“It is the most anticipated event of its kind that I can remember,” said Zack Stalberg, president of the Committee of Seventy, a government watchdog group in Philadelphia. “Vince has been such a large figure for so long a period of time that I think the whole region will be watching this one closely.”

That’s it? No moral indignation over the sleaze of Philadelphia politics that Fumo and his cronies have come to typify? This why Zack Stalberg is an embarrassment as head of the Committee of 70 Good Government Group.
Stalberg has yet to make a single negative comment in the press or on the Committee of 70 website condemning the culture of corruption Fumo and his cronies epitomize.

You get the feeling Fumo must have passed along lots juicy little tid bits of information to Stahlberg over the years when Stalberg was editor at the Daily News, and that now Stalberg does not want to comment on a person he has come to know and admire. That may be natural, but it is unacceptable for a guy in Stahlberg’s position.

That would be fine if Stalberg were just an ex-editor, but he’s not. He’s collecting $180,000 a year to a head a watch dog group. What good is having a watchdog if the damn dog just sits there and watches as the burglars come climbing through your window? Stahlberg seems more lap dog than watch dog in his comments.

Who cares if Fumo brought home $8 Billion in goodies to the city he represents? It’s our money!
How much of that did he route to his buddies, and his contributors?

Look at the DRPA’s $300 Million spending spree. There is nothing illegal about all Fumo’s buddies who got a piece of that pie, and other pies over the years, it is just disgustingly outrageous and typical of the good ol boy network Fumo and company exemplify.

Hey Zack, if you are not outraged by the money Fumo stole and manipulated, maybe it’s time you gave up your position and took over Gary Tuma’s job as Fumo’s press agent, or start work helping to raise money for his defense fund.

If we’re going to have somebody not willing to say a single negative thing about Fumo, we might as well just have Jim Kenney as the head of the Committee of 70, another ball-less wonder.

Fumo and his cronies are crooks, and manipulators who have abused their power to enrich themselves and their friends. If Zack Stahlberg finds anything admirable about the antics of this master manipulator he should give up the post to someone not so moonstruck.

I suspect that this guy is not out of the woods himself yet however as I believe his name is on the witness list for the prosecution, and perhaps the defense as well. Isn’t it great to be so popular?

I don’t believe either he or Fumo could rely on any “executive privilige” to forestall his testimony. Despite the fact that Craig is also a lawyer, I don’t think that either he or Fumo would enjoy the shield of “attorney-client privilege”, since Craig was being paid for by the tax payers dime, and not Fumo personally. The charges against Fumo are grounded in violations of the public trust, I don’t see how you could hide behind “attorney -client privilege” when both are being paid for their service by the public.

I’d be interested to know if this issue of privilege has been broached already by any prospective witnesses or by the court, and if so, if there has been a ruling with respect to any privilege which may already have been or which might reasonably be anticipated to be asserted.

Craig may be one of those people however that the U.S. Attorney anticipates as potentially being initially uncooperative, for which they have already petitioned the court to be allowed to treat them as “hostile witnesses”.

This guy could have an incredible song to sing if called to the stand, but I have to believe that he has retained counsel for his own benefit, even if that counsel is; or at least was originally being paid for by the taxpayers as well. It would be interesting to see if Sprague did; or does continue to represent him, now wouldn’t that be an interesting little conflict of interest to examine?

I have to believe that at this juncture he may not testify willingly; without immunity from prosecution for himself; and if the feds have not already done so, I would not be surprised to see that granted for this witness. He could still lose that immunity grant if he were to perjure himself on the stand, and I suspect that this could be one of those situations where the fed’s would not ask him a question, which they may not already know the answer to.

I do have to say; that since the electronic archives and official record were substantially scrubbed by the Letchko and the other computer tech guy that have pleaded guilty already, there could be some interesting line of inquiry for Mr. Craig with respect to the casino legislation. People think that it was only DeNaples that was wired into this deal, but I suspect that it could go well beyond that.

Does anyone recall that Fumo pulled the rug out from under Rendell with respect to the slots legislation in fall/winter 2003 legislative session? Fumo’s argument at the time was that; what had been proposed would create a problem for the state with Native American Tribes, and he shot the legislation down at the 11th hour.

Lo and behold when it does finally pass on “Independence Day”, Penn National is forced to sell their stake in Pocono Downs, due to the multiple license holder prohibition, which oddly enough at that point effects only them. Who is conveniently there to step into the breach and help them out of this dificulty, but the Mohegan Sun Tribe. Not only that, but look beyond Sprague to see just who got the luck of the draw in Philly as well? Why of course none other than Foxwoods.

Fumo may have been right (do you think? just ask him); without some changes to the legislation in the winter of 2003 and early 2004, these two poor, poor, Native American tribes may have otherwise been completely left out in the cold.

Now; Mr. Craig, while we have you here, would you like to shed some light on these concidences for us? Perhaps you could turn your attention to Exhibit 1 & 2, which are the offical phone records which log calls from both to and from the land line and cell phone numbers assigned to Senator Fumo and yourself; and paid for by the state of PA. Would you care to shed some light on the calls highlighted here in yellow, and perhaps you could share with us your knowledge about who was called, and what was discussed on the highlighted telephone calls while you were serving the people of the Commonwealth in your capacity with respect to the slot machine legislation?

No cameras in the courtroom? Perhaps you might consider discreetly podcasting this witness’ testimony when his name is called and the substantive part of the trial does truly get underway. I suspect that this is but only one of many issues that he could shed light on which might not just corroborate the governments charges in this case, but might also open up some new avenues to explore, in the event that the witness is indeed initially uncooperative.