Fumo counsel breaks down on stand

Former state Sen. Vince Fumo's longtime legislative counsel, Christopher Craig, broke down on the witness stand yesterday while he was being questioned by a federal prosecutor about an e-mail he wrote on Jan. 30, 2004, five days after an FBI probe of Fumo was made public.

In the e-mail, which Craig sent to Fumo, his political consultants and others, Craig boasted about how he had legally prevented lawyers for Enron Corp. from finding out about an oral side agreement Fumo had made with Peco Energy.

The utility privately contributed $17 million to Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a nonprofit founded by Fumo, to settle litigation over Peco's deregulation in the late 1990s.

The now-defunct Enron was a Houston-based energy company at the time and wanted to get a foothold in Pennsylvania's newly deregulated market.

"You were proud of the fact that you blocked Enron's ability to find out about the oral side agreement?" Assistant U.S. Attorney John Pease asked.

"John, that's not a fair characterization," Craig replied, his voice cracking as he fought back tears. "I was proud of the litigation. I was upset that the Inquirer was taking years of my work and crapping all over it."

Craig said that he didn't want to cooperate with Enron's lawyers, fearful that they might leak details of Fumo's Peco deal to Inquirer reporters, who were investigating the deal, and thus distract from the "real public purpose" of the litigation, which he said was to lower electric bills for ratepayers.

"To this day, I see nothing wrong that I did," Craig said.

"I'm not suggesting you did," Pease replied.

In response to a later question, Craig said that he was unaware when he wrote the e-mail that Citizens Alliance was compensating Fumo for his work in the Peco litigation.

(Defense lawyers have said that tools, hardware and other goods that Citizens Alliance gave to Fumo were "comps" for his fundraising.)

It's unclear how Craig's "Law & Order" moment played with jurors, one of whom handed Craig a tissue to wipe away tears.

After that, Craig skillfully parried with Pease as the prosecutor tried to chip away at Craig's credibility.

Craig had said on direct examination by Fumo attorney Dennis J. Cogan that he volunteered to do campaign work for Fumo for free.

Pease suggested that Craig had been paid for legal work on campaigns. Craig said that he had never been paid fees but only reimbursed for expenses.

Pease asked him to account for $6,126 in "legal fees and miscellaneous election expenses" paid Craig by Fumo's political action committee on May 4, 2004, in a report filed with state election officials.

"You have people who are non-attorneys filling this out and they write 'legal fees,' " Craig replied. "That could have very easily been, in their mind, reimbursement for costs incurred."

Three budget analysts with the Senate Democratic Appropriations Committee also testified yesterday for Fumo and said that it was not unusual for them to work 50 to 70 hours a week on official business. (The minimum required by law is 37.5 hours.)

They also said that they had volunteered to do campaign work but had made up the time.

The trial resumes Tuesday. *