Fumo denies charges on the stand

Former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo took jurors in his federal corruption trial through an odyssey of denials yesterday as he insisted that his Senate aides and high-priced consultants had worked more than enough hours to justify their pay.

He denied that his son-in-law had spent Senate time overseeing renovations at his Spring Garden mansion. He denied knowing that a private eye had billed the Senate for spying on an ex-girlfriend. And he denied knowing the specifics of how his staff had received what prosecutors contend was exorbitant pay.

"Did you have an intent to deceive anyone here?" asked defense attorney Dennis J. Cogan.

"None whatsoever," replied Fumo.

Fumo, 65, who was one of the most powerful Democrats in Harrisburg and in Philadelphia for decades, took the stand just after Gov. Rendell told jurors that Fumo had been known for working all hours of the day and night.

"He was very similar, in many ways, to myself, in the sense that his job became his life," Rendell said. "It was just the way he was."

Under a brief cross-examination from Assistant U.S. Attorney John J. Pease, the governor said a rigorous work ethic didn't permit a public official to break the law.

"The rules are the rules," Rendell said.

Fumo, who suffers from a heart condition, appeared somber and calm throughout his first day on the stand as he tried to offer his view of Pennsylvania's thorny political landscape and defend himself against the wide-ranging accusations in the 139-count indictment.

But after court adjourned for the day, he looked relieved, chatting amiably with U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter.

"Long day," Fumo said, smiling broadly as he headed back to the defense table - and a group of friends who had come to bid him well. Among those in the crowded courtroom were Fumo's girlfriend, Carolyn Zinni, and his son, Vincent.

Fumo, who became a senator in 1978, is charged in one part of the indictment with defrauding the Senate by getting his workers to do personal errands and political-campaign work on state time.

Fumo also is charged with obstructing the FBI investigation and defrauding a South Philadelphia nonprofit, Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, by getting it to pay for hundreds of power tools and other items for him, and obtaining free yacht trips from the Independence Seaport Museum.

While Rendell was a star attraction, Fumo's testimony dominated the day - the start of the 17th week of the trial. And the defendant is due back on the stand for more questioning today by Cogan.

In fact, Fumo could be on the stand for most of the week.

He will likely face an exacting cross-examination from Pease - and that might not begin until late today or tomorrow.

Yesterday, Fumo testified that his staffers, facing heavy demands from his role as Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, routinely had put in long workweeks, far in excess of the 371/2 hours required of them.

He said everything in his life was intertwined with politics. "It's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to separate politics from government, particularly in the legislature," Fumo said.

In Harrisburg, everyone in his office stayed late during budget season. In Philadelphia, he said, his staff was always busy helping constituents.

"We're an extremely busy, busy office," said Fumo, who often used the present tense even though he left the Senate in November.

There was no specific time frame in which his employees had to do their work, he said.

"It's not a 9-to-5 job," Fumo testified.

He said he had told his employees from the start of his time in the Senate that he wanted "to achieve great things" and wanted them "to be available 24/7. Not that they work 24/7, but I wanted them to be available to me and to each other."

Fumo told the jury that private investigator Frank D. Wallace had done plenty of work in return for his pay as a Senate contractor, including snooping on a political rival, John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, the leader of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

He said he had asked Wallace "to find out as much as we can about" Dougherty because "anything he could do to sabotage anything I was doing, he would do."

Such sleuthing was appropriate, Fumo told the jury, because it advanced his public-policy agenda.

Fumo acknowledged that Wallace had spied on former girlfriend Dorothy Egrie. "At the time, I was heartbroken. I was jealous. I was in love, and she had broken off with me."

Fumo said he had been moping around. "I don't know if he volunteered or I asked him," said Fumo, who said he also had Wallace check up on the man Egrie had begun dating.

"It was my emotional state at the time and not my proudest moment."

Fumo insisted that he had no idea that Wallace had done any of that on the taxpayers' dime.

"Did you ever think at any time that Frank Wallace was billing that time to the Pennsylvania Senate?" Cogan asked.

"Never," replied Fumo. "I thought a friend was doing me a favor."

He also said he had never paid any attention to the details of the paperwork that resulted in what the prosecution contended were exorbitant pay scales.

He acknowledged that one Senate employee occasionally had done housecleaning at his Spring Garden home. But, he said, records mistakenly showed that she had been paid to clean his house at the Jersey Shore. "That's the only explanation I can give," he said.

Fumo also told the jury about his relationship with Christian Marrone, a former Senate aide in Fumo's South Philadelphia office who is married to Fumo's older daughter, Nicole.

Fumo described Marrone as "very aggressive, very ambitious, very hardworking and personable," and said Marrone often visited him at his Shore home. "He would come and hang out with me and befriend me, and I befriended him," Fumo said.

He said Marrone had done plenty of Senate work, much of it involving police and law enforcement issues. "He would do it very well, and he would spend a lot of time at it," Fumo said.

Marrone has testified that during his first 18 months working for Fumo, he spent about 80 percent of his time overseeing renovations of the mansion.

Fumo said Marrone had never been in charge of the project.

"Christian was never a full-time project manager. Christian knew very little, if anything, about construction," Fumo said.

Fumo also rejected Marrone's testimony that Fumo once asked him to poison a neighborhood dog that barked all night.

"Did that ever happen?" asked Cogan.

"Never," replied Fumo.

Fumo testified that their relationship had deteriorated after he sided with his codefendant, Ruth Arnao, the former head of Citizens' Alliance, in a dispute with Marrone.

Fumo said he had been "disinvited" to his daughter's wedding and hadn't spoken to her in about two years.

His voice became husky as he went through an e-mail he said he had sent to his daughter, and then acknowledged intercepting e-mails between his daughter and Marrone, saying he "should not have done it."

Neither of the Marrones was in court yesterday.

Read The Inquirer's live blog from the Fumo trial at http://go.philly.com/fumoblog

Also, read more about the former state senator at http://go.philly.com/fumoEndText