PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Federal prosecutors began their corruption case against Philadelphia City Councilman Bobby Henon and Electricians Union Local 98 leader John Dougherty on Tuesday, after opening statements that offered sharply different explanations and motivations for actions that Henon took in his official capacity.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bea Witzleben called the defendants’ relationship “corrupt,” while defense attorneys described Dougherty as a friend, mentor, and advisor to Henon.
“Fate brought them together,” said Henon’s attorney, Brian McMonagle, and Dougherty became like a big brother to Henon.
Starting off the proceedings Tuesday morning, Witzleben argued that the $70,000 a year salary Henon continued to receive from Local 98, after he became a City Council member, constituted a bribe.
She laid out six actions that she alleged Henon took in exchange for the money, including Henon’s call to the Department of Licenses and Inspection (L&I) to halt the installation of an MRI machine at Children’s Hospital (CHOP) being done by non-union labor, and allowing Dougherty in on negotiations with Comcast over its cable franchise.
Witzleben also alleged that a campaign contribution to Henon from the Communication Workers of America (CWA) was a bribe in exchange for Henon’s pressuring of Verizon, one of the members’ employers.
She argued that Henon arranged for free windows for his chief of staff, Courtney Voss, whom Witleben called Henon’s “mistress,” in exchange for voting down a city council audit of the Parking Authority (PPA).
Much of the information was outlined in the January 2019 indictment against Henon, Dougherty, and six others. The case has been split into two trials, with this first one concerned only with the charges involving both Henon and Dougherty, who will also be a defendant in the second trial.
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The opening statements provided the first detailed rebuttal the defense has given to the charges.
Both McMonagle and Dougherty’s attorney, Henry Hockheimer, disputed the characterization of Henon’s union salary as a bribe.
Hockheimer noted that Henon has been on the union payroll for two decades, yet the government alleges that only two years of that salary was a bribe.
McMonagle added that when Henon became a city councilman in 2011, his salary was cut in half and he lost a car that the union had provided. McMonagle also emphasized that City Council members are permitted to receive salaries from outside employers, as several other council members do, and that Henon reported his union job on disclosure forms as required.
He went through a list of work that Henon did for the union to earn his salary that was separate from his duties as a councilman.
Similarly, he contested the notion that the CWA campaign contribution was a bribe and said there were no free windows.
McMonagle also refuted the government’s interpretation of the actions that the government alleges were the quid pro quo of the bribery charges. He painted the call to L&I, for instance, as an effort to insure the safety of CHOP patients by enforcing a city law that installation must be done by licensed installers.
Of the Comcast franchise negotiations, McMonagle said it was the company’s idea to bring in Dougherty. Voting against the PPA audit, he said, was helping council stop a “petty political stunt” by a disgruntled fellow-councilman.
“He did what he was elected to do,” McMonagle concluded.
The first witness in the trial is FBI agent Jason Blake, who is guiding the jury through tapes of phone calls acquired through wiretaps on phones belonging to Dougherty, Henon and Local 98 political director Marita Crawford.
The prosecution got through just six of what it says are 153 tapes it plans to play for the jury. They included calls to Mayor Jim Kenney and Deputy Mayor for Labor Rich Lazer, made in the summer of 2015 before Kenney was officially elected.
In one call, Kenney agrees to Dougherty’s request not to respond to the Plumbers' Union leader, John Kane. Prosecutors said Kane was working against Dougherty’s bid to lead the Building Trades Council.
“So if Kane comes to me, put him on ice for a bit,” Kenney says.
The mayor’s spokesman, Kevin Lessard, says the mayor has not been called as a witness but that Lazer has been subpoenaed to testify.
“Neither the Mayor nor any member of his Administration have been accused of any of the criminal activity at issue in Mr. Dougherty’s and Councilmember Henon’s trial,” Lessard said in a statement. He noted that Kenney has known Dougherty for decades and that Lazer’s job is to work with labor leaders.
The government is set to resume the wiretap evidence Wednesday morning. The trial is expected to last four to six weeks.