Vince Fumo Trial To Begin, Finally

Jury selection starts today in the trial of one Vincent J. Fumo, one should bring usmonths and months of free entertainment.

Turns out ol’ Vince could end up spending the rest of his life in prison, because he is such a threat to go shoot up a schoolyard or something. Jury selection will take all this week, with a pool of 200 from places you only hear about when the local TV news wants to report some bad weather there, like Berks County.

And, then, there’s this:

[quote] And the consensus among experienced criminal defense lawyers is that Fumo is likely to testify in his defense.[/quote]

Oh yes! It’s like an early Christmas present. This is going to be a good couple of months.

Fumo gets his day (or months) in court [Inquirer]

Don’t Listen To Him, Vince!

Look! Everyone’s favorite City Paper columnist-turned-Johnny Doc PR man, Brian Hickey, has a new column in Metro! His first column is about how Vince Fumo should cut a deal to avoid going to trial.

What? That’s, like, the one staunch opinion I actually have: Fumo should go to trial because it would bring Mayor Milton Street-level hilarity. I don’t care if the trial costs a billion dollars. For the amount of money the government wastes, Fumo’s trial would be the best entertainment money can buy. Please, oh please, let there be a trial.

Correction: Aw, it’s just a freelance piece, and not a regular column. But he had a whole giant photo and all!

Voices: Fumo can save us all [Metro]

Fake Tallest US Building Too Tall For CC

A bunch of news stations covered the zoning proposal for the super tall American Commerce Center (slightly edited rendering, above), which would soar to a height of 1500 feet. Brad Maule notes that — in a shocker! — the news stations actually got it wrong, since there are towers in New York and Chicago currently being built that would be taller.

Anyway: Let’s get to the big quote from everyone’s favorite state senator, Vince Fumo.

State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, the Philadelphia Democrat in whose district the tower would be built, called yesterday for an “end to spot zoning.”

“This is totally out of scale with the rest of Center City,” he said.

An end to spot zoning, indeed. Skyscrapers aren’t meant for Center City, silly! (Don’t worry, Comcast, there is no tenant lined up yet. Your tower is probably safe.)

Zoning proposal introduced for “tallest building” [Inquirer]

Same-Sex Marriage Ban Tabled

The state Senate has decided to table the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, meaning that all that time the senators wasted debating this is, well, still wasted.

House leaders said if the bill passed the Senate it would be sent to the “House State Government Committee,” which apparently not only exists but is chaired by Babette Josephs, who opposes the bill. (She’d no doubt fight extra hard because her district includes the Gayborhood.)

But Vince Fumo knows otherwise! He says the Senate would probably strip the language also banning gays from the “functional equivalent” of marriage (i.e. civil unions). “I think there were enough votes to strip that out and I think that’s what scared them,” Fumo told KYW 1060 “So they needed an excuse, and the excuse was the House. Which is fine with me, any face-saver they want is good with me.”

Fumo would, of course, let them save face while telling the radio station exactly why the bill was tabled.

Pa. Senate Derails Proposal That Would Ban Gay Marriage [KYW 1060]
Yesterday: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Out Of Committee

Fumo Says He Was Exaggerating

Okay, so Fumo. Yes, Tuesday he said that Pennsylvania state lawmakers would enact slavery if they had the chance to. (In case you never went to school or are just a moron, slavery is forbidden by an amendment to the Constitution, but whatever.)

Now he’s distancing himself from those comments, saying he was “only exaggerating to make a point.”

“If a majority would vote to approve slavery - as was done once in this country - that wouldn’t make it right,” he said. “I wanted people at the hearing to face the fact that denying human rights to any group, including homosexuals, at any point in our history, including in 2008, is wrong.” The governor said he would veto any slavery bill, anyway. No word if Fumo thinks slavery has enough support to override the veto.

Fox 29 had the bishop who got into the exchange with Fumo; senior pastor Gilbert Coleman was there to testify against gay marriage. He’s surprisingly calm about the whole thing. I guess when you spend all your time hating gays it’s pretty easy to be calm otherwise. Redlasso clip after the jump.

More »

Fumo: Pa. Would Allow Slavery

Although he dropped out of the race and will no longer be a State Senator come next year, Vince Fumo is still in Harrisburg, fighting for your kitchen.

And it appears he’s going to say whatever is on his mind!

The remarks came during an Appropriations Committee hearing in Harrisburg on a bill that would define marriage as between a man and a woman – a measure Fumo opposes. “What you are advocating here is that we take away the rights of a minority. And I don’t think that’s right,” Fumo told Gilbert Coleman, Jr., senior pastor of Freedom Christian Bible Fellowship in Philadelphia, during the hearing. “. . . If we introduced a bill on slavery, it might pass. That doesn’t make it right.”

“I doubt that sir,” responded Coleman, who testified in support of the measure.

“Oh, don’t bet on it in this General Assembly,” the Philadelphia Democrat shot back. “I know some people up here, especially on a secret ballot, it would be almost unanimous.”

Oh, man. In-effing-credible.

Fumo: State lawmakers would enact slavery given the chance [Inquirer]

Vince Fumo Uses Emoticons From ‘96 :-(

Earlier this week, the feds released a list of over 2,000 pieces of evidence for the upcoming trial of Vince Fumo. (Remember him?)

And, naturally, one of the pieces of evidence is an email Fumo allegedly sent to Alycia Lane. (Remember her?)

An Oct. 31, 2004, e-mail from Fumo to then-CBS 3 anchor Alycia Lane titled “We ARE Going to Win :-)”

Using an emoticon in a subject line? That’s a bigger crime than buying a bunch of Oreck vacuum cleaners.

Feds list evidence they’ll use on Fumo [Daily News]

The Fumo Fallout

Professional funnyman and state senator Vince Fumo dropped out of the race for state senate. See, this is how you do it: You talk a big game at first, you fight the charges hard, you say you’re going to run again, you run a few commercials, then you drop out. Nobody’s talking about you resigning at all!

So, yes, Fumo will play out the string of his term and keep attempting to get contributions to his defense fund, somewhat hilariously called the “Phoenix Trust.” Oh, and it’s illegal or something: “Moreover, the Phoenix Trust has not registered as a Pennsylvania charity. Under state law, trusts that raise at least $25,000 in a year must register, and identify trustees and fund-raisers, officials said.”

Larry Farnese is the candidate Fumo’s supporters are flocking to, leaving Anne Dicker and John Dougherty to pick up the rest. I assume there will be a ton of people who go from supporting Fumo to supporting Dicker.

Hooray, Fumo Should Be Okay

Vince Fumo was released from the hospital yesterday! He also said he was in so much pain he cried.

Fumo detailed his fateful day for KYW 1060: “It was after dinner and I had a little bit of what we Italians call ‘a little bit of agita’.” Uhh, so “heartburn.”

Anyway, good to see he’s doing okay, and after he rests for two weeks at home we can all go back to making alpaca jokes. Phew!

Fumo Released from Hospital [KYW 1060]

Vince Fumo Is Britney Spears

Vince Fumo is still experiencing some discomfort and remains in the hospital. He’s still in critical condition.

Above, Vernon Odom covers all angles of the Fumo heart attack. We are now hearing as much about the state senator’s health as we do about … well, any Hollywood celebrity. This can show Vince, at least, that he’s finally made it.