State Sen. Lawrence Farnese’s bribery trial kicked off Tuesday with a federal prosecutor describing him as an opportunistic politician willing to pay for a Philadelphia Democratic committeewoman’s vote to make him a city ward leader.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kravis said in U.S. district court in Philadelphia on Tuesday that Farnese wanted to be a ward leader in 2011 so he could have the power to get other candidates elected. Farnese was already a senator at the time of the ward leader election.
