Daniel Rubin: Fumo holds his temper - almost

John J. Pease couldn't wait. For five years, the veteran prosecutor had been working the corruption case against former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, and yesterday, at 2:35 p.m., after 16 weeks of trial in federal court, Pease finally got to question his prey.

The assistant U.S. attorney marched to the lectern and opened his thick black notebook before defense attorney Eddie Jacobs had even gathered his things.

Pease bore right in.

He wanted to talk about two things Fumo had said earlier in the day, when his attorney, Dennis J. Cogan, had led the questioning and Fumo had come across as controlled, credible, knowledgeable.

Pease had raised no objection when Fumo turned to face the jurors and lectured them about his concern for the Pennsylvania Constitution and its rules on the separation of legislative and executive powers.

That, Fumo explained, was why he was troubled when Republican rival Robert Jubelirer was serving as both president pro tempore of the Senate and lieutenant governor.

Pease made Fumo read from a lawsuit he had secretly funded, in which the proposed remedy for the constitutional conflict was Jubelirer's ouster. "Wasn't your interest personally in getting Jubelirer out of office?" Pease asked.

Yes, Fumo said flatly.

Without pause, Pease zeroed in on his next point, his delivery steady and even, like a tailgunner in gray pinstripes.

Yes, Fumo conceded, he was mistaken when he said there was no requirement that each grant he directed to his nonprofit, the Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, had to be kept in a separate account.

Then the fun began.

Pease couldn't let that mistake go. His voice rose in excitement. "Calm down!" Fumo counseled the prosecutor. Pease did not relent.

For the next two hours they sparred, two Wharton-educated lawyers quibbling over the meaning of words, giving each other no quarter. Pease made Fumo read summary after summary of state Ethics Commission reports in which Pennsylvania officials had been found to violate the rules because they had used their staffs and offices for personal or political gain.

After establishing that Fumo had served on the Senate Ethics Committee, the prosecutor asked, "So you're interested in ethics, are you?"

Fumo smiled. "Yes. I think everybody's interested in ethics."

A few moments later Pease asked the question again.

"I'm as sensitive as any other senator," Fumo answered, more sharply.

Until that point, Fumo's attorney had let Pease go on without objection. But this repeated question prompted the first of many sidebar conferences with the judge.

The courtroom buzzed. The cross-examination of Fumo had drawn a standing-room-only audience, and the aisles were lined by law clerks who had arrived for the show.

"Isn't this like the World Series?" asked a man behind me. The older gentleman to his left replied, "It's exactly the same thing." A woman noted how pale Fumo looked.

For Pease, there was risk in pushing Fumo too hard. The former senator, a 65-year-old with a heart condition, twitched on the witness stand, his head circling involuntarily.

But if Pease could trigger that famous Fumo temper - bring out some of the flashing rage that littered his e-mails with F-bombs . . .

Back in front of the jury, Pease asked Fumo, Wasn't it illegal to use his office for political gain?

"I operate under the rules of the Senate," Fumo insisted.

Isn't it your obligation to conduct yourself ethically? Pease asked, putting it another way.

"My only obligation as a senator is to go to Harrisburg and vote."

"Obligation," Fumo said a few minutes later, "is a word that requires me to do something by law. . . . I don't have to go to work, have a district office. I don't have to do anything."

Pease nodded.

Fumo snapped, "I'm glad you understand."

And so they sniped until recess. Only at the end of a long day did Fumo seem to lose control.

The jury had been dismissed and the attorneys were arguing a point with the judge. Fumo stood in the middle of the courtroom next to his girlfriend, Carolyn Zinni.

Cogan was objecting to the litany of ethics commission findings that Pease had made Fumo read. Pease countered that they showed Fumo had deliberately ignored ethics law.

Fumo bristled. He couldn't let Pease's characterization pass. No sooner had he started to protest than Cogan spun around, jabbed his legal pad toward his client and gave the ex-senator some valuable advice.

"Shut up!" he said.