Claiming that the 525-mile distance between Philadelphia and the minimum security prison he’s been assigned to in Ashland, Kentucky, would be tough on his fiancee and children, Vincent Fumo is now challenging his prison assignment.

In today’s Inquirer, Peter Goldberger, one of Fumo’s defense attorneys, is quoted saying the choice of prisons “is on the outer edge of reasonableness,” which, come to think of it, should be this whole affair’s motto.

To wit:

From Fumo’s perspective, Ashland Federal Correctional Institution might have another drawback: It does not operate a residential drug- and alcohol-treatment program, according to the Bureau of Prisons’ Web site.

In recent court filings, Fumo has said that he was addicted to Xanax, an antianxiety medicine, and alcohol, and needed treatment.

By enrolling in a treatment program, he conceivably could cut up to a year off his sentence.

Last month, the Mayor announced the allocation of $13.5 million in federal stimulus money for public safety purposes. About half of the money would go to keeping jobs previously cut due to the budgetary deficit; the city designated the other half for several new programs and facilities.

City Paper checked in with the city to find out how things are progressing. So far, none of the promised projects have begun, as the money has not yet arrived. But according to Luke Butler, deputy press secretary for the mayor, the city expects to receive the funds beginning in mid-August. Susan Oliver, Public Affairs Team Leader for the Office of Justice Programs, has confirmed the city’s assessment.

The $13.5 million for public safety, the result of an Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Local Grant, may be just the beginning of more extensive federal funding for the city’s police departments. Tomorrow, Vice President Biden and Attorney General Holder will be at City Hall to announce additional stimulus funds for law enforcement nationwide. The city has already applied for an additional $75 million in public safety stimulus money. The feds have yet to announce the results of those applications.

Tomorrow’s press conference may bear good news for city public safety agencies, which have struggled with budget cuts. According to David Lawrence, court administrator for the 1st Judicial District, around 150 positions have become vacant as a result of a hiring freeze in place since last fall. Due to these personnel shortages, workloads have increased, while the pace of bureaucracy has decreased. “It’s difficult for people who have to deal with increased caseloads, particularly in probation,� Lawrence says. “It has especially delayed paperwork.�

Without the Byrne Grant, the situation could be much worse. In total, the city intends to save 52 court positions with money from the grant, at a cost of about $115,000 per position. Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison says that the amount spent per position is appropriate. “Well, you have to factor in that these are not entry-level positions,� he says, “and that they include salary as well as benefits.� According to Gillison, the benefits package for municipal workers amounts to about 40 percent of a base salary.

Meanwhile, when the rest of the Byrne Grant arrives, the city can begin the implementation of jobs programs, police training, and plans to construct a “Real-Time Crime Center� at Police Headquarters.

It is worth bearing in mind as you read this that the publisher and editor of the Public Record is former Councilman Jim Tayoun, who served time for corruption:

Though Fumo will spend a total of 55 months in prison, there is no doubt he will return to Philadelphia a folk hero, much like some of the other political leaders in the past who served their time, but came back with their constituencies relatively well intact. In fact, if it were not for a Pennsylvania law prohibiting felons from holding office, many of them would have easily been reelected to the offices they had held.

Here’s the actual honest-to-god clipping:

Via Heard in the Hall.

Dave Davies:

I PICTURED federal Judge Ronald Buckwalter tucking himself into bed last night, unbuttoning his robes to reveal a Vince Fumo T-shirt, with the letters “WGSD” emblazoned across the chest.

The letters stand for “we get s— done,” the staff motto that embodied the workaholic, results-oriented, cut-through-red-tape mentality Fumo was so proud of.

Karen Heller:

The former all-powerful senator, the Prince of Other People’s Money, convicted on all 137 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and obstruction of justice and fined $2,395,147.40, could be out in four years, in time for a Labor Day 2013 meal of blackened scallops, crab cakes, and old-fashioned ricotta pie in Margate.

What does this say about the quality of justice?

Mayor Nutter:

“In light of other cases like this, it’s difficult to look at the verdict and fully understand the rationale behind the length of the sentence and designated restitution amounts. Nevertheless, a simple, yet important message was reinforced today - - those who abuse the trust of the public, especially elected officials, will be caught and punished.�

Brian Hickey:

I perceive Fumo’s out-in-four vacay as 1) borderline racist and 2) borderline classist.

The prosecution is upset:

U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said that the government was “disappointed” by the sentence and that the feds may appeal it.

Other recent corruption sentences, for comparison.

Radio Times interviews prosecutors.

Well, it certainly doesn’t seem like anyone thinks Fumo got too long of a sentence.

Vince Fumo’s sentence came down today, after extensive arguments about the former state senator’s health, ability to do time etc. Here’s the sentence:

• A fine of $411,000

• Restitution (with Ruth Arnao) to Citizen’s Alliance of $676,000

• 55 months in prison

Fumo must surrender by Aug. 31. After serving his time, he’ll be on supervised release for three years.

