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Rendell fires turnpike chief, linked to Fumo case

HARRISBURG - Gov. Rendell removed Mitchell Rubin from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission yesterday, saying he was convinced there was strong evidence that Rubin had taken $150,000 from taxpayers as a "no-work" consultant for former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo.

HARRISBURG - Gov. Rendell removed Mitchell Rubin from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission yesterday, saying he was convinced there was strong evidence that Rubin had taken $150,000 from taxpayers as a "no-work" consultant for former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo.

Rendell said he made the move after reviewing the Fumo trial transcripts and testimony and after discussing the case with prosecutors. He came away convinced, he said, not only that had Fumo committed mail fraud, but also that the conviction hinged on strong evidence that Rubin had done nothing in return for the $150,000 he accepted.

The evidence "was conclusive that no work was done, that a crime had been committed, and that the predicate for that crime, having been found by the jury, was that there was no work done, and there was $150,000 in state money taken," Rendell said yesterday.

A jury March 16 convicted Rubin's wife, Ruth Arnao, of federal corruption charges alongside Fumo, her onetime boss.

Three days later, federal authorities handed Rubin, who has not been charged, a "target letter" notifying him that he was the focus of a probe some believe is mopping-up after the Fumo case.

On Saturday, in a letter to Rendell, Rubin told the governor that he was taking an immediate and indefinite unpaid leave from the commission to deal with unspecified personal matters.

The leave didn't last long.

Yesterday, Rendell sent a letter of his own to Rubin, notifying him of his ouster.

In their case against Fumo, prosecutors successfully argued that the legislator had paid Rubin $150,000 in taxpayer money from 1990 to 2004 for consulting work, although Rubin had not performed any state duties. The Senate, responding to a request from prosecutors, was unable to come up with a single example of written work produced by Rubin.

"Under these circumstances and others," Rendell wrote to Rubin, "it is inappropriate for you to remain as a commissioner."

Rubin declined to comment yesterday.

Fumo's defense team at the trial insisted that Rubin had earned the money by providing valuable advice to the senator over the years.

Rubin, 57, of Philadelphia, served on the commission for 11 years, the last six as its chairman.

Rendell said he did not speak directly with Rubin, but instead reached out to him through "an emissary" over the weekend. The governor said that he urged Rubin to resign, but that Rubin instead sought a leave.

That, Rendell said, could have lasted a year or more and put the commission, with only four members, in a position of being deadlocked.

Rendell told reporters last week that he was reviewing the case and consulting with his top lawyers to determine whether he should - and could - remove Rubin.

Chuck Ardo, the governor's spokesman, said Rendell's lawyers came to the conclusion that he could remove Rubin, even though the post required Senate confirmation.

Hours after removing Rubin, Rendell picked a replacement. He nominated A. Michael Pratt, a partner in the law firm Pepper Hamilton L.L.P., to serve out the remaining year of Rubin's term.

Ardo called Pratt a "classic success story." He grew up as the fourth of 12 children in a rural Fayette County home without running water, "and yet he found a way to graduate from Harvard Law School," Ardo said.

With Rubin's removal, commission vice chairman Tim Carson will assume some of the chairman's duties, a turnpike spokesman said.

Rubin and his wife were among Fumo's closest friends and often vacationed with him in Martha's Vineyard and at the Jersey Shore.

Arnao left a high-paying job on Fumo's Senate staff in 2004 to serve as executive director of Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, the South Philadelphia nonprofit at the center of the corruption case. Fumo and Arnao were convicted of defrauding the charity of $1.5 million.

Rubin had spent nearly every day in the courtroom supporting his wife during the 41/2-month trial that ended with guilty verdicts - 45 for Arnao, 137 for Fumo.

As commission chairman, a part-time post, Rubin was paid $28,500 annually.

He was appointed to the commission by Gov. Tom Ridge in the spring of 1998 to replace Bob Brady, who had quit the post after winning a congressional seat.

Although Ridge, a Republican, technically selected Rubin, it was Fumo who picked him for the post. "That was my call," Fumo said at the time.

The choice was in keeping with political tradition at the turnpike, where Democrats and Republicans split the four appointed seats. A fifth seat goes to the state transportation secretary.

Gov. Mark Schweiker reappointed Rubin in 2002, and a year later, he became chairman. Rendell gave him a third term in 2006. It does not expire until next year.

Commissioners oversee and operate the 530-mile turnpike system, the nation's oldest superhighway.