Just a week after Philadelphia’s most powerful union played a central behind-the-scenes role in putting on the Democratic National Convention, federal agents raided its offices and the homes of its leaders. As the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service sorts through at least 100 boxes of paperwork it seized, it will notice a pattern of nepotism.
Then again, it doesn’t take a search warrant to see how cash connected to International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 has enriched its boss and his family.
John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, the colorful Local 98 leader who met with Hillary Clinton just a few months ago, took in more than $1.6 million between 2010 and 2015 for his union work, according to Department of Labor filings.
The Patriarch
In that same five-year time frame, five of Johnny Doc’s family members together took in more than $1.25 million from Local 98, its political action committee and a charter school founded by the union, according to a Heat Street’s review of union filings, nonprofit disclosures and campaign-finance reports.
In the world of American union politics, Johnny Doc wields unusual political heft, not just in Philadelphia but in Pennsylvania and beyond. Since 2000, Local 98 has spent more than $30 million on elections across Pennsylvania, and in 2014, the Philadelphia Inquirer called the union “the biggest independent source of campaign money in the state.”
As early as 2014, Johnny Doc was among those pushing nationally to bring the Democratic National Convention to Philadelphia. This year, he attended a meeting with Hillary Clinton to discuss labor issues and negotiated a lucrative project-labor agreement with the Democratic National Committee. Local 98 has also thrown its heft behind Clinton this election cycle, with Johnny Doc vowing to “work my butt off” to secure the “white 50-year-old labor guy” vote for her in Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump has been gaining ground.
The Daughter
In an emailed statement to Heat Street, Johnny Doc didn’t shy away from the nepotism label: “IBEW Local 98 was built on nepotism,” he said. “Our union history began with great-grandfathers, to grandfathers, to fathers, to sons, and now to daughters. … All of these talented young men and women I’ve referenced have worked and volunteered at Local 98 since they were in grade school. They don’t need to apologize to anyone, especially to you and your ridiculous right-wing website.”
The family members who have received money from Local 98 and other union-connected entities did not respond to Heat Street‘s queries by deadline. A union spokesman said they would have no further comment, adding, “You’re wasting your time contacting them directly, so please stop.” Johnny Doc offered statements, included in the accompanying graphics, about each of the family members who has received union-related pay.
Though Johnny Doc hasn’t been formally accused of any wrongdoing when it comes to Local 98’s nepotism, the union’s largesse to his family has frustrated some rank-and-file members, who faced a difficult recession and recovery.
The Adopted Daughter
“That’s the kind of stuff where, if you’re out of work, you don’t want to read that shit,” says one union member, speaking on terms of anonymity. “It’s hard when you’re worried about your bills, your kids, your family, your wife,” and union bosses are living large, the source said.
Another union member adds: “A lot of guys got bitter after times got bad. But nobody wants to say anything. They’ve got guys scared to death to say anything.”
In 2010, Johnny Doc said business for electricians was “real slow,” estimating that one in five of his union members was out of work. That same year, Local 98 paid him more than $218,000 in salary and disbursements. It also paid $15,000 to his daughter, $53,000 to a woman the Dougherty family took in and raised as a daughter, $43,000 to one nephew, and $32,000 to another nephew, according to the union’s annual filing with the Department of Labor.
The Nephew
The union boss’s pay has grown substantially larger since then. In 2015, Johnny Doc received more than $411,000 from Local 98, including salary and disbursements, making him one of the highest-paid union bosses in America, the union’s annual filing shows. Only 54 other union officials nationwide received pay more than $400,000 in 2015, Watchdog.org reported.
Meanwhile, members of Local 98 have struggled through a tepid recovery, with jobs for Philadelphia’s electrical contractors down roughly 15 percent in 2013 compared to 2007, according to the most recent numbers collected by Philadelphia Works, a largely taxpayer-funded local workforce investment board.
But union members interviewed by Heat Street said it’s difficult to challenge Johnny Doc’s control of the union and its expenditures. For one thing, he has a big say in who gets work—and who doesn’t. Also, this is the same rough-edged union boss who, in the past year alone, punched a non-union worker in the face (he admitted to throwing a blow but says he didn’t start the fight); spent $10,000 on three drones, one of which the union deployed to film a non-union construction site and intimidate its developer; and reportedly told a local politician that “if you fuck with my boy”—a union-allied city councilman—“I’ll fuck with you.” (He denies saying that.)
Nephew No. 2
The IRS and FBI are currently investigating the union’s finances and political expenditures, as well as Johnny Doc’s finances and taxes, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Agents raided both Johnny Doc’s home and the residence next door, which is the home of his sister, Maureen Fiocca, whose three children have all received union money.
In addition to the federal investigation, the attorney general’s office has launched a grand-jury probe into whether Local 98 engaged in threats and intimidation against its foes, two sources with knowledge of the investigation told Heat Street. The attorney general’s office declined our request for comment and would neither confirm nor deny an ongoing investigation.
A spokesman for Local 98 called federal agents’ search of Johnny Doc’s home “puzzling,” adding that the union “undergoes an extensive annual audit and is subject to many layers of financial controls and oversights, which makes us question media reports of allegations of financial impropriety as the basis of the investigation.”
The Niece
Of the state probe, Local 98’s spokesman said, “Any allegations that the union engaged in threats or intimidation are utter fabrications.” At both a state and federal level, he said, the union will cooperate with investigating authorities.
— Jillian Kay Melchior writes for Heat Street and is a fellow for the Steamboat Institute and the Independent Women’s Forum.