The U.S. probation office had put Fumo’s “sentencing guideline range” between 11 and 14 years, and prosecutors had previously argued that over 20 years would be appropriate. But Fumo will be out when he’s about 70.

We’ll have a round-up of reactions and some thoughts on this tomorrow.

The Daily News poses an interesting conundrum today: A few weeks ago, Kensington residents caught and beat up Jose Carasquillo, who had been identified by police as a person of interest in the rape of an 11-year old girl. Public officials responded by giving wishy-washy comments that softly decried vigilantism while also praising the community spirit that the Kensington residents showed, or somesuch. No one was charged in the beating, and two of the men split an $11,500 reward.

So why, when Antwione Hough did a pretty similar thing, was he arrested and charged?

The District Attorney’s office declines to comment for the DN, and Commissioner Ramsey doesn’t go into specifics about the cases, simply saying that “every case is different.”

Let me recommend that you read the Daily News story. The cases are not exactly the same — Hough sought out his guy, he didn’t just run into him on the street. And he put him in his car and took him somewhere, rather than just beating on him until police came. But I’m pretty sure I still don’t see a meaningful distinction, in terms of whether the vigilante(s) in each case should have been charged. Do you?

For American cities right now, there’s a bit of a race on for federal stimulus money, all $787 billion of it. Over the course of last week, it seemed Philadelphia had brought in a fair share of those dollars — $26 million for the airport here, $13 million for street repaving there.

Yesterday, June 17, the Nutter administration held a press conference announcing an additional $13.5 million the city’s public safety programs. How far will it go? Well, basically it’ll be allocated to a series of small

Thomas Dreisbach

safety-related programs and services, and to city offices currently shedding jobs.

The most radical proposal involves the construction of a “Real Time Crime Center,� to be housed at Police Headquarters at 7th and Race. The Center, which Police Commissioner Ramsey said was modeled after similar centers in New York and Washington, D.C., is supposed to provide in-depth information to officers in the field. The details of the Center’s operations remained inexact in both Ramsey’s and Nutter’s comments. According to the press release from the Mayor’s Office, the center carries a price tag of $2.5 million.

The Mayor has also designated $1 million for a joint program with Resources for Human Development, Inc., a Philadelphia-based non-profit. The program intends to create 160 “Green Jobs� for the ex-offenders residing in the city. Nutter said that the program creates “synergy� between the city’s economic, environmental, and public safety agendas.

The proposed employment program, though certainly helpful for the ex-offenders who receive “Green Jobs,� represents a tiny drop in an ever-expanding bucket.

According to a 2008 study by Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice, there are approximately 200,000 to 400,000 ex-offenders in Philadelphia at any given time. Around 40,000 ex-offenders enter Philadelphia every year. Almost all of them struggle to find gainful employment, which, according to this study, contributes to repeat offenses, and a higher rate of recidivism.

Finally, about $6 million will serve as a tourniquet, preventing the further hemorrhaging of jobs related to public safety.

In total, 52 positions — including jobs like community court and probation officers — will avoid cuts as a result of stimulus money. For those keeping track, that amounts to about $115,000 per position.

Check out this sequence of events:

-Dave Davies asks the D.A.’s office for information about a case Seth Williams was involved with in his days as an A.D.A., that the McCaffery campaign was highlighting in an ad campaign. He wants to know if the plea agreement in the case was typical.

-Davies spends the afternoon talking to present and former prosecutors and other attorneys, all of whom say the agreement was ordinary. He doesn’t hear anything back from the D.A.’s office.

-At about 6 p.m., he hears from McCaffery’s campaign manager, who tells him that the D.A.’s office will be issuing a statement on the case. (Huh? Why would the McCaffery campaign know that?)

-At 7:30, he gets the statement, not answering his initial question — were the terms of the agreement typical — but “seemed crafted to raise suspicions about Williams’ role,” Davies writes.

-Davies asks to examine the file the statement was based on. He’s told it’s confidential.

You can click through the link to read Davies’ conclusion about all this. I’ll just add that it seems likely to be forgotten, now that the race is over and Williams triumphed anyway, and that that sucks, because it sounds pretty unsavory.

Seth Williams appears set to be the Democratic nominee for D.A., and likely the next District Attorney; Alan Butkovitz has won his race to remain Controller. Philly.com has pretty charts so if you want to know more, you should go there.

Yes, really, the polls are open today for the primary races for District Attorney, Controller, and a number of judicial seats. Dan UA at YoungPhillyPolitics just sent around an email saying:

The polls are open, and they are empty. West Philly is dead. In Fairmount, 20 people voted by 9 o’clock. In Germantown, it was about a third of that.

Come on, there won’t even be any lines. If the spirit moves you at all, stop at the polls on your way home — if you haven’t moved since November, it’s the same place you went to go vote for Obama. Otherwise, you can check your polling place here.

Don’t know who to vote for? Look:

Here’s our D.A. who’s-your-candidate quiz.

