Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo is facing charges on 139 indictments including 2 counts each of filing false tax returns and aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. Gilbert Coleman, Jr., senior pastor of Freedom Christian Bible Fellowship in Philadelphia, believes that those charges have made Fumo an angry man.
Gilbert was responding to a stunning turn of events that are leading up to Fumo’s last days in office. Fumo is retiring at the end of this year in order to address the federal charges being brought against him.
During an Appropriations Committee hearing in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on a bill to define marriage as between a man and a woman, Fumo said:
What you are advocating here is that we take away the rights of a minority. And I don’t think that’s right… If we introduced a bill on slavery, it might pass. That doesn’t make it right.
When Coleman objected, Fumo retorted:
Oh, don’t bet on it in this General Assembly. I know some people up here, especially on a secret ballot, it would be almost unanimous.
Fumo later said that he was “obviously exaggerating to make a point.”
Right.
Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Fumo has lately found himself in a whole heap of trouble. He is facing a whopping 139 indictments including 2 counts each of filing false tax returns and aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns.
To pay for some of his massive legal bills in conjunction with the charges, Fumo is selling his Philadelphia manse – for $7 million. While that kind of dough wouldn’t cause anyone to blink in New York or LA, that’s a pretty nice abode here in Philly. But what’s more interesting is that the Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that many of the improvements to the house were made at taxpayer’s expense. That’s ironic, huh? Using money from taxpayers to fight charges of tax fraud?
The evidence that the Inquirer offers includes an email to a Fumo aide that reads:
We are still having trouble with the front door intercom. Please get this fixed ASAP.
Apparently, the aide who was paid out of government money spent most of his 18 months in “nearly a full-time capacity” as project manager for the renovations to Fumo’s home (note to self: next time planning home renovations, consider full-time project manager – that extra powder room took far too long to coordinate on your own). Did the aide do a good job? He must have. In just 13 years, the value of the home went from $175,000 to $7 million. Even in a health real estate market, that’s quite a climb.
Another aide allegedly cleaned Fumo’s home on a regular basis on a taxpayer’s dime.
Of course, Fumo denies the indictments, blah, blah, blah and claims that the charges are political.
The bit that I love the most? On this web site listing, which I believe is the home in question (how many $7 million homes are for sale on Green Street?), the description points out that “no expense was spared” – they left out the “at taxpayer’s expense” part.
