Here are five reasons why Fund said he believes in-person voter fraud happens in Philadelphia:
* Chris Matthews says so - Fund cited comments that Matthews, a Philadelphia native who came from a politically active family, made during a July 2011 episode of MSNBC's "Hardball" when voter ID was being discussed.
"It has gone on in old-time politics," Matthews said. "It has gone on since the '50s that I know about. . . . I know all about it in North Philly. It's what went on. And I believe it still goes on."
Rendell didn't buy it, saying: "The last time I looked, Chris Matthews was not evidence."
* Blame George W. Bush - Fund cited widespread voter distrust of the 2000 presidential election victory of Bush over former Vice President Al Gore.
"It is in the interest of the government in a very close race, especially for president, to have a system that people have confidence in and believe has integrity," Fund said.
Rendell countered that many people lacked confidence in the 2000 election results because Bush lost the popular vote.
* The Republicans did it - Fund noted that Republicans controlled Philadelphia's politics until the 1951 election and "stole votes with abandon" before that.
Fund said that one party can benefit from legislation like the voter-ID law.
"That doesn't mean voter fraud doesn't happen," he said. "That doesn't mean it isn't good public policy. Not every law affects every party equally."
* Arlen Specter says so - Fund said that the former U.S. senator and Philadelphia district attorney "told me personally that there has been lots of voter fraud in Philadelphia for a long time."
* It has happened before - Fund cited the same election mentioned in a television interview last week by Gov. Corbett, a 1993 special election for a state Senate seat in Philadelphia. That election, later overturned by a federal judge due to rampant election fraud, was considered crucial to Democrats' taking control of the state Senate that year.
One logical problem: That scam was centered on absentee ballots, not the type of in-person voter fraud that the new state law is supposedly designed to combat.
Contact Chris Brennan at brennac@phillynews.com or 215-854-5973. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisBrennanDN. Read his blog at PhillyClout.com.
