Philly firefighters are getting a do-over for a controversial Trump endorsement

Philadelphia’s firefighters union is calling a do-over of its controversial endorsement of President Donald Trump last week that set off a series of protests by its members.

Many members of Local 22 of the International Fire Fighters and Paramedics Union see the endorsement process as flawed and inflammatory. Some are calling for the union’s leaders to resign. And the endorsement may be yanked away from Trump just before Election Day.

Local 22 president Mike Bresnan canceled a union meeting Tuesday and then told his 4,700 members they will be mailed a ballot asking if they support Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden. That vote, conducted by a neutral arbiter, will be completed by Oct. 28.

Bresnan told Clout that Local 22 will rescind its endorsement if that’s what a majority of the members want. The union’s executive board voted 6-4 to endorse Trump last week.

“It’s a very polarizing, emotional issue,” Bresnan said. “I knew that was going to happen.”

That’s not enough for Lisa Forrest, president of Club Valiants, a 400-member group of Black firefighters. She wants the endorsement rescinded immediately and is furious the union mailing will cost about $14,000 in print and postage.

Bresnan said the Trump campaign was eager for the local’s endorsement, which surprised members when it landed Sept. 29 — the same day as the first presidential debate.

Trump was set to visit the union’s headquarters last Sunday but canceled after disclosing he had contracted COVID-19.

» READ MORE: A union of Philly firefighters is ‘fractured’ by its endorsement of Trump

While many of the union members outraged about the endorsement aren’t fans of Trump, their complaints focused on the process.

A “Presidential Election 2020 Survey” was emailed to members on Sept. 3, but made no mention that it would lead to an endorsement. Chuck McQuilkin, the union’s vice president and political director, said about half its members are not signed up to get union emails so they knew nothing about it.

Ultimately, 577 members voted — about 12% of the union — with Trump getting a little over 400 votes and Biden getting a little over 100 votes.

McQuilkin said about 75 union members submitted a petition Thursday for a special meeting to discuss revoking the endorsement. But that will take weeks to organize. He’s hoping the mail survey will take care of that.

“I think it will have more weight if it happens just before the election, to have that endorsement rescinded,” McQuilkin said.

The union’s international endorsed Biden in April 2019, becoming the first large labor group to back a presidential candidate. Local 22 is the fourth-largest outpost for the IAFF, Bresnan said.

Bresnan is still hoping to lure Trump to Philly, though the president’s campaign offered no guarantees.

“He’s going to circle back to us one way or another,” Bresnan said. “He really appreciates us stepping up.”

Speaking of union endorsements, the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council endorsed Biden for president this week. No surprise there. That labor group, led by John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, got behind Hillary Clinton in a big way four years ago.

What a four years it has been.

Dougherty, who also leads Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and six other union officials were indicted in January 2019, accused of embezzling more than $600,000 from the union. City Councilmember Bobby Henon, also a Local 98 official, was charged too. They have pleaded not guilty and are due to stand trial in January.

Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. singled out Dougherty last year in his book — Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us — claiming the union leader is just another “swamp creature” with his hands deep in the pockets of elected Democrats.

One problem with Junior’s claim. Dougherty had just returned from a meeting with the president’s economic advisers. At the White House. And it wasn’t his only trip there in the last four years.

Dougherty declined to say if Junior’s book had an impact on his endorsement. But he’s played both sides in the political game for years, with his union backing Republicans like former Gov. Tom Corbett and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. He wrote a letter to his members just before Trump’s 2017 inauguration, saying the Democratic Party “has become almost solely based on cultural liberalism.”

Dougherty now seems sold on Biden, calling him “a friend of labor throughout his long and distinguished political career.”

A Monmouth University poll released this week had good news for Democrats seeking statewide “row offices" in Pennsylvania, including Nina Ahmad’s bid for auditor general.

Ahmad, a former Philadelphia deputy mayor who invested almost $500,000 of her own money to win a competitive primary, led her Republican opponent, Dauphin County Controller Tim DeFoor, by six percentage points. That’s up from last month’s Monmouth poll, which gave her a narrow 43% to 41% edge.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Montgomery County Democrat, leads his Republican challenger, Pittsburgh trial attorney Heather Heidelbaugh, by 15 percentage points. State Treasurer Joe Torsella, also a Montgomery County Democrat, leads his challenger, retired Army Reserve Col. Stacy Garrity, by six percentage points.