Judge rejects bid to throw out case against union leader

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal judge has rejected a bid to throw out a bribery case against a powerful Philadelphia union leader.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Schmehl said Wednesday that 60-year-old Johnny “Doc” Dougherty could contest at a later stage whether the government had enough evidence to support its case, but “the allegations as set forth in the indictment do not justify dismissal now.”

Dougherty has led the 5,000-member International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 since 1993 and more recently took the helm of the city’s Building Trades Council, with 70,000 members. He has steered $30 million raised by the local electricians union to mostly Democratic candidates in the last decade alone.

Schmehl said the government had laid out a coherent bribery case and that a jury should decide whether the evidence supports it. Defense attorney Henry Hockeimer Jr. said he and his client “will continue to make these arguments, now to a jury.”