Doc's union loses suit on election $$

A federal judge this week threw out a lawsuit filed by the electricians union, seeking to keep secret details of how it spent $2.4 million in last year's elections.

A political action committee for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 98, claimed that state and local laws requiring the disclosure violated its constitutional rights.

Chief Judge Harvey Bartle III rejected that claim as "patently inconsistent" with previous federal rulings on requirements for political action committee reporting.

The city Board of Ethics on Nov. 30 asked the Department of State for vouchers showing Local 98's political spending in 2007. The union first received an extension to collect the information but then filed its lawsuit in February after a state deadline passed.

Shane Creamer, executive director of the Board of Ethics, still wants Local 98's information.

"We've got an outstanding request," he said. "The deadline has passed. My position is they have to produce the vouchers."

Local 98 is led by John Dougherty, a well-known player in city politics who failed in April in a bid to win the Democratic primary election for the First State Senatorial District seat being vacated by state Sen. Vince Fumo.

The union's campaign-finance reports document thousands of dollars spent on state and local races last year. But vouchers, the federal ruling noted, would detail every expense, including who made it, when and why.

Dougherty last year challenged the city's campaign-finance law in a lawsuit rejected by the state Supreme Court. Local 98 attorney George Bochetto, who has called the Board of Ethics "overzealous," was not available for comment yesterday. *