Here are the Inquirer’s endorsements (Seth Williams for D.A.)

Here are the Daily News‘ (McElhatton for D.A.)

Here are the Philly-for-Change and Neighborhood Networks slates.

And for what it’s worth, this morning I voted for Seth Williams, Brett Mandel, and a number of judicial candidates including Diane Thompson and Dan Anders (that’s just me … CP didn’t do endorsements this time around).

Happy civic engagement.

The way judges get elected in Philadelphia is a convoluted process involving luck (there is a lottery for ballot position; people who draw higher ballot slots tend to fare better) and endorsements (not many people are actually familiar with the candidates, so we rely on the advice of institutions we trust). One of the most important institutions granting endorsements in this process is the Philadelphia Bar Association: It’s the one with the expertise to do legal assessments, and so influences other groups. The Inquirer, for instance, in its endorsement package, wrote: ” Receiving the bar’s ‘recommended’ rating should be the minimum hurdle.” If you don’t get the Bar’s rec, in other words, you shouldn’t be considered.

Over at YPP, though, several ward leaders make an interesting point: Two of the candidates who the Bar didn’t recommend were recommended previously: Sharon Williams-Losier and Beverly Muldrow.

The Bar says its criteria for recommendation are: legal ability, trial experience, record of integrity, financial responsibility, judicial temperament, mental and physical capacity, community involvement, administrative ability, devotion to the improvement of justice and demonstrated sound judgment.

Certainly it’s possible for the bar’s assessment of one or more of those things to change — especially something like a record of sound judgment. But the Bar doesn’t publish any explanations for its decisions. So I don’t want to say the reversal is suspicious (it’s not). But it does leave you wanting to know more. Got a call in to the bar; will update with any new information.

UPDATE: Sayde Ladov, Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, explains that details about the recommendation process are kept confidential because “very sensitive information is revealed” and the Bar doesn’t want to damage anyone’s ability to make a living as a lawyer should their effort to become a judge be unsuccessful. (She points out that not being recommended for a judicial seat doesn’t mean you’re unfit to be an attorney).

Hell if I know, but this is interesting: At last week’s debate between the Democratic candidates for Controller, Chris Satullo asked the candidates: “What in your opinion is the most wasteful department in the city?â€�

Alan Tu at It’s Our City rightly points out that a reasonable person hears this and thinks, “they’re not going to really answer this one.” But they did! IOC has the MP3 and some details, but in brief: Alan Butkovitz said License and Inspections, John Braxton said, “the criminal justice system. Because we have significant abuses of overtime both among police and prison guards.” And Brett Mandel got nuanced, saying that the criminal justice system probably has the most waste because it’s so huge, but that the most waste “per capita” was in Row Offices like the Sheriff, Register of Wills, etc.

It’s cool to have these candidates on the record about this stuff, so when one of them gets elected (and one of them will almost certainly get elected; sorry, Al Schmidt) we can hold his feet to the fire. “Where’s the report on the Register of Wills, Mandel?”

Evan M. Lopez

For what it’s worth, reporting this week’s cover story was pretty fun. I didn’t really expect it to be. I thought the story — a bunch of mini-profiles of city workers, their jobs, and their salaries — could be interesting, especially given the context of a maybe-strike this summer. But I thought I’d have to pick the interesting stuff out of sleepy, unsurprising interviews.

Instead, however, interviewing city employees ended up taking me on a kind of tour of the city, and giving me a primer on what all these different departments that you kind of think about, but not that often, actually do. How much does someone like me know about L&I inspections? Police forensics? Hopefully the mini-profiles capture some of that obscure knowledge.

And hey, as long as I’m pimping stuff from the issue, if you’re into crime, courts, criminal justice, law and order stuff, anything like that, you really need to be reading Dispatch. This week Mike Newall sits in on a hearing where a witness takes the stand and denies ever having made a statement to police about who shot him. The police counter that the guy bled on the photo of the defendant that he identified. Mike is doing the most compelling crime coverage that I’ve seen in this city since I’ve been here, I’m telling you.

Bill Westervelt

Prisons Commissioner Louis Giorla testified in Council today that, while almost every other city department will be reducing its budget this year, the prisons budget will increase 2 percent. This is because the prison population is expected to rise 5 percent.

You have to wonder whether it won’t rise even more than that, and whether a 2 percent increase will be enough. According to this New York Times article, the jury is out on the connection between the economy and crime rates, but it’s certainly not crazy to think that if someone comes home from prison right now, and he’s inclined to look for work, he’s gonna have an even harder time than usual finding it. This might make him more inclined to revert to property crimes and/or drug dealing, and that might land him right back in prison.

Meanwhile, our prisons are already overcrowded, and the city isn’t eager to put more money in anything, much less something that involves convicted criminals. So we have the economy potentially leading to an increase in the prison population, while making the provision of adequate resources to care for/guard that population less viable. Awesome.

It’s good, at least, that all five D.A. candidates have made some noise about looking at alternative-sentencing.