But he was just moonlighting. His day job? State senator.

While Vincent J. Fumo has served in the Pennsylvania Senate, he has drummed up business for his law firm from government agencies where he has political clout, an Inquirer examination shows.

He has marketed the Dilworth Paxson law firm from City Hall to the state Capitol. Since he joined Dilworth in 1993, he has helped bring a parade of clients to the firm's door.

They have included the city, its courts, the turnpike, the Philadelphia School District, and Blue Cross, according to people familiar with the firm's work.

The volume of Dilworth's city and state bond work has more than doubled since Fumo joined, according to an Inquirer analysis of data provided by Thomson Financial. That work generated millions of dollars in fees for Dilworth.

Pennsylvania permits its legislators to earn outside income as lawyers, and Fumo and 29 others do. And the firm's chairman says he doesn't know of Fumo ever "using his office" to steer business to the firm. The state ethics law prohibits that.

Still, government ethicists say that law is murky about what a legislator can or can't do when soliciting government work for his firm. Some say legislators simply shouldn't do this.

If a legislator "wanted to run a pet store, if he wanted to be a physician, if he wanted to sell dresses, that would be fine," says Arthur Levitt, who as Securities and Exchange Commission chairman from 1993 to 2001 championed tough ethics rules. "But I think that for any public official to be able to profit from association with a firm that does business with the state is improper and, in my judgment, probably unethical."

Others, such as Common Cause's Barry Kauffman, say Pennsylvania could save taxpayers money if it kept politicians out of the choosing of bond lawyers and used competitive bidding, as Maryland has for years. "It's a prudent way," says Howard Freedlander, deputy Maryland treasurer.

Gov. Rendell said that while it's "perfectly legal" for legislators to seek government work for their law firms, "I don't think it's proper or appropriate."

"I think it creates at least an appearance of undue influence when a legislator is asking a governmental agency or authority to give work to a firm," Rendell said in an interview.

The governor knows whereof he speaks: Before he was elected, he took criticism for his $250,000 salary from Philadelphia's law firm of Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll in return for what he said was "very little" work. But Rendell said he didn't drum up government work for Ballard Spahr.

He said that when he was mayor, in the 1990s, Fumo hit him up for Dilworth bond work "on occasion."

Asked if the senator's requests had helped Dilworth get city work, Rendell said, "It didn't hurt."

Rendell took pains to point out that his City Hall had tried to spread the work among qualified firms, including Dilworth, and that Fumo wasn't the only lawyer making pitches. "I was hit up constantly," Rendell said.

It's an important point: Fumo didn't invent this. The practice of dishing out legal work, especially bond work, to politically wired firms is a time-honored part of the political spoils system in City Hall and the state Capitol. "Pinstripe patronage," it's been called. Governors do it; so have mayors from Frank Rizzo to John Street. Work typically goes to firms that donate generously to campaigns.

But it is rare for a legislator to be a law firm's paid pitchman.

In some instances, such as Rendell's, officials say Fumo personally recommended Dilworth to them. Elsewhere, Senate Democratic staffers have put the firm's name into a selection process. And city and state boards that include close Fumo allies have hired Dilworth.

Fumo, a 63-year-old Philadelphia Democrat, did not respond to questions submitted by The Inquirer for this article. One of his lawyers, Mark B. Sheppard, declined to comment in response to those questions.