Electricians union donations to Philly Council candidates exceed limit

At least two City Council candidates - Councilman-at-large Bill Green and a union political director, Bobby Henon - have accepted campaign contributions from the local electricians union in excess of the city's $10,600 annual limit, taking advantage of a flaw in Philadelphia's campaign-finance law.

The city Board of Ethics identified the problem last year and the Nutter administration sponsored legislation in February to deal with it.

But negotiations on how to change the law have delayed final Council passage for the last three weeks, providing time for Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) to spread more donations to additional Council candidates. The full extent of the union's generosity is likely to remain unclear until close to the May 17 primary election.

The flaw in the current law involves the transfer of political contributions between different political action committees, or PACs, before the money eventually reaches candidate campaigns.

Last year, Green received $10,000 directly from Local 98's main PAC, its Committee on Political Education (COPE).

The Local 98 PAC also provided the bulk of the funding that allowed three more obscure PACs - the Blarney PAC, Concerned Irish Americans of Philadelphia, and Building a Better Philadelphia – to provide $30,000 to Green's campaign. Each of the three PACs wrote a $10,000 check to Green's campaign on the same day, Dec. 2.

This year, with municipal elections in full swing, Local 98 has continued to make major contributions, according to campaign-finance reports filed last week with the state that track contributions since Jan. 1.

Green has received at least $25,000 in the last three months from PACs with ties to Local 98 – $10,000 from Building a Better Philadelphia, $5,000 from the Blarney PAC, and $10,000 from Philadelphia Phuture, whose treasurer, Edward J. McBride, was a Local 98 employee until two weeks ago.

Of $259,130 Philadelphia Phuture has raised since the beginning of last year, $190,000, or 73 percent, came from Local 98, and $32,500 from other IBEW organizations.

Henon, who works as Local 98's political director and is running for the Sixth District Council seat now held by Joan Krajewski, has received at least $31,800 this year from PACs tied to Local 98, according to reports filed last week. The figure includes $10,600 from the union's COPE fund, $10,600 from Philadelphia Phuture, and $10,600 from Building a Better Philadelphia.

When Council was drafting the city's contribution limits in 2005, it noted the potential for individual donors to circumvent contribution limits by giving money through political action committees.

The limits for individual donors would include "contributions made to or through one or more political committees," the ordinance said.

But the same language was not applied to contributions originating with political action committees and moving through multiple PACs before reaching candidates.

"This is a loophole that should be closed," said Ellen Kaplan, vice president and policy director of the Committee of Seventy, a nonprofit government watchdog group. "From our standpoint, it certainly violates the spirit of the campaign-finance law for money [above the limits] to come from the same organization, even if it's from three or four different PACs."

Green said he had been working actively for several weeks to improve the wording of the pending legislation. "I'd say definitely that my involvement in amending this law will result in a stronger, stricter law than would have existed had it passed two weeks ago," he said.

"Had I been [elected to Council] in 2003, the 'loophole' probably wouldn't exist, to use your word," Green added.

One of Green's at-large opponents, Andy Toy, called last week for Green to return any money tied to Local 98 in excess of the $10,600 limit.

Green said Wednesday he had no second thoughts about accepting the money. "I've scrupulously followed the letter of the law," he said. "I think adherence to legal limits should be praised, not faulted."

Henon did not return calls on the subject.

Local 98's business manager, John J. Dougherty, is a former treasurer of the city Democratic Party who challenged the constitutionality of the city's contribution limits in 2007.

The state Supreme Court eventually ruled, 5-2, that the city had legal authority to set its own campaign-finance rules as long as they did not conflict with state election law.

Dougherty, reached by phone Wednesday, would not comment, referring calls to Local 98 spokesman Frank Keel.

"This is old news," Keel said. "Local 98 has not violated any campaign-finance laws, has not set out to exploit any campaign-finance loopholes, and will continue to abide by the laws."

Neither Keel nor Dougherty would answer questions about whether Local 98 would continue to give to candidates through other PACs.