Vince Fumo Is Back in Business

Two months after disgraced former State Sen. Vince Fumo told a judge he was going to start a consulting business, Fumo is … consulting.

The Inquirer reports today that Fumo has been hired to advise John Brown Jr., who runs Murphy Marine Services at the Port of Wilmington, in his fight to manage and develop Southport, 200 acres of Philadelphia Regional Port Authority land at the eastern edge of the Navy Yard.

Brown hired Fumo when he heard a rival company might get the project without the authority opening the project up for an open bid.

Brown said Fumo “knows all the politicians. He knows basically how to get things done in the state and in the city. Who is better qualified?”

Fumo confirmed he was working with Brown as a consultant to fight any “backdoor” deals.

“As a senator, I wrote the law on the PRPA,” Fumo said. “I’m very familiar with its powers, its duties. I’ve represented the waterfront for 31 years. I know it inside out. And I will bet you this deal will not go down as envisioned by Corbett and his henchmen. How I do it, and what advice I give to do it, and who I direct to do it, is my business and my client’s business. I’m not going to give you proprietary information on how I work.”

Fumo, of course, was convicted and imprisoned on corruption charges in 2009. He was released from prison in August 2013, though at last report, he was still fighting a requirement that he pay millions of dollars to the IRS.