PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The jury heard more recorded phone calls Monday in the federal corruption trial of Philadelphia City Councilmember Bobby Henon and electricians union leader John Dougherty.
The intercepted calls cover a range of topics, including Philadelphia’s sweetened beverage tax and unscrupulous towing companies. The calls featured Dougherty speaking with Mayor Jim Kenney, Deputy Mayor Rich Lazer, Henon, and electricians union political director Marita Crawford.
Prosecutors allege Dougherty bribed Henon with a union salary to take official actions on Dougherty’s behalf.
Phone calls between Dougherty and Crawford, however, were about Henon’s lack of action and the union’s decision not to give him a campaign contribution.
In one call, Dougherty told Crawford he wants her to give Henon a message: “You better start coming around. You don’t show the [expletive] up. There’s no work product.”
“Hold him accountable,” Dougherty tells her, adding, “If I lose it on him in the building, he is done in the building.”
In a later phone call, Crawford told Dougherty she relayed the message: “I told him you’re not happy. … [I said], ‘You gotta be more accountable.’ He said, ‘I got it, I got it.’ ”
In yet another call, she said Henon came by the union looking for a contribution for a campaign fundraiser he was holding, and she told him no one from the union would be attending or contributing.
When he seemed confused, Crawford told him, “You have to be more responsive.”
Calls about the beverage tax, widely known as the soda tax, included one between Dougherty and Kenney, in which Dougherty offered help and strategies for getting the tax passed by city council.
He assured the mayor that Councilman Henon supports the tax.
Prosecutors allege Henon’s support was a form of revenge against the Teamsters, who opposed the tax and were on the outs with Dougherty.
Nearly every call, though, mentions the fact that the tax would pay for Kenney’s anti-poverty plan: expanded pre-K, community schools, and the Rebuild program to revitalize parks, rec centers and libraries.
Dougherty’s lobbying for the tax was evident and well-known at the time. Dougherty was a childhood friend of Kenney’s, a supporter of his bid for mayor and enthusiastic about Kenney’s first big initiative, which would also create jobs for Dougherty’s members.
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Several other calls involve an incident in which Dougherty’s car was about to get towed and, in a fury, he calls Lazer for help, promising to get even by having Henon introduce anti-towing legislation.
Expletives fly as he disparagingly describes the tow truck driver in a follow-up call to Henon.
“I told him, ‘You’re going to win today, but lose long term,’ ” Dougherty said. “Tomorrow, we put in a bill because if they can rob me, they can rob anybody.”
He suggested a bill that would require tow truck driver training, “so it will cost them more in legal bills and lobbyists to fight it.”
Henon promised to think about it, sharing his own anger at being towed by the same company, George Smith Towing.
Court was adjourned before defense attorneys had a chance to cross-examine FBI agent Jason Blake about the wiretaps. They told the judge they plan to present evidence that Henon received many complaints about George Smith Towing, and had long been working on trying to regulate them.
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