What has been produced at the trials are e-mails showing that Press was an eager political operative for Fumo, and that Palermo helped Fumo operate the senator's problem-ridden 100-acre farm outside Harrisburg.
There has been relatively little testimony about Rubin, who is chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the husband of Fumo's co-defendant, his former legislative aide Ruth Arnao.
Fumo has compared his trial to the movie Groundhog Day, saying that each day he arrives in court and is hit by a new round of government allegations and evidence. Yesterday was no exception. In wide-ranging testimony as the government prepared to rest its case, Humphreys introduced evidence showing that:
Fumo was paid as much as $934,000 yearly by the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth Paxson to serve as a "rainmaker" - a person who brings in clients. One year, according to an e-mail exchange between Fumo and the firm, the senator complained that it had shortchanged him $998 in his annual pay.
In 2005, Fumo tried to rein in the use of his aides for personal errands. He wrote in an e-mail, "Since the Inquirer and the Feds are all over my ass, I want to keep the use of staff for these things to an absolute minimum."
Fumo wrote another e-mail acknowledging that his political complaints against Edward G. Rendell for using nonunion labor to build a South Jersey vacation home were "all bull- ." But Fumo nonetheless said the argument should be used against Rendell in the 2002 gubernatorial primary.
Fumo, 65, is charged in part with defrauding both the Senate and a South Philadelphia nonprofit once headed by Arnao.
The allegations regarding the Senate are that as a Democratic powerhouse, Fumo routinely had his staff serve as his personal servants and engage in politics on state time.
He is also charged with handing out unwarranted contracts to five consultants. None of the consultants was charged with any crime.
