Fumo: Convict Me And Democracy Collapses

Vince Fumo’s lawyers Tuesday filed motions asking the judge to drop all charges because, well, everything he did was just hunky-dory and the federal government doesn’t know how the state legislature works.

The federal government is the world’s second most inane bureaucracy behind the Pennsylvania legislature, so maybe Fumo is on to something here. Apparently, the state senate allows senators to set the hours of their employees, so anything they do can be off senate time, or whatever.

Prosecutors also charged Fumo bilked Citizens Alliance out of money, while his lawyers say he didn’t do anything wrong; in fact, all his so-called “bilking” was done out in the open. “The indictment merely alleges Fumo exercised de facto control of Citizens,” his lawyer, Mark B. Sheppard, wrote.

But the number one defense in the Fumo filing was the alleged email deletion, a crime if Fumo & Co. knew there was an investigation going on. Drumroll, please:

But Fumo’s lawyers wrote that the deletion of e-mails was part of a longstanding office policy to preserve confidential communications that predated the probe.

Fumo was charged under a statute that makes it a crime to knowingly destroy records that would impede the investigation of any matter by any federal agency or actions taken “in contemplation” of an investigation. [Hmm.—dmac]

Sheppard said the statute “potentially criminalizes” the deletion of “any” e-mails because they could someday be sought for investigative purposes. This would have a “chilling” effect on free speech, he said.

I’m feeling kind of cold already. Good thing Gmail has two gigs of storage, or else I’d be in jail!

Fumo lawyers ask judge to toss most charges [Daily News]