Meehan to return $10,000 campaign contribution

Former U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, a possible Republican candidate for governor, yesterday said he was returning a $10,000 campaign contribution from a political fund after learning it got most of its money from a Philadelphia union Meehan had previously investigated.

Meehan said he decided to return the money to the Ridley Park Republican Committee in Delaware County after being questioned by The Inquirer about the Dec. 6 contribution - which came a day after the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 gave $15,000 to the Ridley Park group, election records show.

As U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania until last July, Meehan oversaw the investigation of Local 98 leader John J. Dougherty and the union.

"Upon learning in recent days of the timing of these contributions, we determined it would be simply prudent to return these funds," said Virginia Davis, a Meehan campaign spokeswoman. The Ridley Park committee's contribution marked one of the largest donations Meehan had received at the time.

Dougherty, a longtime power in Philadelphia Democratic circles, said last night that he had not known of the Ridley Park committee's donation to Meehan.

"I don't know who they support after we give it," Dougherty said. He said that Local 98 gave to the committee because it's a "staunch, pro-union group of Republicans."

Meehan has acknowledged that he is exploring the race for governor but has not yet formally declared his intent.

The Ridley Park committee has close ties to Local 98. Last year, the union's contributions amounted to 73 percent of all Ridley Park's donations - $25,000 of the committee's $34,407. Its cochairman is Robert J. Boland, who was a Local 98 organizer - paid $112,886 in 2008, U.S. Labor Department records show. He no longer works for the union.

In an interview, Boland said he was responsible for soliciting all contributions to the Ridley Park committee from Local 98.

"I know those guys. It was because of my connection," he said.

He said top Local 98 officials, including union chief Dougherty, were aware that he cochaired the Ridley Park committee.

"Everybody knew I was on the committee," said Boland, who has been cochairman of the group since last summer.

Boland said no one from Local 98 told him how to use the money. State law bars making contributions through middlemen to deliberately conceal the original donor, elections experts say.

"Each person shall make a contribution only in his own name," the statute says.

Spokeswoman Davis said the Ridley Park committee had been notified of the decision to return the $10,000 and would have the money within a week.

Boland, who now works on the staff of State Rep. Nick Miccarelli (R., Delaware), said that a Delaware County Republican official had requested that he attend a fund-raiser for Meehan, and that he made the contribution at the event.

Boland said he did not recall who that Republican official was.

Davis said Meehan initially thought it was not unusual that the Ridley Park committee contributed.

"As a native of Delaware County, it's not surprising that Pat Meehan would be supported by local officials," she said. Meehan was Delaware County's district attorney before being appointed to his federal position.

About Boland, she said: "Pat Meehan has no recollection of receiving the contribution directly from Mr. Boland."

In addition to his job at IBEW, Boland was president of the Machinists Lodge 1776 at Philadelphia International Airport. He was arrested in February 2006 on felony assault charges after he and other Lodge 1776 members attacked a meeting of a rival union, court records show.

Boland was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of conspiracy and simple assault.

Davis added that Meehan was not aware of Boland's arrest and guilty plea.

Shortly after the 2006 attack, Boland was hired by Local 98. He said he left the Local 98 job last year when the union cut its staff because of economic difficulties. He left the airport-union job when he signed up with Miccarelli - who was not available for comment yesterday because he is serving in Iraq with the National Guard.

Among the Local 98 matters federal prosecutors investigated was whether a South Philadelphia electrical contractor made an illegal payment to Dougherty in 2006.

The contractor was convicted. The prosecutor at the time said the conviction "should in no way be construed as an indication" that Dougherty had done anything wrong.

Local 98 has a history of problems with campaign money.

In December, almost at the same time as the Meehan donation, Local 98's PAC paid a $10,000 fine to Philadelphia's Board of Ethics to settle complaints that it had failed to disclose expenditures during the city's 2007 Democratic primary.

In the settlement agreement, union officials confessed to using a political action committee to create and distribute tens of thousands of racially charged fliers attacking Michael Nutter in the final two days of the campaign.

Last fall, Local 98 contributed $10,000 to another Delaware County political organization - the Tinicum Township Republican Finance Committee.

Thomas Giancristoforo, of the Tinicum Republicans, said Boland personally gave him the check for $10,000 from the union.

Two days prior to that, however, the Tinicum Republicans gave $8,000 to Miccarelli's campaign. At the time, the Tinicum Republicans did not have that much money, according to the group's campaign report.

Giancristoforo said he couldn't remember the timing of the contributions. He said his group may have been told to expect the Local 98 check before it arrived.

He said the union did not have any involvement in the Miccarelli contribution.