In Harrisburg and city, reaction is swift

Philadelphia's mayor described it as a "stunning conclusion" to a "stunning trial."

A former president pro tempore of the Senate said the verdict "finally got him right between the eyes."

And a former aide could muster only a one-word e-mailed response: "Sigh."

From the state Capitol to City Hall to the streets of South Philadelphia, reaction to the guilty-on-all-counts verdict for Vincent J. Fumo poured in swiftly as former colleagues to enemies absorbed the news that the man once called in-Vinceable is now facing years in prison.

"I am devastated, I am devastated," Rosanne Pauciello, a former top Senate aide whom Fumo often described as his "sister," said in a phone interview shortly after the verdict was announced.

Others had little sympathy.

"His perverted view of the way government should work for him and not him for government eventually caught up with him," said former Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer (R., Blair), who had several high-profile run-ins with Fumo during decades together in the Senate. "Vince has dodged so many bullets over the years, but this one finally got him right between the eyes."

The dichotomy reflected Fumo's 30-year tenure in Harrisburg, where he became a love-him-or-hate-him figure. Over time, he used a combination of political cunning and legislative mastery to extend his power into virtually every corner of city and state governments, from City Council to the courts, from little-known agencies to nonprofit boards.

He was lauded by some for bringing Philadelphia wads of cash and excoriated by others as a Machiavellian character who would stop at nothing to crush those who stood in his way.

City Council President Anna C. Verna lamented that the discussion on Fumo now centered on the latter.

Fumo's particular talent for extracting funding from a state legislature with little sympathy for Philadelphia would have come in handy during this budget crisis, she pointed out yesterday.

"The average person may not know or realize that," she said. "He would have been up there fighting for every penny. . . . It's a shame that he's not there now - we could sure use a Vince Fumo now."

Mayor Nutter, who called the verdict stunning, put it this way.

"He, in the true sense of public service, certainly did many things beneficial to Philadelphia and our region and the commonwealth," he said, adding that "none of us are above the law, and we'll all be held accountable for things that we do."

Gov. Rendell, who was among Fumo's character witnesses at trial, declined to comment yesterday.

At the Capitol, where the legislature was in session yesterday, senators said it was hard to reconcile the man they saw in action for so many years with the one painted as a millionaire thief by the federal government.

"How a man of his means ever got into the situation that he did, I don't know," said Sen. Donald C. White (R., Indiana). "All I saw was the relentless Democratic leader on the floor who was so passionate about so many things.

"It doesn't reflect well on the rest of us, either," he added.

Senate leaders yesterday insisted that the chamber wasn't tainted by the verdict.

"You can't legislate morals and you can't necessarily . . . guarantee that everyone who walks in these halls is of high ethical behavior," said Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson).

Nonetheless, good-government activists maintained the verdict should serve as a wakeup call.

"Here was a guy who was untouchable because of his reputation of being a larger-than-life power broker," said Barry Kauffman, executive director of government-watchdog group Common Cause of Pennsylvania. "I think this message is: Be careful, work in the public interest, because nobody is too big not to get caught."

Rep. Dennis M. O'Brien (R., Phila.), the former House speaker, said the verdict was an opportunity for the General Assembly to finally pass clearly defined ethics laws.

"Vince didn't see those lines, and they're blurred for anyone else, so I think it's incumbent upon us in the legislature to highlight those lines and make sure that they're not blurred in the future," he said.

Yesterday's reactions were also notable for those who didn't offer any.

The long list of those staying mum on Fumo's fortune included many who knew him well and who wield a great amount of power, such as Rendell and House Appropriation Chairman Dwight Evans (D., Phila.).

John Hawkins, a former Fumo aide, offered just a one-word response to an e-mailed request for comment: "Sigh . . ."

Even a longtime Fumo foe, electricians union leader John J. Dougherty, who has seldom been reluctant to spar with the powerful pol, declined to comment.

Why the silence?

"No one wants it to look like they are dancing on his grave," explained one state legislator who asked not to be named.

Robert Segal, 60, of South Philadelphia, a former music instructor, who was reading in the Fumo Family Library yesterday, wasn't holding back.

"I think he was an idealist, but his aspirations for power overcame him. He became a little too grasping.

"I feel sorry for what has occurred to him," Segal said. "He got too carried away and didn't rein himself in."