The moment of truth for Fumo? I doubt it

TYPICALLY, at least several weeks before sentencing, convicted felons think about ratting on others in return for a reduced sentence.

Take ex-State Sen. Vince Fumo. While he's no Bernie Madoff, he too faces what amounts to a life sentence. The difference? Everyone hates Bernie. Not so when it comes to Vince.

The silence is deafening - not one elected official criticized this blatant crook while he was operating. Not one.

Maybe it's political omerta, the oath of silence. And all the while, the beleaguered taxpayer is footing the bill for all of these enablers.

And it wasn't fiscal oversight officials who went after him. Nor was it the state attorney general, or tough-talking Philadelphia D.A. Lynne Abraham. As with most other public corruption cases in the state, it was the feds.

That isn't a coincidence. Pennsylvania politics is built on a system of corruption. Vince joins others, like former State Sen. Buddy Cianfrani, House Speaker Herb Fineman, State Auditor General Al Benedict and Treasurer Bud Dwyer as folks able to commit crimes because of the system, not in spite of it. None of them could've profited as they did were it not for a host of institutional enablers, elected and otherwise, associated with state and local government.

Thanks to out-of-control spending by a governor who can't say no, particularly when it comes to projects benefiting his cronies, Pennsylvania will be out of money - without a state budget - when Vince is scheduled to be sentenced. And state officials don't seem to be going after what Vince took.

But it's all part of the bigger picture. Gov. Rendell's recent contention that a tax increase won't hurt a bit shows that he truly is just another "boy in the bubble" thanks to the six-figure salary and perks that go with his job, his sports show and his social circuit.

Call it payback or pay-forward, gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell got a $250,000 salary from a law firm where, he conceded, he never did any work. The nation's almost-10 percent unemployed should have such a deal. It sure beats unemployment comp.

Now, ironically enough, former tough-talking D.A. Rendell tells us he misses Vince, pining for the good old days where Vince controlled the budget process by bringing the bacon home to Philadelphia, a place where budgets are balanced by process of hallucination.

Philadelphia was a basically bankrupt city, fiscally and otherwise, even during the self-hyped Camelot years of Mayor Rendell's administration. (In fact, Philadelphia has been on life support since the mid-'70s, when a not-so "temporary" wage tax on suburbanites was enacted and Chestnut Street was repaved, thanks to state appropriations, for the Bicentennial.)

Wheeler-dealers Vince and Bernie didn't operate in a vacuum. It was only because of a host of enablers and environments lacking any real oversight that they were able to amass their ill-gotten gains.

VINCE COULD TELL the feds and the rest of us a lot of things about the extent of corruption in Pennsylvania.

He could tell us a lot about how commonwealth business gets done and how big contracts get awarded to connected players. His take on casino gambling would be fascinating.

Convicted felons who want to lighten their sentences implicate others. But don't expect any revelations when it comes to Vince. Who knows, maybe he and Bernie will be roomies. *

Mark D. Schwartz is a Bryn Mawr lawyer who was legislative assistant to state House Majority Leader K. Leroy Irvis in 1975 and 1976.