Thursday, January 31st., 2019
Prosecutors said Dougherty and his associates used the union's credit cards to buy everything from Bruce Springsteen tickets to luxury clothing gift cards to baby wipes to "men's exercise pants." They claim Dougherty dispatched a Local 98 official who is also a city councilman, to retaliate against a towing company that tried to cart off his car, and squeeze Comcast into giving millions of dollars of work to a friend's company...."
Pennsylvania Democrats rocked by indictment of top political boss
The powerful union leader known as ‘Johnny Doc’
heads ‘the single-most effective political organization’ in the key 2020
state.
The bombshell charges announced Wednesday against building trades leader John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty — a Philadelphia labor kingpin whose union is the single biggest independent source of campaign funding in the state — threaten to sap statehouse and congressional Democrats of a mega-donor, slow the party’s momentum in the Philadelphia suburbs, and sideline the man who orchestrated the Democratic takeover of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Dougherty's tentacles spread so far that Republicans already think it could be a boon for President Donald Trump’s election chances in 2020.
“Anytime there’s a vacuum, it gets filled, and I believe there's an opportunity for the Republicans to take advantage of the fact that the Democratic machinery is minus one piece,” said Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania-based GOP consultant.
It’s hard to overstate Dougherty’s power in Pennsylvania: His union’s heavy purse and legendary get-out-the-vote operation helped elect congressmen, governors, judges, mayors, state legislators, and city council members. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 was a major donor to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, played a critical role in putting Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle in office, and was almost single-handedly responsible for making Jim Kenney the mayor of Philadelphia.
A few years before the nation’s high-stakes midterm elections, the union’s deep pockets helped put three justices on the state Supreme Court, including Dougherty’s brother, Kevin.
"I would argue they're the single-most effective political organization in the state," said Ryan Costello, a former Republican congressman from suburban Chester County who was a casualty of the redrawn congressional map. "They're thinking five, six, seven steps ahead."
Dougherty was charged with embezzlement, bribery, and theft in a 116-count indictment that alleged he and others stole more than $600,000 in union funds and repeatedly strong-armed public and private officials with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Prosecutors said Dougherty and his associates used the union's credit cards to buy everything from Bruce Springsteen tickets to luxury clothing gift cards to baby wipes to "men's exercise pants." They claim Dougherty dispatched a Local 98 official who is also a city councilman, to retaliate against a towing company that tried to cart off his car, and squeeze Comcast into giving millions of dollars of work to a friend's company.
Dougherty also allegedly threatened a children's hospital administrator to give his union a job, saying, "You don't want a city thing shutting down. We have had other hospitals shut down."
Dougherty, who is the leader of the Philadelphia electricians union as well as the city’s building trades, has long denied any wrongdoing. Several top lieutenants in his union’s political operation were also charged.
Dougherty’s power is so widespread that few would speculate on the record about the potential political aftershocks of the charges — on both sides of the aisle. His union gave overwhelmingly to Democrats, but he spread around money to some Republicans too, including Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, an up-and-coming moderate from Bucks County who won reelection last fall in one of the nation’s most closely contested races.
Privately, many Pennsylvania Democrats described a grim and uncertain mood in the wake of Wednesday’s charges — and many Republicans saw an opportunity.
Democrats speculated about the potential effect on the 2020 Democratic primary. Many old-school members of the Philadelphia building trades support former Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t announced his presidential intentions but spoke at a fundraiser in November where the host committee included the trade unions. Meanwhile, in a highly competitive congressional primary last year, Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed a key ally of Dougherty’s against the wishes of some local Our Revolution groups, who preferred another candidate.
“When people run for president, John’s on the list of people they call in Pennsylvania,” said Larry Ceisler, a longtime state political observer working in public relations.
In the general election, Ceisler said, “It will have national implications for 2020 in Pennsylvania if John and 98 are sidelined. You’re talking about potentially millions of dollars, let alone their different operations for get-out-the vote.”
Of course, it’s entirely possible — most likely, even — that Dougherty and his union will keep their electoral spending spree going for the near future. Less clear is to what extent elected officials in Pennsylvania will distance themselves from the cash.
Mick McKeown, a Philadelphia-born former Trump administration official who now runs the public affairs firm Pennovia, said that if Dougherty were sidelined it would leave no one at the top of the state’s Democratic machinery carrying the banner for white working class voters.
“I think this puts Pennsylvania more in play for Trump,” he said, adding that without Dougherty, “the power structure of the Democratic Party goes totally to the left.”
Others weren’t so sure it would damage Democratic fortunes in 2020: “There were a lot of IBEW members who voted for Trump,” said Costello. Plus, he said, Democrats will be running to the polls in 2020 even if there’s a hurricane at their door.
Some Democrats worried that without Dougherty, there would be no one left in the state party apparatus with the clout to choreograph complicated, multifaceted political plays — such as a state Supreme Court takeover.
“His leadership was essential to retaking the Supreme Court. That’s four House pickups,” said one Pennsylvania-based Democratic consultant, referring to the ripple effect from the court’s 2018 redrawing of the state’s congressional map. “Now, who is going to do big things?”
Of course, many reform-oriented Democrats who loathe the labor boss’ bare-knuckled tactics celebrated the charges as a beginning of a new era in Philadelphia and state politics.
But it would probably be unwise to count him out either way, officials in both parties cautioned.
“The Philadelphia labor movement and its muscle — there's been a lot of obituaries written about it," said Costello. "And they're still there."