A Philadelphia city councilor and a union boss have been indicted by the Department of Justice for corruption. The Free Beacon reports:
One of Philadelphia’s most powerful union bosses and the city’s Democratic majority leader stand accused of embezzling funds from the workers they claimed to represent.
The Department of Justice indicted International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 98 boss John “Doc” Dougherty Jr. and several other union officials, as well as Democratic City Councilman Bobby Henon, on corruption charges. They face 116 counts of misusing of union funds to serve their own interests rather than those of their members.
“When union leaders misdirect the organization’s money for personal gain, they’re breaching their obligation to members—and breaking the law,” Michael T. Harpster, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia division, said in a statement. “Such corruption must not go unchecked. No matter how long it takes, the FBI and our partners will investigate and work to hold accountable unscrupulous union and public officials.”
The indictment accuses the union officials and Henon, a labor official and the city council’s majority leader, of using union coffers as a personal piggybank. They allegedly used their positions to enrich themselves, buying everything from concert tickets to receiving free labor on their homes. The corruption probe conducted by the FBI, Labor Department, IRS, and several other federal agencies found that the group “conspired and agreed to embezzle Local 98 funds for their own personal use and the use of their family members, friends, and commercial businesses.”
One would think that union and local government corruption is a thing of the past, but many cities – often with strong Democrat leadership – continue to embezzle their taxpayers.
The action taken by the FBI in this case should be taken against all violators of the law whether and not just isolated cases. In this case the FBI did their duty correctly: investigation, gathering of evidence, and then arrest of the individuals accused. We need this type of activity manifested in Washington DC. There is NO NEED for special prosecutors if the FBI actually does its proper protocol. It must be a fair and impartial investigation instead of one-sided enforcement of the law. What the FBI did here is what was intended and expected from that once great organization of investigation. I hope and pray that all the corrupt members of the FBI are purged soon so that the brave and honest agents can do their jobs.