Union leader takes aim at Fumo with state Senate bid

Union leader John Dougherty yesterday kicked off his campaign to unseat state Sen. Vincent Fumo with a pledge to restore Philadelphia's authority to set its own gun-control laws.

"I promise you, I will get that done," Dougherty told 400 cheering supporters at a rally in South Philadelphia. "I'm not gonna sit and make any other bargain, any other deal. . . . I want that law changed. I want the right to say we don't even need one gun a month in Philadelphia."

Dougherty, 47, is making his first run for public office after 15 years as business manager of the electricians union.

But he has already established himself as a major figure in city politics, thanks to the union's heavy political fundraising and Dougherty's willingness to jump head-first into political battles.

Dougherty's union, Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has raised $8.3 million from union members and other sources over the last five years, spending it to support dozens of political campaigns and massive Election Day operations.

Dougherty became chairman of the city Redevelopment Authority after backing John Street for mayor in the 1999 general election. Mayor Nutter is expected to name a new RDA chairman, but it hasn't happened yet.

Dougherty is also on the boards of the Delaware River Port Authority and Penns Landing Corp., among others, and is president of the Pennsport Civic Association.

His feud with Fumo goes back years. In setting gun control as his top priority, Dougherty is taking direct aim at Fumo, who in 1995 helped draft the legislation that stripped Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania cities of any authority to regulate handguns.

Fumo, now recovering from a heart attack in Hahnemann University Hospital, has defended the law as the best he could achieve in a legislature hostile to any gun controls.

The 1995 statute requires background checks on all purchases and prohibits gun sales to people with convictions for drugs, violent crime or mental-health issues.

Other than describing his own determination, Dougherty was vague when reporters asked him how he expected to pass a tougher gun law.

"I'm gonna lobby people at a level I've never lobbied before," Dougherty said. " . . . The day I win, it's the only thing. Anybody who wants to do business with me, wants my vote, wants me to sit on anything. . . . I believe Sen. Fumo just backed off. Some people are overwhelmed by the NRA [National Rifle Association]. I don't care about the NRA."

Fumo's spokesman, Ken Snyder, dismissed Dougherty's pledge as "empty rhetoric" and described the 1995 legislation as "the most far-reaching and comprehensive gun-control law in Pennsylvania history."

Dougherty's rally was at the Edward O'Malley Athletic Center, at Front and Moore streets, several blocks from Dougherty's home in Pennsport.

Dougherty described the facility as a symbol of his focus on improving opportunities for children, giving them a safe haven from violence on the streets.

But the building is also a reminder of the political shoes Dougherty is trying to fill: It was Fumo who secured $505,000 in state funds to renovate the center several years ago.

Two other candidates also are seeking the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat - community activist Anne Dicker and lawyer Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.

Both are trying to portray Fumo and Dougherty as Democratic power brokers, disinterested in reform.

Fumo faces a federal trial on corruption charges in September, no matter what happens in the primary.

Dougherty has dealt with a series of federal search warrants and subpoenas in recent years, reportedly tied to a federal probe of Donald "Gus" Dougherty, a prominent electrical contractor who was a longtime friend of the union leader, but not a relative.

Gus Dougherty was indicted last summer. The federal indictment accused him of giving sweetheart deals to John Dougherty on the purchase of a Wildwood condo and in renovations to the union leader's Philadelphia rowhouse.

Yesterday, Farnese called on John Dougherty to release any federal search warrants or subpoenas served on Dougherty, the union, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority or the Pennsport Civic Association.

"He [Dougherty] claims to be a reformer," Farnese said. "If he wants to be a candidate, he should step up to the plate and answer some of the tough questions."

Dougherty refused to comment on Farnese's request but suggested that federal scrutiny was normal for a prominent labor leader.

"There's nothing hanging over my head," he told reporters. "I've been subpoenaed for 15 years being a labor leader. It's a tough environment when you're aggressive and you take on big business. . . . I'll continue to fight for the little guy if it means I get another 15 years' worth of subpoenas." *