GOP takeover of the Philadelphia Parking Authority and details of legalizing slot parlors.

In a twist of political fates that few could have predicted a year ago, Fumo and Perzel have become rank-and-file legislators. On Monday, Fumo stepped down from his influential post as ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Mariano was an ally of Dougherty, the head of Electricians Union Local 98 and Fumo's archrival. Fumo spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to unseat Mariano, but Mariano defeated Fumo's candidate, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, in the 2003 primary.

Mariano left office last year after a federal corruption conviction and is serving a six-year prison sentence. Attempts to reach his attorney, Nino Tinari, were unsuccessful.

Also at Fumo's direction, the indictment alleges, Wallace sought information on Eakin during the 2001 race for the state's highest court.

Eakin, a Lancaster County Republican, defeated Kate Ford Elliott, a Democrat backed by Fumo. Ken Snyder, a media strategist who has worked for Fumo, was a consultant on Elliott's campaign.

Snyder said Friday that he didn't know Wallace had investigated Eakin.

Through a secretary, Eakin declined to comment.

The indictment alleges that Fumo began using Wallace in 1999, paying him with Appropriations Committee money. Between 2001 and 2005, the indictment says, the committee paid Wallace more than $205,000 for work described on Senate invoices merely as "research."

Federal prosecutors allege that most of what Wallace did was not related to state government but was directed by Fumo for political and personal reasons.

At a news conference Tuesday announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said the extent of Fumo's alleged spying efforts had become clear after federal agents interviewed Wallace, of Montgomery County.

Meehan called it "scary."

Fumo's attorney, Richard A. Sprague, did not directly address the spying allegations during his news conference Thursday. He did say a legislator must engage in politics to be effective.

However, two people close to Fumo gave an insight into what might be the senator's defense: Wallace's research on politicians has been blown out of proportion and was nothing more than routine "opposition research." They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Tim Potts, cofounder of Democrat Rising Pa., a Harrisburg-area public-interest group, said the allegations showed Fumo "lacked internal integrity."

"It shows a level of paranoia and lack of judgment that has no place in public life," he added.

Federal prosecutors John J. Pease and Robert Zauzmer declined to comment.

Fumo, known as one of the state's best political minds, has a long history of aggressive tactics when pursuing information.

He resigned as a Harrisburg bureaucrat in 1973 after questions surfaced about an investigative squad he formed to get personal records on rivals of his boss, Gov. Milton Shapp.

At the time, Fumo had sought nonpublic documents of Philadelphia District Attorney Arlen Specter and Auditor General Robert P. Casey Sr., who were viewed as potential Shapp reelection opponents.