Former aide says Fumo secretly funded lawsuit to oust rival

For years, former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo feuded with the top Republican in the state Senate, former Sen. Robert C. Jubelirer. In a notorious episode, Fumo once called him a "faggot."

That clash took place in public - right on the floor of the Senate.

In 2001, Fumo found a hidden way to hit out at Jubelirer.

Testifying in Fumo's trial, Howard Cain, for years Fumo's political consultant, explained how he used him to secretly fund a lawsuit against Jubelirer.

The stage was set when Jubelirer began serving as a senator and as lieutenant governor. That odd situation arose after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker became governor when Gov. Tom Ridge was named head of federal homeland security. As Senate president pro tempore, Jubelirer stepped into the post that Schweiker vacated.

According to Cain, Fumo wanted to file suit to block Jubelirer from holding two posts at once - but he didn't want to do it publicly.

"The question was could they find somebody who would appear to be apolitical, who was just filing it under the notion of a good-government idea," Cain testified.

Cain said he attended a meeting at Fumo's Harrisburg office with the senator and his two top aides, counsel Christopher B. Craig and executive director Paul Dlugolecki.

There, Cain said: "I was told they had found an attorney to bring the suit. They wanted me to have my company hire the lawyer and pay him through my company so there was less of a traceable line - there was plausible deniability - as to who actually started the suit."

Fumo had a civic-improvement group he controlled, Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, pay for the lawsuit through a circuitous route.

Cain told the jury he went to Fumo's legislative office and picked up a check from a subsidiary of the South Philadelphia nonprofit. Cain deposited it in his own business account, and, two days later, paid the lawyer $17,000 for the lawsuit.

Prosecutors says that was a misuse of Citizens' Alliance money.

Fumo's defense team has said the nonprofit was pursuing a legitimate issue. It was properly seeking to preserve the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, the defense says.

The aides at the meeting, Craig and Dlugolecki, did not respond last week to messages seeking comment.

In any event, Commonwealth Court ultimately rejected the suit.

Before the court ruled, Fumo separately filed a legal motion, urging the judges to decide the issue one way or another.

On the merits, the suit said, "Sen. Fumo does not take a position."