State Sen. Vince Fumo - indicted on federal corruption charges, but seemingly cheery - had an audience, so why not?
"I'm selling a house, if you want to buy one!" he announced about an hour ago before a crowd of over 200 VIPs crammed into a sixth-floor courtroom to attend the ceremonial swearing-in of new Common Pleas Court Judge Dan Anders.
You may have read about Anders on the Inquirer's front-page today. You know, Philadelphia's first openly gay male judge. "Off the bench, Anders appears to be your typical Macho Guy," wrote reporter Gail Shister in her breezy profile, "aside from his fondness for Wonder Woman."
Well, Wonder Woman or Superman, this guy has a lot friends. And, it seems, a future.
Anders got to be a judge because Gov. Rendell nominated him to fill a vacancy. But if he wants to keep the job, he'll have to win an election in 2009.
A little bit ago, he got a big boost toward doing so when Democratic City Committee chairman Bob Brady took the podium and gestured toward the back of the room to his GOP comrade, MIchael Meehan, and said the two would go have "a sidebar" right then to make a deal to keep Anders on the bench.
But back to Fumo.
In retelling how he met Anders, the senator said it was through Mark Segal, the Philadelphia Gay News publisher who Fumo bailed out when he came up short tens of thousands of dollars for the 2005 Elton John concert. Segal was one of the organizers.
"I still remember the debt from the Elton John concert," a smiling Fumo told Segal from the podium. "It's one of the few things not mentioned in the indictment."
Comments (1)
Who cares (but the Inquirer) what the sexual preference of a judge is? All I read is what he likes to do in the bed. Not one word about what he will do on the bench. You say this is the first openly gay judge. Most of your readers would have known if you would not have told us. Don't you have anything better to write about?
Posted by Leon A. Williams, Esquire | October 12, 2007 5:34 AM
Posted on October 12, 2007 05:34