Electricians’ union fined $10,000 for campaign-finance violations

In a major win for the city Board of Ethics, electricians' union Local 98 has agreed to pay $10,000 in fines for eight separate campaign-finance violations.

Most notably, as part of a settlement agreement with the ethics board, the union, led by John Dougherty, also admitted its political action committee funded two anonymous flyers intended to smear Mayor Nutter during last year's mayoral primary.

One flyer depicted Nutter as supporting racial profiling, one of the campaign's most controversial issues.

The other accused Nutter of leaving the Catholic Church for political reasons.

Of the settlement, announced at this afternoon's ethics board meeting, board chair Richard Glazer said: "Perhaps Local 98 has gotten religion. The message will go out loud and clear that in future elections, these things will be dealt with."

A press release issued by Local 98 spokesman Frank Keel did not mention the union's funding of the flyers, but alluded to a "misunderstanding" of the city's campaign-finance law in relation to other violations it was charged with.

"The book is closed on this issue; our sole focus at present is on ensuring  the election of Barack Obama as president on November 4th," the release said.