Vince Fumo is headed to prison, but for less than five years. That’s hardly a sentence that will put fear into the corrupt and contented culture that allowed the once-powerful former state senator to dominate Philadelphia politics for decades.
The farce that played out in federal court today will change little once Fumo is in his prison jumpsuit. U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter sentenced Fumo to only 55 months in prison, and went out of his way to criticize The Inquirer for being “mean-spirited” in its criticism of Fumo’s illegal actions.
Fumo was convicted in March of all 137 counts of corruption, conspiracy, and obstruction. His crimes went on for years, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. But Judge Buckwalter bent over backward to see good where prosecutors saw greed and arrogance.
Earlier, he chopped the federal sentencing guidelines from a maximum of 27 years to 14 years. Then, the judge let yesterday’s sentencing hearing drag on for hours, as Fumo’s legal team detailed how prison life would be bad for their client’s health. Since when is prison supposed to be a Four Seasons stay with medical support from the Mayo Clinic?
To the bitter end, the ever-controlling Fumo worked to game the system. More than 250 of Fumo’s cronies and enablers wrote the judge begging for leniency.
The list of Fumo apologists — which includes Gov. Rendell and U.S. Rep. Bob Brady — reads like a Who’s Who of the Democratic Party machine that has run the city for the last half-century.
Dozens of friends and political acolytes packed the courtroom in support of Fumo, including City Councilman Frank DiCicco, and state Sens. Shirley Kitchen and Tina Tartaglione.
Some Fumo made, and others he controlled. Nearly all benefited in ways big and small from what the hangers-on affectionately referred to as “Fumo World.”
It was a good life for them, and for Fumo, with his Philadelphia mansion, Harrisburg farm, Florida estate, and Jersey Shore house. Throw in free yacht cruises, power tools, and basically whatever Fumo wanted.
No one stood in Fumo’s way, because he was quick to reward friends, and punish enemies. In many ways, that’s how the political omertà in Philadelphia works. Pols and business leaders learn to go along to get along — and get rich.
Just ask David L. Cohen and Arthur Makadon, two respected Philadelphia power lawyers, who seemingly turned a blind eye when the former head of Verizon detailed Fumo’s alleged $50 million shakedown of the telecommunications firm.
In the end, Cohen and Makadon were among the scores of political and business leaders who wrote letters to Judge Buckwalter begging for mercy for Fumo.
Amazingly, the judge seemed moved by the letters, adding during the sentencing hearing that he hadn’t heard from many Fumo detractors.
Never mind that most of the good that Fumo did was financed by taxpayers, and often to benefit Fumo’s power rating.
The losers at this case’s conclusion remain the taxpayers who have had to tolerate, and underwrite, the corruption, waste, and incompetence that in many ways keeps Philadelphia from achieving its full potential.
What a disgrace this is. The common man, the hard-working man and woman should keep a score card of every supporter and put them all out of office.— OpenCountry- What a joke - can't imagine what is going through Corey Kemp's mind at this point. The Judge folded, pure and simple as that! What a message this sentence sends to the non-law-abiding politician, people better wake up and start voting all out of office. Enough already - the Judge is a disgrace and I only hope the Inquirer starts looking into his and his family's background. Never too late!— phillygrlinfl
- "Yes we can" rob the people who vote for us!— CleanupPhilly
- The judge should be investigated immediately. Hopefully, Fumo will have many unpleasant experiences in prison.— jakelbi
- As a lifelong Democrat, this is a very shameful day! Philly will never change as long as the corrupt machinery continues to roll along unchecked. Just another sad day in Philly politics.— D-man
Comment removed.- Scooter, you are missing the point. Please re-read the article.— maude
- I think the message delivered today is that as a politician you may skirt around the edges of the law and morality and as long as you do "good works" it will be enough to ensure leniency if you 're caught.— jeffrey215
- Comment removed.
- Can we add the judges "fee" for this sentence to Fumo's crimes?— Bill Penn
- Comment removed.
- This really is an outrage but not unexpected. But all these jerks will continue to get elected and re-elected so Philly you get the government you so richly deserve.
- too bad cory kemp and ricky m. cant appeal...— syrdude
- This is a disgrace. Keep voting in the criminals. Which country club, .... I mean prison is he getting sent to? Nothing about Philly politics amazes me though. It will never change because people will continue to vote people in because of the wrong reasons (sex, affiliations, race, political party, connections) and not their stance on issues.— SlinkTMP
I was at the sentencing today. The Inquirer reporters did a good job with their live blogging, but I think they missed several outrageous statements that were made. 1) At the end of her testimony, Zinni said, "If they did it to Jesus, they'd do it to Vince." In her next breath, she assured us she wasn't comparing Fumo to Jesus. 2) The defense told us to feel sorry for Fumo because he had to withdraw money from his IRA to pay restitution and took a tax hit as a result. 3) Fumo told a sob story about a cab ride he took with an "Indian cabbie." The cabbie told Fumo how much he loved him. The cabbie even started to cry, so overcome with emotion about how great a man Fumo was.— boundary
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