NJ union carpenters spend big for Jim Kenney

Building a Better PA Fund, an independent expenditure political action committee running television ads in support of Former City Councilman Jim Kenney's bid for mayor, raised almost $1.5 million in 2015, according to a campaign finance report filed Friday

The report had one big surprise:  Half the money raised -- $725,000 -- came from the Carpenters Fund for Growth and Progress, which shares an address in Edison, N.J. with at least four carpenter local unions and a pension fund.

Union carpenters in Philadelphia are backing state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams against Kenney in the May 19 Democratic primary election.  Different sides of the Delaware River, different candidates for mayor of Philadelphia.

Building a Better PA Fund was always expected to get money from Philadelphia building trades unions, with Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers thought to be one of the biggest contributors.

Friday's report shows that Local 98 put up $450,000, which is 30 percent of the PAC's contributions.

The New Jersey carpenter union money traveled a curious path in the last two weeks.  It was donated -- $250,000 on April 21 and $500,000 on May 1 -- to The Turnout Project, a political action committee in Washington, D.C.

The Turnout Project registered with the IRS on April 21, the day of the first donation from the carpenters, and with the Pennsylvania Department of State two days later.

The Turnout Project gave Building a Better PA Fund $225,000 on April 23 and $500,000 on May 1.

Two contact people listed in The Turnout Project's records did not respond to a request for comment.

Frank Keel, a spokesman for Local 98 leader John Dougherty, had this to say:

"The International Carpenters Union clearly understands that John Dougherty is consistently on the right side of the issues‎ and they want to work with him."

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