Vince Fumo

Another computer technician from state Sen. Vince Fumo's office pled guilty to obstruction Tuesday, making him the second technician from Fumo's office who will testify against the Philadelphia Democrat when his trial begins next month.

Mark Eister acknowledged in court that he took part in a conspiracy to obstruct FBI and IRS investigations into Fumo, The Inquirer reports. Fumo, accused of misusing taxpayer and chairty money for personal and political reasons, has denied any wrongdoing, but is not seeking reelection because of the looming trial.

Democrat Larry Farnese is running against Republican Jack Morley to replace the 30-year incumbent in the 1st Senatorial District. 

In only 3 weeks, on September 8th state Senator Vince Fumo’s trial is scheduled to start. The closer the trial gets, the more bad news Fumo seems to receive. Mark Eister, a Camp Hill computer technician who worked for Fumo is expected to plead guilty on conspiracy to obstruct justice during the investigation of Fumo. This will make the third plea in as many weeks in the Fumo investigation.

With state Sen. Vince Fumo (D-Philadelphia) scheduled to go on trial in less than a month, the Daily News' political gossip page ponders who might take his place as ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Fumo, the 30-year incumbent who dropped his re-election bid in the spring because of the federal indictment he has to fight this fall, is renowned for the billions of dollars he has brought back to Philadelphia from his perch atop Appropriations.

The contenders to take over the Senate cash register? The Daily News says Fumo is backing state Sen. Sean Logan (D-Allegheny) over some local colleagues.  It was Logan who helped raise significant sums of money for Fumo's preferred replacement, and the eventual primary victor, Larry Farnese.

One of the potential replacements the Daily News says Fumo is spurning in favor of Logan, state Sen. Anthony Williams (D-Philadelphia), supported John Dougherty, Fumo's bitter political foe, in the primary race against Farnese.
 

Gov. Ed Rendell, U.S. Reps Bob Brady and Chaka Fattah, and even former 76ers coach Larry Brown are just some of the big names on state Sen. Vince Fumo's (D-Philadelphia) list of potential witnesses for his looming federal corruption trial.

The witness list, reported by The Inquirer and The Daily News, names 267 people who could potentially be called to testify at Fumo's trial, which now starts in less than a month.

Also headlining the defense witness list are Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, and Philadelphia City Council President Anna Verna.

Fumo, the 30-year incumbent and Philadelphia political icon, is accused of improperly using Senate money and money from a charity he oversaw for personal and political gain. He has denied any wrongdoing, but decided not to run for reelection in the spring because of the indictment against.

Center City attorney Larry Farnese won a three-way Democratic primary battle to replace Fumo in April. He faces underdog Republican Jack Morley in November, and is widely expected to be the next state Senator in the 1st Senatorial District.

A former employee of state Sen. Vince Fumo (D-Philadelphia) pled guilty today to obstructing the investigation into the 30-year incumbent, and will testify at Fumo's fall corruption trial, The Associated Press reports.

The plea was expected, with prosecutor previously saying that Leonard Luchko, a former computer technician in Fumo's district office, would be the first defendant in the case to plead guilty. He pled guilty to 29 obstruction-related counts, The AP reports.

Fumo, a Philadelphia political icon, annonced this spring that he would not seek reelection because of the "cloud" of indictment hanging over him. He is accused of misusing Senate money and money from a charity he oversaw for personal and political gain, but has denied any wrongdoing.

Democrat Larry Farnese won a primary battle to replace Fumo in April, and faces underdog Republican candidate Jack Morley in November in the First Senatorial District.

More bad news arrived for state Sen. Vince Fumo (D-Philadelphia) Wednesday, when federal prosecutors said a former computer technician in his office would plead guilty and testify against him.

If Leonard Luchko does indeed plead guilty Monday, it would mark the first guilty plea in the massive corruption case against Fumo. The 30-year incumbent and Philadelphia political icon faces a 139-count indictment in a trial scheduled to begin this fall.

He has denied any wrongdoing, but opted not to run for reelection this spring because of the indictment. Democrat Larry Farnese is expected to beat underdog Republican Jack Morley to replace Fumo in the First Senatorial District.

Almost three months after a stunning loss in his bid for state Senate, powerful Philadelphia union leader John Dougherty suffered another political setback this week when a federal court struck down attempts by his union PAC to keep its spending secret.

The political wing of Dougherty's IBEW Local 98 had hoped to keep details of its $2.5 million spending from last year secret, and has been warring with the city's Ethics Board over racially-charged flyers distributed last year during last year's mayoral primary, in which Dougherty supported millionaire Tom Knox over eventual winner Michael Nutter.

Dougherty's electricians' union had argued that laws requiring disclosure of its spending violated the group's constitution rights. But Chief Judge Harvey Bartle III shot down that assertion as "patently inconsistent" with previous federal rulings on requirements for political action committee reporting, The Daily News reports.

The union is considering its appeal options. 

Sen. Vince Fumo may never go to trial if a report in the Inquirer today is correct. According to the report prospective jurors will be asked how they feel about politicians. If the defense is going to remove jurors who have negative feelings towards politicians how long will it take to find 12 who have a neutral opinion?

For almost two years, Gov. Ed Rendell has worked against staunch neighborhood resistance to proposed casinos in Philadelphia. Even as some residents who once revered him as the city's mayor grew to loath him for his acceptance of the slot parlors planned for the Delaware River waterfront, Rendell has always sided with the casino developers.

When neighborhood activists continued to push the casinos to consider other sites further from residential areas, Rendell wrote to one that "the issue of re-siting is over." When City Council continued to cause delays, he sharply criticized local lawmakers as having "no guts."

But now that some of his staunchest Harrisburg allies from Philadelphia are lining up against him, Rendell appears to be bending, if not breaking, on the casino issue. On Friday, the man who championed casinos in Pennsylvania said "the political landscape has changed" and that he would meet with the casino developers to discuss moving the projects elsewhere.

Still, even as he signaled his first significant shift on casinos after long lauding their potential for proving tax relief, Rendell, a Democrat, sounded a note of caution.

"I'll meet and make a good-faith effort to explore the potential benefits of re-siting," he said, "but nobody should get too excited. The only way these casinos can be legally re-sited is if the casinos voluntarily agree."