Did We Pay Legal Bills for Former Fumo Aides?: Lawyers Say State Senate Covered Their Fees
By Michael Hinkelman, Philadelphia Daily News
Jun. 9–State taxpayers may have been picking up the legal tab for the state Senate employees who have been subpoenaed in the federal grand-jury probe of Sen. Vincent Fumo.
Senate Chief Clerk W. Russell Faber said yesterday “legal representation [paid by the Senate] is available” for employees who testify before the grand jury.
But he said he did not know how many employees’ legal expenses were actually paid by the state Senate or the amount.
A 65-page affidavit filed last week charging two Fumo aides with obstruction of justice referred to at least three Senate employees who have testified before the grand jury.
Faber said the state Senate doesn’t pay legal bills for employees who are charged with a crime or are targets of the probe.
The feds filed a criminal complaint on May 31 against two former Fumo aides, Leonard Luchko and Mark Eister, charging them with destroying e-mails and other electronic evidence after the FBI in 2003 began looking into Fumo and his ties to a nonprofit, the Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods.
Both Luchko, 49, and Eister, 36, quit their state jobs on May 30. Until then, all of their legal expenses in connection with the Fumo probe were paid for by state taxpayers.
Luchko’s attorney, James C. Schwartzman, said yesterday he had represented Luchko for the past 18 months in the Fumo probe and had been paid $200 an hour by the state Senate.
He said the state Senate probably paid him more than $10,000 but less than $100,000 for his work on behalf of Luchko.
Schwartzman, a former assistant U.S. attorney, said he typically charges $500 an hour to represent clients. He said Luchko would pay his own legal expenses, but added, “nobody is paying me right now.”
When Luchko, of Collingdale, and Eister, of Camp Hill, were arrested last week, Fumo’s attorney, Richard A. Sprague, released a statement that said: “The senator stands behind his employees, all of them, and looks forward to the day when their full story will be told.”
Asked if “standing behind” meant Fumo would also pay for Luchko’s and Eister’s legal expenses, Mark B. Sheppard, a lawyer in Sprague’s firm, said: “The statement is he simply supports his employees and we’re not going to comment on anything else regarding fees.”
Both Schwartzman and Brian J. McMonagle, Eister’s attorney, said they’ve had no conversations with Fumo or his representatives about Luchko and Eister and that Fumo was not paying the legal bills for either man.
Luchko and Eister could run up huge legal bills for their defense.
“To do a case like this right, you’re talking about $150,000,” said one prominent criminal defense attorney.
“You’re talking about a trial that could last one to two weeks and a lot of time spent reviewing documents and interviewing people before you even get to trial.”
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Copyright (c) 2006, Philadelphia Daily News
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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