Commenter Fred Dobbs makes an excellent point that’s worth more discussion: when it comes to allegation of criminal wrongdoing, how far should people’s “loyalty” to each other go?

Fred was responding to my summary of the Inquirer’s profile of Ruth Arnao, Fumo’s co-defendant. I wrote that she came off as “fiercely loyal — a key distinction between she and Fumo’s two former computer techs who were once charged and are now government witnesses.” (Leonard Luchko and Mark Eister plead guilty to their charges and will likely testify for the government.)

As you may have heard in the past, oh, 30 years, Fumo says he places high value on staff and family loyalty, and has the definition of the word framed in his South Philly office. As he told the Inquirer before he went to trial:

“I’m big on loyalty,” Fumo said. “I believe loyalty is a two-way street. I’d go through walls for people. I’m a little bit different that way than the average politician. But also I’ve got to look back and say, after 30 years, 27 of it in the minority, how did I become what the media calls the most powerful politician in Pennsylvania? And it had to be a lot of those attributes that people saw in me that I wouldn’t lie to them. I wouldn’t screw them over. You know, I’m a warrior, but I’m also an honorable warrior.”

But his idea of the quality might be a bit skewed, Jason Fagone argued in the summation of his recent Philly Mag story:

For Vince, loyalty was about control. It was about getting his way — not just with the city and the state, but with his own son, his own daughter, his son-in-law, his ex-wife. Loyalty was just a word — a convenient explanation for his deep need to dominate and complicate everything around him.

Let’s say that. for whatever reason, you were made by Vince Fumo. Let’s say he provided you with a job, a stability in life that today, as we know, is ever-fleeting. Let’s say that because of this, you were always unflappably in Fumo’s corner. And then, this indictment comes up, and you’re essentially expected to remain unflappable, even though, you’re in a situation that Fred, the commenter, paints well:

It wasn’t a lack of loyalty that made them plead guilty. They just couldn’t afford to go to trial they are not millionaires like the two remaining defendants. Their legal bills right now are over six digits, a trial like this would cost them $20,000 a week for 4 months, and they would be out of work during the trial as well. So here were their choices go to trial and lose everything you have in the world or cut a deal.

What would you do?

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