An evening of 'calm seas' for Fumo

Former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo appeared fit and in good spirits last night as he joined scores of friends and family at a South Philadelphia restaurant to celebrate his recent marriage engagement.

He and fiancee Carolyn Zinni slipped almost unnoticed into Popi's shortly after 7 p.m. as Dennis J. Cogan, his defense attorney, drew away the attention of a throng of journalists with some loud joking.

But Fumo was quickly surrounded at the door of the Italian restaurant, and he answered a few questions.

"It's a celebration of our engagement, and we're turning a page," Fumo said, sporting fresh color in his face, a stark contrast to his pale appearance during his federal corruption trial.

Asked what he thought of the critics who argue that his 55-month prison sentence is too short, he responded: "I'd like those people to come with me for half the time and get their assessment."

As for a rumor that he had secretly married yesterday, he laughed and said no.

"In this dress?" Zinni joked. She had a point - it was a little bluish cocktail number.

Among the many notables who arrived and tried to wade through the scrum of reporters and TV cameras were longtime friend and associate Councilman Frank DiCicco, City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione and her daughter, State Sen. Christine Tartaglione, Council President Anna C. Verna, Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal, Comcast executive David L. Cohen, and Geno's Steaks owner Joey Vento.

"He's my friend. I got to stand behind him," Vento said. "I don't throw him under the bus because he's being punished."

The invitation to last night's shindig read: "At the end of every storm, there are calm seas," a clear reference to his crushing federal trial.

Fumo, 66, and Zinni, 51, both twice-divorced, were engaged over the July Fourth weekend, four months after his trial ended.

"I'm happy that he got a very lovely, lovely girl," Verna said.

DiCicco said that if Fumo, the former Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, were still in Harrisburg, "the budget debate would've been settled" by now.

"I'm trying to hold a stiff upper lip," Christine Tartaglione said. "I'm losing a friend."

Also there was Peter Nero, the artistic director and conductor of the Philly Pops and a longtime friend of Fumo's. He was playing keyboards for the 350 people invited to the restaurant on 20th Street just south of the Schuylkill Expressway. The guests were a diverse group that reflected the former senator's 30-year career representing South Philadelphia: Some drove up in sedans, several were dropped off in taxis, and others arrived via limousine.

But the party was also a last hurrah for a politician less than two weeks from beginning a 55-month prison sentence for his conviction on 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud, obstructing justice, and tax violations.

On Monday, his lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter to postpone his Aug. 31 date for reporting to the Bureau of Prisons for incarceration.

Late yesterday, prosecutors filed their response.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer said Fumo had failed to present any substantial appellate issue and was merely trying to delay the start of his prison term. "The fact of the matter is that Fumo received a fair and exhaustive trial," Zauzmer wrote.