Powerful Philadelphia union leader John "Johnny Doc" pleaded not guilty in federal court Friday after being accused of using union coffers like his "personal bank account" and keeping Councilman Bobby Henon on his payroll to push his agenda at City Hall.
Dougherty is being released on $50,000 bail and must surrender his passport and have only work-related contact with witnesses.
His co-defendant Marita Crawford also pleaded not guilty and was released on $50,000 bail.
Johnny "Doc" Dougherty, 58, has been a major political player in Pennsylvania, steering $30 million raised by the local electricians union to mostly Democratic candidates in the last decade alone.
An indictment this week suggested the breadth of his influence. The FBI said that Dougherty pushed the passage of the city's soda tax solely to exact revenge on the rival Teamster's Union, which feared the loss of bottling and delivery jobs; had city inspectors hold up the non-union installation of an MRI machine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; and had his ally on city council investigate a towing company that seized his car.
"Let me tell you what (Councilman) Bobby Henon's going to do," Dougherty told a union official in May 2015, according to the indictment. "They're going to start to put a tax on soda again, and that will cost the Teamsters 100 jobs in Philly."
Dougherty has led the 4,800-member International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 since 1993, and more recently took the helm of the city's Building Trades Council, with 70,000 members. Henon, who came up in the union, stayed on the payroll in a $70,000-a-year executive post even after winning a full-time seat on Philadelphia City Council in 2015.
The indictment said that Dougherty and his inner circle also misspent $600,000 in union funds on home repairs, sports tickets, trips and luxuries like two $88 restaurant cakes for Dougherty's Thanksgiving dinner. Dougherty throughout the public two-year probe has denied wrongdoing.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Henon, 50, pleaded not guilty to bribery and fraud charges Thursday. In a statement, he said he ran on a pro-union platform and considers union workers across the city his constituency.
Five others are also expected in court Friday, including an electrical contractor who allegedly got $2 million in work for Comcast Corp. after Dougherty and Henon pressured the media giant. Comcast officials said this week they are cooperating with authorities but can't otherwise comment. Children's Hospital officials also declined to comment.
Dougherty helped Mayor Jim Kenney, a childhood friend, win office in 2015, the same year his brother, Kevin Dougherty, won a seat on the state Supreme Court. His union also steered $650,000 to Gov. Tom Wolf's re-election campaign last year.
