Sources: Federal Grand Jury Scrutinizing How Local 98 Financed Political Campaigns
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- With the IBEW's political financing and campaign clout under a federal microscope, Eyewitness News sifted through hundreds of pages of campaign finance documents.
Sources close to the investigation confirmed that a federal grand jury is scrutinizing how Local 98 financed political campaigns. Just last week, labor magnate John Dougherty penned in a letter that the IBEW was instrumental in the elections of three Pennsylvania supreme court justices, one of them Dougherty's own brother.
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Mayor Jim Kenney's campaign was also the benefactor of Local 98. Finance reports for what's known as the Local 98 Committee on Political Education funneled just under $50,000 to Kenney's campaign for tee-shirts, signs and ads.
Last week, sources confirmed that the Kenney campaign received a federal subpoena requesting financial records.
Federal agents, earlier this month, seized boxes of records and documents from Local 98 headquarters and the City Hall offices of Councilman Bobby Henon.
An attorney for Kenney's campaign said they couldn't discuss the subpoena at the request of federal investigators. Records show that Local 98 also steered more than $600,000 to Kevin Dougherty's run for supreme court.
There were also "pepper and eggs," get togethers at Doc's Union Pub, political gatherings over breakfast, records show paid for by Local 98's high-profile political muscle.
On Monday, Kenney said much of the attention focused on numerous investigations is a distraction.
