For all we know, she's never been to Philadelphia and she thinks Vinnie Fumo is the name of a character from "Guys and Dolls."

But Elena Kagan is an important person. She's the U.S. solicitor general, holder of a top position in the Justice Department.

Yesterday, the U.S. Attorney's Office officially asked for Kagan's permission to file an appeal of Vince Fumo's 55-month travesty of a prison sentence.

Kagan alone has the power in the next few months to decide whether the feds will pursue hard time for Vince or drop the matter and let his creampuff of a sentence stand.

So, even though we don't know Elena Kagan, it's time she got to know us.

We can do so by flooding her office in Washington with faxes and letters telling her that Fumo's sentencing at the hands of Ronald "The Pushover" Buckwalter was a bad joke.

The fax number is 202-514- 5331. Send it to the attention of press aide Beverly Lumpkin.

The address is: Hon. Elena Kagan, Office of the Solicitor General, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20530.

We need to remind Kagan that Buckwalter's sentence in Fumo's 137-count corruption conviction fell so far short of the 11-to-14 year term recommended by the guidelines, it's as though the judge rewrote the laws and nullified the jury's decision.

Kagan also needs to know that we fear we're already seeing the corrosive local effect of Buckwalter's leniency.

One week after Fumo's sentencing, New Jersey state Sen. Wayne Bryant, who'd faced up to 10 years in prison on bribery and pension-fraud convictions, got just four years in the pokey, also in deference to his years of "public service."

It won't be long before attorneys for other convicted public officials start citing these two precedents as a rationale for giving easy time to their own sleazebag clients.

That's why the federal prosecutors who got Fumo convicted want so badly for him to get a tougher sentence that conforms more closely to the guidelines.

If 55 months becomes the new standard around here - you get less than five years in a federal lockup for obstructing justice, destroying evidence, ripping off the public for millions, lying about it on the witness stand and then showing absolutely no remorse - then any act of corruption short of 137 counts will draw a minor fine and probation.

Corruption is liable to become a summary offense, like a traffic ticket.

But why should we bother Elena Kagan with faxes and letters about this? After all, the prosecutors down at our 6th and Market federal courthouse are a pretty smart bunch, and they've no doubt already filled her in on all of this and more.

Here's why. When Buckwalter gave Fumo that easy sentence, he intimated that he had been swayed by 300 letters from Fumo supporters requesting that the judge go easy on their man. (Never mind that if Fumo hadn't been so good at destroying evidence, a couple of those letter-writers might have been sitting at the defendant's table right next to Fumo.)

The judge also noted that he received only five letters from the public requesting a tougher sentence.

We're such fools. Back in May we didn't know we were supposed to write to Buckwalter screaming for Fumo's hide. We actually took for granted that a federal judge sworn to uphold the laws of this nation would follow the sentencing guidelines and rid the local body politic of a remorseless criminal, for good.

Instead, the judge gave Fumo a 4 1/2-year vacation, and faulted us for our apathy in the process.

So we can't be fooled again. Fumo has friends whose letters of support carried considerable clout with Buckwalter, including Gov. Rendell and U.S. Reps. Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah. This same trio also has major clout with Elena Kagan's boss - President Obama.

So we're on our own here. There's a good chance that Kagan knows that an appeal of the Fumo sentence would displease some powerful friends of the most powerful man in the world. We can't take for granted that she'll do the right thing under that kind of pressure.

So if you think Fumo's sentence deserves a second look from a judge who won't swoon like a teenager over some letters from powerful men, Kagan is the only one who can make an appeal of the sentence happen. Let her know it's the right thing to do. Tell her that if the Fumo sentence stands, public corruption is these parts will be effectively decriminalized.

Contact her today. The local prosecutors who nailed Fumo in the first place need all the support they can get. Don't let their Herculean efforts go to waste.

That fax number again is 202-514-5331.

The proper salutation is "Dear Ms. Solicitor General."

The proper closing is "HELP!"

E-mail polaner@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2217. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/polaneczky. Read Ronnie's blog at http://go.philly.com/ ronnieblog.