Wait, Someone’s Stealing *From* Vince Fumo Now?

Back in 2010, former state senator Vince Fumo claimed his friend Andy Cosenza, once the chairman of his campaign fund, had taken $20,000 out of said campaign fund while he was in prison and used it for personal purposes. Try $253,000.

The Inquirer is reporting that a new financial disclosure finds that in 2011, while Fumo was still behind bars (he was released on house arrest a few months ago) his “lil bro” Cosenza made a quarter-million in payments to himself and several companies he owns, leaving the fund with less than $5,000. Coennza, a political consultant who runs some steak and gryo stands on the side, claims the payments were proper, and that they were “fair payment for his labor assisting a diverse array of politicians and staging fund-raisers.”

Fumo’s lawyer retorted that “For the money he charged, Vince Fumo could have hired Henry Kissinger and gotten more results.” That’s a good line, but the Inky may have written a better one: “Before Fumo’s downfall – before a federal jury convicted him of illegally using “other people’s money” – he was one of Pennsylvania’s most productive Democratic fund-raisers.” Karma. It’ll get you every time.

[Inquirer]