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Farnese lawyer: Why are the feds investigating in local party politics?

With less than a week until his trial, State Sen. Larry Farnese urged a federal judge to throw out the charges against him, accusing prosecutors of overstepping their authority and seeking to criminalize the type of routine politicking that has existed in the Democratic City Committee for decades.

State Sen. Larry Farnese urged a federal judge to throw out the charges against him.
State Sen. Larry Farnese urged a federal judge to throw out the charges against him.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

With less than a week until his trial, State Sen. Larry Farnese urged a federal judge to throw out the charges against him, accusing prosecutors of overstepping their authority and seeking to criminalize the type of routine politicking that has existed in the Democratic City Committee for decades.

Farnese, 48, is accused of using $6,000 in campaign funds to buy the vote of a committeewoman in his 2011 bid to become the leader of South Philadelphia's Eighth Ward - allegations he has denied.

But his lawyer, Mark B. Sheppard, argued Wednesday that whether bribery occurred or not, the Justice Department had no grounds to investigate what was essentially an internal vote to pick the leaders of a private organization.

"This is not a matter of public importance," he told U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe. "It did not in any way affect an election for public office. This is purely organizational . . . and now a prosecutor from Washington is going to come in and tell the Eighth Ward what the Eighth Ward should be doing? I would submit that they have no business doing that."

Rufe did not rule from the bench but said she intended to make her decision before Monday, when jury selection is set to begin. Yet throughout Wednesday's hearing she appeared focused on questions raised by the defense.

"Why would you choose to do anything about this when there are state election codes and state laws that address it?" she asked Jonathan Kravis, a lawyer with the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington. "Why is the federal government getting involved in party politics at the local level?"

Kravis maintained that it is the Justice Department's duty to investigate bribery and fraud wherever it may occur.

The 13-count indictment, filed in May, charged Farnese and Ellen Chapman, the committeewoman he is accused of bribing, with counts including conspiracy and fraud.

Prosecutors allege that Chapman initially backed another candidate in the ward leader vote until Farnese offered to bankroll a study-abroad trip for her daughter.

Farnese allegedly had his campaign treasurer make a $6,000 donation from his senatorial campaign account to the girl's school - Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Chapman then agreed to switch her vote, securing Farnese the election, the indictment states.

Chapman, 62, has denied the allegation and will face trial with Farnese.

Unlike a typical federal graft case, neither faces federal bribery charges - a sign, defense lawyers said, that prosecutors were using a novel legal theory in an attempt to criminalize the behavior.

Chapman's lawyers argued Wednesday that state lawmakers purposefully excluded low-level, volunteer positions like local committee members from those subject to state bribery laws.

Still, as prosecutors see it, Farnese defrauded his campaign fund by failing to explain to his treasurer that the $6,000 - listed on his campaign documents as a donation to Bard - was actually a bribe.

Chapman, they said, defrauded the Democratic City Committee by failing to conduct herself honestly in her job as a committee member.

"The Democratic Party trusted Ms. Chapman to vote and carry out her other duties based on the best interests of the party - not based on who was lining her pockets," Kravis said.

State campaign-finance law allows politicians to use their campaign contributions to influence the outcome of other races, and Farnese maintains his donation to Bard was a legitimate campaign expense.

Farnese, whose district includes Center City and stretches from deep South Philadelphia to Brewerytown and Port Richmond in the north, won reelection to a third four-year term in November. He remains the Eighth District's ward leader.

jroebuck@phillynews.com

215-854-2608 @jeremyrroebuck