In his testimony, he said that when Fumo began to challenge Verizon, he called on his firm's outside lobbyist, Stephen R. Wojdak.
Verizon had hired Wojdak because he was thought to have an "in" with Fumo, Whelan told jurors.
Wojdak also declined to comment last week.
Impeccably dressed and genial, Wojdak, a lawyer by training, had built his Philadelphia firm into one of the most influential persuaders in Pennsylvania.
He had had his own brush with the law. While serving as a Democrat in the state House in the 1970s, Wojdak was indicted on charges of trying to secure a payoff to get a student into dental school. The indictment was dismissed before trial.
After Whelan contacted him, Wojdak, then 62, served as a conduit to give the company president an astonishing list of Fumo demands.
Fumo wanted Verizon to deposit $10 million in his bank. He wanted Verizon to give $2.5 million in legal work to his law firm, Dilworth Paxson L.L.C. He wanted it to donate $40 million to Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods - the nonprofit that received the Peco money - and other Fumo-backed charities.
And he wanted Verizon to join in with Peco to bury power and phone lines in the Spring Garden neighborhood around Fumo's Victorian mansion. This alone carried a $30 million price tag.
Wojdak was not much fazed by Fumo's tactics. He reportedly counseled Whelan that Verizon had no choice but to negotiate with Fumo.
As for the demands, Wojdak has told others he saw them as Fumo's standard method of bargaining, seeking far more than he expected ever to get.
Next, Whelan contacted Makadon. Their meeting took place on Wednesday, May 10, 2000, at the Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll law firm.
At the time, Cohen, then 45, was Ballard Spahr's chairman and Makadon, then 57, its managing partner.
By then, Cohen was already well-known for his relentless work ethic, prodigious memory, and formidable command of detail. He had returned to Ballard after winning renown as Mayor Ed Rendell's chief of staff when the pair rescued Philadelphia's finances in the early 1990s.
Makadon, a veteran defense lawyer and former assistant district attorney, was full of hard-driving energy. His manner was blunt, sometimes tactless.
Whelan testified that he went to Ballard Spahr for advice on the law regarding "white-collar" crime, one of Makadon's specialties.
Some have speculated that Whelan's real goal was to send a message to Fumo to back down. Under this theory, Whelan knew that Cohen was close to Fumo, and his hope was that Cohen would alert Fumo that Whelan was teetering on the edge of calling the FBI.
Whelan has denied that. He said it was Verizon's general counsel, Julie Conover, who picked Ballard Spahr.
Whelan said that he was surprised when Cohen joined Makadon at the meeting and that he was unaware Cohen and Fumo were close.
Cohen and Fumo have long been political allies and friends. As came out in the trial, Cohen and his family twice were guests of Fumo's on yacht cruises paid for by the Independence Seaport Museum on Penn's Landing. One of the crimes for which Fumo was convicted was illegally taking such cruises.
More recently, in 2006, Cohen's wife, Rhonda, joined the city's head of the NAACP and a former U.S. attorney to head a legal defense fund for a Fumo aide indicted as part of the corruption case. That former aide, Leonard Luchko, later pleaded guilty. He went to prison last week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
MOST POPULAR PHILLY.COM PHOTOS
Daily Headlines
Subscribe now! Daily Headlines Newsletter
Philly.com news blogs
Philly.com Promotions
