Fumo's flub has foes on attack
James Tayoun Jr. wants the state senator's name off the primary ballot over a false signature.
Inquirer Staff Writers
State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, a veteran of seven elections, somehow forgot to fill in "Item 7" on his nomination petition, required of all candidates.
All the line required was that he state his polling place.
Now, his political opponents are accusing the South Philadelphia Democrat of fraud in an election tangle that, potentially, could cost him his spot on the primary ballot.
Yesterday, Fumo won a reprieve from a state judge. But at the same time, his Democratic opponent in the April primary filed a challenge alleging someone other than the senator improperly signed his name.
Fumo acknowledged that yesterday but said it was of no consequence. He said that someone had signed his name with his permission, serving as what the state senator described as his "attorney in fact."
But his opponent, James Tayoun Jr., filed a legal challenge in state Commonwealth Court. Tayoun said Fumo's notarized form "was signed by someone else in a fraudulent manner attempting to represent themselves as Vincent J. Fumo."
How did Fumo, long considered one of Harrisburg's smartest and most powerful pols, find himself in such a fix?
Aides to Fumo originally submitted the senator's nomination papers about 11 a.m. Feb. 17, the deadline.
An election official, apparently a stickler for detail, rejected the submission because of the missing ward and district info. The forms had to be signed and notarized again, Fumo's people were told. And a fax wouldn't do.
About three hours later, at 2:22 p.m., Fumo aides resubmitted the forms.
The signatures on the rejected and new forms raised eyebrows in Harrisburg not only because they didn't look alike, but also because Fumo was known to be in Florida for part of that week.
In Philadelphia yesterday, Fumo won an emergency order from a state Commonwealth Court judge mandating that the state accept yet another nomination petition - Fumo's third go at it.
In court papers, Fumo acknowledged that he did not sign the second form "because he was unable to be physically present." He said he had authorized someone else to sign his name on his behalf.
Nowhere on the form was there a declaration that someone else had penned Fumo's name.
Fumo's lawyer, Ralph J. Teti, told Commonwealth Court President Judge James Gardner Colins that common sense and court precedent dictated that candidates be permitted to correct minor errors, such as failing to put down their polling place.
"There is nothing sinister or nefarious about this," Teti said.
Teti noted that an official with the Secretary of State's office had said his agency didn't oppose a new filing by Fumo.
Samuel C. Stretton, Tayoun's lawyer, said the issue was not the failure to put down the polling place, but the filing in which someone else signed Fumo's name.
"These are very serious issues here," Stretton said. "These are not mere technicalities."
Tayoun is seeking to have Fumo's name struck from the primary ballot.
Stephen MacNett, the chief counsel for Senate Republicans and their expert on election law, said he had never heard of a candidate admittedly having someone else sign his or her forms.
"Candidates themselves have to sign it," MacNett said of the form. "It is a candidate affidavit, after all."
Repeated phone calls to Fumo at his Harrisburg and Philadelphia offices over the last week went unreturned.
While Fumo and his aides would not say where he was on Feb. 17, he is known to have spent the following day hosting a large dinner party at his home in Jupiter, Fla., just north of Palm Beach. On Feb. 20, last Friday, Fumo was reached at that home. He declined to comment.
After a budget hearing yesterday in Harrisburg, a well-tanned Fumo declined to answer questions about his nomination papers.
The document signed by Fumo's stand-in was notarized by a Fumo aide, Jamie Marinaro. Marinaro also did not return telephone calls.
Tayoun said he plans to pursue the challenge despite Colin's ruling.
"It just shows again that [Fumo] believes he is above everything, that he is above the law," said Tayoun, a surgeon who is the son of former City Councilman Jimmy Tayoun.
By acknowledging he didn't sign the affidavit himself, Fumo has "rendered his entire nominating petition invalid," said Jack Morley, the only Republican candidate seeking Fumo's seat.
Teti was also the lawyer last year in an election case in which he helped a Fumo ally with a ruling that tossed a candidate off the ballot over errors in his filings.
At that time, Teti said of the dumped candidate: "He didn't pay enough attention to it, and that's his fault."
The unsuccessful candidate, Teti said at the time, was guilty either of "dereliction of duty or a conspiracy of stupidity."
In that dispute, City Councilman Frank DiCicco was left without a primary opponent after Vernon Anastasio was struck from the ballot.
Anastasio said his mistake, failing to list his sources of income, was a "clerical error." His attempt to amend his filing was to no avail.
Morley, the Republican, seized on the Anastasio affair to point out what he said was an irony.
"So now, Vince Fumo, live by the sword, die by the sword," Morley said.