The attorney for indicted Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent J. Fumo’s attacked the U.S. attorney’s motives, calling the 139 charges against his client nothing more than a malicious effort by the Bush administration to drive powerful Democrats from office, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. “This is an indictment born of political ambition,” said lawyer Richard A. Sprague. “It reeks of malice.”
Sprague described U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, who was appointed by President Bush, as a political operative who loaded Fumo’s indictment with “twists and distortions, venal and salacious entries, deliberate statements out of context.” Meehan’s spokesman called Sprague’s comments “inaccurate and regrettable.” Fumo is charged with fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice on a grand scale – using state Senate staff and funds from a neighborhood charity to support an opulent lifestyle and orchestrating a cover-up after the FBI started asking questions. Sprague, a former prosector, charged that the Bush administration has “a policy of using local U.S. attorneys to try to get effective Democrats.”