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December 2, 2008

Anti-Rendell ads quietly supported

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Ex-Sen. Vincent Fumo secretly funded attacks against fellow Democrat Ed Rendell during his successful 2002 gubernatorial primary bid, according to testimony in Fumo’s ongoing corruption trial.

Fumo gave $35,000 to a political action committee that placed anti-Rendell newspaper ads, had state Senate aides set up computer and phone equipment at Rendell rival Bob Casey’s headquarters, and delegated Senate contractor Howard Cain to run a get-out-the-vote effort for Casey, Cain and others testified.

The newspaper ads gave no hint that Fumo, a longtime Philadelphia power broker, was involved. In small type, they said only that they were sponsored by “Public Officials for a Better Pennsylvania” — a PAC formed two months earlier by two high-ranking Democrats, Rep. Bill DeWeese and Sen. Bob Mellow. Both men supported Casey.

Mellow told The Philadelphia Inquirer recently that he could not recall what role Fumo played in the PAC. DeWeese also cited a hazy memory. But DeWeese conceded that using the group to shield Fumo’s role in the attack “certainly seems to be a dubious mechanism.”

Craig Holman, a lobbyist on governmental ethics for the nonprofit group Public Citizen, more bluntly decried the ads.

“They are highly unethical, very misleading, and it robs the voters of a fair chance to make a decent choice,” he said.

Fumo has been on trial in federal court in Philadelphia since Oct. 20, defending himself on charges that he misappropriated more than $3.5 million from the state Senate, a nonprofit and the Independence Seaport Museum.

Prosecutors have presented witnesses to detail the alleged Senate fraud and are this week moving on to the South Philadelphia nonprofit, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods.

Cain said Fumo also quietly funded gun control groups that opposed Rendell and approved using Citizens Alliance staff to try to link Rendell to an unpopular Section 8 housing program. Cain’s testimony is being used to support charges that Fumo paid him $500,000 in state funds to work on the 2002 governor’s race and other campaigns.

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