Vince Fumo is the funniest indicted state senator in the history of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

To Philadelphians Fumo is tinged with corruption, his name only said amid seething recounts of his 139-count indictment looming in the fall. But in Harrisburg, his professional home since 1978, Fumo is still a force.

After a second heart attack in March and this round of indictments that came last year, Fumo announced he would not seek reelection in November and vacated his post as chairman of the Senate Appropriations committee, a powerful seat he held since 1984. Still, after each negotiating session of state leaders this budget season, it was Fumo who came out, sleeves rolled up, ready to speak to the press.

In what may be the final week of his legislative career, Fumo was loose and downright uppity.

At a recent press conference on electric deregulation, flanked by a host of Senate Democrats from across the state, it came as no surprise that Fumo took the show, as he has before.

He leaned against a podium with a list of the salaries paid to the CEOs of electric utility companies.

“Let’s see, $13 million, must have been a bad year,” Fumo deadpans, turning to a staff member, “Who is this guy? I don’t know him, any of them, they aren’t hanging out with me at 15th and Tasker.”

At the conference he said the impending loss of electricity rate caps was the real energy crisis in Pennsylvania, and green issues were just taking the focus away from profits made by utility companies.

“This is the issue. Not oil, ethanol. I don’t care about off-shore drilling,” Fumo says, arms waving, “I don’t care about the caribou in Alaska.”

A gaggle of reporters giggle and a group of lobbyists growl.

But on July 4, in an empty state Capitol awaiting the budget agreement that would come that night at 6 P.M., he said goodbye to the Senate floor that he made his pulpit for decades. The indicted legislator leaving under a cloud of corruption allegations received a standing ovation, a resolution commending his service, and hugs from fellow Senators and staffers.

“How does one talk about 30 years of phenomenal life experience?” Fumo says, “I will miss all of this terribly. I’ve loved it and I’ve hated it and I will miss it.”

He isn’t retiring. That much he has already said. He will finish his term out, which expires at the end of the year, but he won’t return to Harrisburg for the fall session, which is scheduled to begin a week after he is to be in court on federal corruption charges. His trial is set to begin Sept. 8.

“I will be devoting my efforts to my trial then,” Fumo said. “This is probably my last speech on the Senate floor.”

Fumo is accused of using taxpayer dollars – including state employees – to live a lifestyle of excess and then fighting an FBI investigation into his conduct. But, he has remained a force other politicians – among those fastest to abandon a sinking ship – have stood behind.

At the electric deregulation press conference he was flanked by a host of Senate Democrats from across the state. On July 3, Fumo stood with powerful House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans, also from Philadelphia, and threatened to throw “atom bombs” at the city’s two proposed casinos if they didn’t agree to move their locations. A collection of the Philadelphia delegation asked for the two to help relocate the casino proposals.

“Things get done when they come together,” says state Sen. Hardy Williams, D-Philadelphia.

But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Gib Armstrong, R-Lancaster, says “there are two Vinces.”

“There’s the profane, the boisterous, the gregarious, the larger-than-life Vince Fumo,” Armstrong says, “And there’s the Vince that is sensitive and reflective and caring.”

Reporters love the boisterous Fumo, who emerged from late-night budget negotiations on June 29. He was asked about the role fellow Philadelphia Democrat Gov. Rendell had in late night negotiations.

“What we all know is that he isn’t the easiest guy to get along with this late,” Fumo said. “Or when he’s tired.”

“Vince Fumo can be a very difficult and aggravating person,” Gov. Ed Rendell says, “But that is because he is protecting those most vulnerable citizens.”

“This is not the way he would have wanted to go,” Rendell says, “Or the way people who admired him wanted him to go.”

For his part, Fumo has called his lawyers “optimistic” and the charges against him “half-truths, lies and misrepresentations.”

“If I had taken a bribe or sold my office, I would have quit my office in shame,” Fumo says, “But that didn’t happen.”

Read an insightful Philadelphia magazine article on his broken relationship with powerful attorney Dick Sprague. See a complete review of Fumo’s public life by the Inquirer. Read a great review of the state budget process by WHYY that explains why Fumo – and Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philly – are so influential.

HARRISBURG — Deregulation of electric rates in 2010 in many areas of the state could constitute “the biggest tax increase in Pennsylvania history,” state Senate Democrats said yesterday.

Since 1996, the rate at which many Pennsylvania energy companies have been able to recoup power plant construction costs from consumers has been capped.

But by 2010, the rate caps will expire for customers in parts of western Pennsylvania served by West Penn Power, plus many residential and business customers in northeast and central Pennsylvania, along with the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia areas. Rate caps for Duquesne Light already have ended.

“Nobody is going out of business” in the state’s electricity industry, said Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, noting high profit margins and well-salaried executive of electric utilities. “[Allowing these caps to expire] would be the biggest tax increase in the history of the Commonwealth since Ben Franklin.”

He was joined in his criticism by Democratic Sens. Jim Ferlo of Highland Park, Wayne Fontana of Brookline and Sean Logan of Monroeville.

“Utility shutoffs have already risen 37 percent compared to last year,” said Mr. Logan. “Unless we take decisive steps soon, I fear for how many people will be unable to pay and will have their electricity shut off when deregulation hits its statewide peak in 2010.”

…

Read the rest on Post-Gazette.com. Read some of the color interjected by Sen. Vince Fumo here. Image courtesy of The Cobb School.

HARRISBURG — Today state Senate Democrats held a press conference warning of impending utility deregulation that they say will cause electric bills to jump as much as 65 percent per month for some.

I have a story on the subject coming out tomorrow in the Post-Gazette, but it won’t include some of Sen. Vince Fumo’s finer moments.

After a heart attack in March and a looming trial in November, Fumo announced his retirement, surely freeing up the Prince of Darkness to speak even freer than he had in the past.

Today he railed utility companies, their CEOs and lobbyists.

Let’s see [a list of utility company CEOs and their salaries] $13 million, must have been a bad year. [Staff member] who is this guy? I don’t know him, any of them, they aren’t hanging out with me at 15th and Tasker.

He claimed electric deregulation was the real energy crisis in Pennsylvania, and green issues were just to take the focus away from profits made by utility companies.

This is the issue. Not oil, ethanol. I don’t care about off-shore drilling. I don’t care about the caribou in Alaska.

How about this one, not from today, but rather when a tentative budget agreement was reached early Monday morning, after 1 A.M. When asked about fellow Democrat and Gov. Ed Rendell’s role in these late night negotiations, Fumo replied thusly:

Well, we both, what we all know is that he isn’t the easiest guy to get along with this late, when he’s tired.

He loves to talk to media and we love him, especially when he says stuff like that. So, we focus on him tons, like this Inquirer Fumo report and a great Philly mag article on Fumo’s relationship with power lawyer Dick Sprague. …Even if he’s been indicted and has an awfully strong sense of entitlement, he is charismatic, funny and brilliant.

Cartoon courtesy of John Cole of the Scranton Times-Tribune.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW4DQjlZ6O8&eurl=http://cfpolicyblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/mommy-why-is-vince-fumo-in-our-kitchen.html]