Local 98, on the sidelines in Philly’s race for mayor, is more focused on its own union election

Philadelphia has crowded, competitive primaries for mayor and City Council looming in May, but the city’s most politically influential union is still sitting on the sidelines.

Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers seems more focused on a union election in June for business manager.

Mark Lynch, Local 98′s business manager since November 2021, last week demanded the resignation of longtime union president Brian Burrows in what may be an effort to tarnish a rival for his job.

Lynch, in a letter to the union’s executive board, said Burrows had previously played a role in securing health and welfare benefits for State Rep. Ed Neilson and former City Councilmember Bobby Henon, two former Local 98 political directors.

Neilson’s brother, Todd Neilson, is considered a potential challenger for business manager. Lynch fired Todd Neilson as a union business agent earlier this year. He may now be trying to leverage a move against Burrows, citing Ed Neilson, to damage Todd Neilson’s chances.

That’s what it looks like to some Local 98 members. Lynch and the Neilson brothers did not respond this week when asked about the internal strife.

Burrows’ lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, told Clout he had reviewed Lynch’s letter but did not expect his client to resign as union president, a post he’s held since 2008.

Henon was sentenced Wednesday to 3½ years in federal prison, after being convicted in November 2021 on federal bribery charges with former Local 98 leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty.

Dougherty still faces two more trials, including one starting next month with Burrows. They’re accused in that case of embezzling more than $600,000 from the union. Four other Local 98 officials indicted in that case pleaded guilty in December.

Dougherty supported Lynch as his replacement in 2021 but last month told Clout Local 98′s leadership has acted “with vindictiveness” toward him in a legal fight with the union’s insurance carrier about paying his legal bills.

Lynch responded then by saying he was working to “put an end to the toxicity that has poisoned this union for far too long.”

Despite his legal troubles, Dougherty could still help a rival topple Lynch if he gets involved.

For now, the union is very much uninvolved in the mayor’s race. Local 98 abstained last week from a vote by the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council to endorse Cherelle Parker in the Democratic primary for mayor.

With $13.6 million in Local 98′s political action committee bank account at the end of 2022, the union could be a power player if it gets involved in the race.

Lynch, in an email to union members on the day Parker was endorsed, said he needed more time to talk to them about what they wanted.

“Your voices matter,” Lynch wrote. “Your opinions matter.”

That read like a campaign pitch to Clout. But not for mayor.

Most mayoral candidates say they don’t want to talk personnel on the campaign trail. They’ll wait until after the election before they say whom they might hire.

The Rev. Warren Bloom Sr. is not most mayoral candidates. The Democrat who’s most likely to come in ninth place out of nine floated a couple of potential hires this week: two rival candidates who each have a shot at coming in first out of nine.

During a community forum in Southwest Philly on Tuesday night, Bloom sat on stage with former Councilmembers Helen Gym and Maria Quiñones Sánchez and told them each that a Bloom administration would gladly welcome them and their ideas.

“I told Maria I would rehire her again. She has more experience in certain areas than I do,” Bloom said. “I would appoint her as one of my deputy mayors to try to solve these issues.”

Bloom, a perennial candidate who was convicted of sex offenses involving a child in 1992, may not even get on the ballot following Tuesday’s nomination petition deadline. He seems to be banking on divine intervention to carry him to City Hall.

“God already knows who’s going to be the next mayor,” he said. “And you’re listening to him right now.”

Dave McCormick, a favorite among Republican Party insiders to challenge U.S. Sen. Bob Casey next year, is making overt moves to position himself after finishing second in the GOP primary last year to Mehmet Oz.

McCormick, the former hedge fund CEO, is hiring staff and has a new book coming out that weaves a down-home take on his biography and military service with his policy ideas. And he just sold off one of several glamorous homes, an Upper East Side condo, for more than $14 million, per Crain’s New York Business.

All the better to try to shake off the attacks that he’s part of the coastal elite ahead of what is likely to be another contested primary.

A Bloomsburg native, McCormick now lives in Pittsburgh, where he bought a nearly $3 million home just before launching last year’s Senate bid. (Though as far as we know, he still has his six-bedroom ranch, plus guesthouse, just outside Aspen, Colo.)

McCormick’s next steps are a book tour launching this month, including a party in Pittsburgh on March 15 and another in D.C., at the Kennedy Center on the 22nd. The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to the United States is hosting.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.