Was Fumo's Sentence too light or harsh?

For our foreign audience, Vincent Fumo was a Pennsylvania State Senator from Philadelphia. He had a 30 year run in politics and led a high flying charged lifestyle reminiscent of the politicians in New York's Tammany Hall.

Vince's misdeeds caught up with him today to the tune of 55 months and a $2 million fine. Much of this was possibly due to character testimony by notables including the Governor of Pennsylvania, Ed Rendell.

Vince was convicted of defrauding the charity he controlled and the state out of over $3 million.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John J. Pease and Robert A. Zauzmer are seeking a sentence of more than 15 years behind bars, while defense lawyers are hoping for a sentence substantially shorter than the 11 to 14 years that could be imposed under federal sentencing guidelines calculated by the judge.

I'm not sure if he's eligible for parole on a 4 1/2 year sentence.

It does seem like the fine should be at least as large as the stolen amount. Unless the stolen money is retrieved on top of the fine.

The charity/non-profit he started did a lot of good things for a lot of people. Probably the fact he was helping others... while he was helping himself... helped him get a lighter sentence. The most important thing is he's been stopped.