Hunting for Fumo?

by Mary F. Patel

While the clock ticks towards the September trial of state Sen. Vincent Fumo, a detailed report is being circulated in Washington, D.C., suggesting that Fumo's prosecution, as well as numerous others, was politically motivated.

The Democrat-led U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary majority staff prepared the report for House Chairman John Conyers Jr. It's titled Allegations of Selective Prosecution in Our Federal Criminal Justice System.

Released on April 17, the report explains the committee's decision to investigate whether the federal prosecutions of certain Democratic politicians were politically motivated.

Fumo is one of the Democrats named in the report, in a section toward the back titled "Other Cases Reported to Committee Staff." The senator was indicted by U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan in February 2007, charged with using his South Philly nonprofit, Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, for personal gain, and with defrauding the state, obstruction of justice and filing false tax returns. Meehan also alleges that Fumo used Senate employees for personal purposes.

The report references a memo sent by Fumo's former attorney, Richard Sprague, to Eric Tamarkin, counsel to the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law. In it, Sprague maintains — as he previously had in the press — that there was "direct and significant circumstantial evidence to believe political considerations emanated directly from the White House which exerted improper influence over the Department of Justice as part of a partisan political strategy for national and local Republicans to gain political advantage in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state." Sprague writes that Meehan "is a longtime Republican operative who personifies the term 'loyal Bushie,'" and argues that the prosecutor investigated Fumo and other Democrats while ignoring "clear evidence of more egregious conduct by Republicans."

The memo also questions the arrests of two Fumo staffers, Leonard Luchko and Mark Eister, saying they were timed to boost U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's re-election campaign.

Sprague is no longer representing Fumo. Fumo's current attorney, Dennis Cogan, says he can't comment on the report because it's too close to Fumo's trial and he doesn't want to influence the jury.

Patty Hartman, Meehan's spokesperson, says the U.S. Attorney's Office has no comment on the report.

Laura Sweeney, spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, says the department is reviewing the report. "The Attorney General, however, has made clear that the department has, and carries out a duty to ensure that its investigations of public corruption are conducted without fear or favor," Sweeney says. "Politics has no role in the investigation or prosecution of political corruption or any other criminal offense, and he has seen no evidence of any such impropriety in his time at the department."

The report grew out of the late 2006 dismissal of seven U.S. attorneys who were fired despite good job-performance records.

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The committee and its staff have been investigating allegations that similar motivations could have influenced federal prosecutions.

Key facts remain unknown. "Former department leadership has been derelict in failing to review these matters and reassure the American people that federal law enforcement is impartial and fair," the report states.

Fumo is not the focal point of the report. A great deal of it focuses on former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was indicted for bribery, mail fraud and trading government favors for campaign contributions. He was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison; the report considers whether his prosecution was politically motivated. Also questioned are the prosecutions of Wisconsin procurement official Georgia Thompson, indicted on charges that she steered government contracts as rewards for campaign contributions (she was later acquitted on appeal), and Allegheny County coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht, who was indicted on charges of corruption.

Prosecutions of Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz and Georgia state Sen. Charles Walker are also discussed.

It remains to be seen whether the report will lead to any congressional action.

(rcpatel@aol.com)