Board of Ethics settlement details how IBEW Local 98 used a sitting City Councilmember to secretly lobby City Hall for years
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What happened
On February 19, 2025, the Philadelphia Board of Ethics approved a settlement in which IBEW Local 98 agreed to pay $24,600 in civil penalties for acting as an unregistered lobbying principal in 2014-2016 and failing to file required expense reports or keep records. The signed settlement documents that then-Business Manager John Dougherty directed Local 98 to use then-City Councilmember Robert 'Bobby' Henon — who was simultaneously drawing a union salary — to influence at least six pieces of city legislative or administrative action, including the Comcast cable franchise renewal, a Children's Hospital of Philadelphia MRI permit dispute, and the Philadelphia Beverage Tax, none of which was publicly disclosed as lobbying. Henon and Dougherty were separately convicted in November 2021 on related federal corruption charges.
By the numbers (2)
● confirmed by a primary document · ○ reported
Roles
1 source
- www.phila.govDocument
Henon served as a City Councilmember while also being paid a salary by Local 98
Figures
1 source
- www.phila.govDocument
IBEW Local 98 agreed to pay $24,600 in civil monetary penalties
Sources (3)
Response
Contacted — no response by publication.
Contacted and made an on-record admission — exact wording not on record.
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What happened next (0)
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