There are three things that deserve great respect in Harrisburg. The grandeur of the main capital building, the majesty of the Susquehanna River and Vince Fumo s temper.
Legend holds that the third is bigger than the first and flows faster than the second at high tide.
Vincent J. Fumo in his twenty-two years of serving in the Pennsylvania Senate from his South Philadelphia district knows what he wants and most importantly in the crossed wires of Pennsylvania politics knows when he wants it. Fumo knows more ways to bureaucratically cut off whatever appendage he chooses whenever he wants. When angered he is likely to aim for some of the more delicate ones. And in that coin of the realm in our state of trades and deals, its always known when, if and after interminable negotiations you get Vince Fumo s word on a deal that that deal in Pennsylvania is done. For the last two years, in typical style, Fumo has battled Bell-Atlantic, now Verizon, to keep the company out of Pennsylvania s long distance business.