A behind-the-scenes look into John Dougherty’s trial from our Reddit AMA

For the second time in two years, former labor leader John J. Dougherty is appearing before a federal jury in Philadelphia, this time on charges that he and others embezzled more than $600,000 from Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the politically powerful union he once led.

The prosecution and defense finished presenting their cases to the jury Thursday after nearly three dozen witnesses and 15 days of testimony in former labor leader John Dougherty’s union embezzlement case.

Earlier Thursday, The Inquirer hosted an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) in collaboration with the r/philadelphia subreddit to answer reader questions about Dougherty’s trial.

Here is a selection of Inquirer reporters Oona Goodin-Smith and Jeremy Roebuck’s answers.

Jeremy: You’re right about recent public interest in unions across many different fields. But what’s interesting to me about this case is that observers can read so many different things into its themes.

Prosecutors see their case as one on behalf of Local 98′s members. After all, the main thrust of their argument is that Dougherty and Local 98′s former president, Brian Burrows, were stealing from the dues members paid in with each check.

However, you’re right, that throughout all of Dougherty’s recent legal troubles, there have been accusations from some corners – including the defense at the last trial in 2021 – that the government’s cases against Dougherty are somehow a strike against union clout in the city.

Personally, I find the “tense landscape” you reference to make the story more interesting. There’s the case that plays out in the courtroom -- and the larger debate about its themes and what it all means that plays out in the streets. Makes for a more nuanced and interesting story!

Oona: It’s not at all unusual for unions to have PACs — including Local 98, which has the Committee on Political Education, or C.O.P.E., that its members pay into. And as his attorneys have repeatedly stressed, it was largely Dougherty who built Local 98 into the political powerhouse it has become.

In fact, over the nearly three decades he led the union, he transformed the 5,000-member organization into the largest independent source of campaign money in the state. That union fund-raising and manpower helped to elect mayors — including Jim Kenney — and City Councilmembers like Bobby Henon (who in 2021 was convicted alongside Dougherty in a federal bribery trial), as well as county commissioners, members of Congress, state legislators, governors, and more than 60 judges, including the union leader’s brother, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty.

Jeremy: There are probably fewer implications outside the city for this case than there were during Dougherty’s first trial in 2021 — a political bribery case with City Councilmember Bobby Henon.

That one was all about Dougherty’s status as a political kingmaker and the clout his union wielded over city politics.

This one is more focused on his stewardship of union finances — and, therefore, is more locally focused. Still, there’s been a few aspects of the case that might be of wider interest. For instance, prosecutors allege that Dougherty’s brother — Kevin Dougherty, who is a justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court — also received benefits like snow shoveling and home repairs that were paid for out of Local 98′s coffers.

Jeremy: The parties definitely know who we are, just like we know them. After sitting together day-after-day in the same courtroom — through two trials now — interactions with everyone from prosecutors to Dougherty himself are mostly pleasant.

But the mood in the courtroom this time around has definitely been more tense than during Dougherty’s first trial in 2021.

Back then, it wasn’t uncommon for Dougherty to spend breaks in court glad-handing with supporters that showed up to watch the proceedings, cracking jokes with us or others in the room and opining to TV news cameras each morning and evening after leaving court about how he thought the case was going.

This time, while still mostly upbeat, Dougherty has mostly tried to stay out of the glare of the TV cameras. He’s mostly kept quiet about how he thinks things are going so far.

Oona: Court attendance is a little bit different every day, but in general, there have been around half a dozen former Local 98 members and allies of Dougherty who have shown up to court daily during this trial, occasionally chatting with him while the court is on break. (There are also usually several government investigators and sometimes attorneys for the witnesses present in the courtroom.)

Unlike last trial, where Dougherty often rolled up to court flanked by his supporters, this trial has been more low-key, the courtroom is generally emptier than last time, and there have not been rallies outside the courthouse.

Looking for more? Read the full Reddit AMA thread here.