The most influential labor leader in Philadelphia, and perhaps the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania, was involved in some sort of physical altercation last month.
According to Craig R. McCoy, Mark Fazlollah, Dylan Purcell and Chris Brennan of the Inquirer, IBEW 98 Business Manager John Dougherty got into a fight with a nonunion contractor Joshua Keesee on January 21st.
Keesee stated that he incident began when Dougherty noticed a union decal on his car. The two got into an argument when Dougherty struck him and Keesee threw a punch but hit one of Dougherty’s companions again.
Dougherty’s spokesman said that Keesee threatened his client’s family and that there was a “brief physical altercation” but that Johnny Doc “was not the aggressor”.
A witness stated that he saw Dougherty and his three companions pursue Keesee and surveillance video appears to substantiate this.
Furthermore, Keesee’s lawyer asserted that Philadelphia DA Seth Williams deliberately passed off the case to Attorney General Kathleen Kane in order to avoid dealing with Dougherty.
Dougherty is a controversial and powerful union head in the Keystone State. For example, just last year his brother Kevin was elected to the State Supreme Court.
UPDATE: The AG’s office released the following statement today:
“In the matter of John Dougherty, Attorney General Kane has set up a conflict wall regarding the decision to accept or deny the referral and/or initiate charges. This action was taken to avoid the appearance of a conflict due to the high profile nature of Mr. Dougherty, who was a donor to Attorney General Kane in 2013.”
“The Office of Attorney General employs capable attorneys who are prepared to make the decision whether to accept and/or prosecute a potential assault case.”
UPDATE 2: Dougherty responded to the Inquirer article in an interview with Philly Voice.
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70 Responses
This entire city is corrupt. The only thing straight are streetsigns. Money talks criminals walk. But every now & again the little guy wins.
HaHaHa and Dave Diano can join the union thugs in prison when they figure out that all the payoffs they keep getting from the Dems in Philly have all been filmed by the FBI and the mobsters the do business with claim they were being extorted by the politicians and the unions. Typical lame excuses.
I told you that Seth Williams was a fraud!!
Now it seems he has lost his mind. He has succumbed to his hatred for Kathleen Kane and he has let it destroy him. He has surrounded himself with sycophants who are NOT looking out for the interest of Philadelphians.
Williams meeting with McCoy and giving a free pass to Dougherty should be his last acts as D.A. Maybe the FBI won’t arrest him for using campaign funds on gym memberships if he resigns forthwith.
I love it Doc. You got out done by a self employed business man. Your bulling days are over. Can’t wait to see on you the tv the FBI taking you outta your house in cuffs. This is a long time coming.
According to NFL.com, McCoy met with Seth Williams on Tuesday.
McCoy is one of four suspects under investigation for allegedly assaulting the off-duty officers, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. One of the off-duty officers was knocked to the ground and was “punched, kicked and stomped about his body and head multiple times,” according to a Philadelphia police news release obtained by NFL Media earlier this month.
Simple question — has Seth Williams personally met with the victims?
Maybe we are surprised because we thought Seth Williams’ words actually meant something:
“There are no free passes … I will not and cannot look the other way just because you are my friend or a member of my political party”
But for Johnny Doc – a FREE PASS. Williams is dirty. And he too is now being exposed.
Why is anyone surprised that Williams the democrat is covering for Dougherty the union leader? It is par for the course for the Dems.
Another violent union thug. Jail him.
A spokesman for Seth Williams emailed Dave Davies at NewsWorks: “the district attorney works to ensure that the investigatory process is fair for all citizens. He has a longstanding professional relationship with Mr. Dougherty that required him to refer the matter to another agency.”
Davies article goes on as follows:
Curious.
When Williams charged three Philadelphia lawmakers he knew in a political corruption case last year, he said, “There are no free passes when it comes to corruption. I will not and cannot look the other way just because you are my friend or a member of my political party or my race.”
Well said.
I don’t know exactly why we elect our county prosecutors, but if developing political relationships and accepting campaign contributions mean you can’t do your duty, you should avoid those relationships.
Like I said yesterday: Seth Williams is a pathetic excuse for a Prosecutor. He is now so corrupt that he can’t protect Philadelphia’s victims of violent crimes.
Has Seth Williams resigned yet?
Williams was referring to his predecessor, Lynne Abraham, when he said his office would “no longer abdicate our responsibility to investigate” Philadelphia’s political figures.
And now, here he is doing just that. If his “longstanding relationship” with Dougherty means he doesn’t prosecute Dougherty, then why is he prosecuting Bishop??? He has a “longstanding relationship” with Bishop too.
Something is rotten at the DA’s Office !!
Keesee’s nickname in south Philly is Kid Candle…. One blow he’s out:)
doc is lucky he had 4 guys to attack this man. from the pics, it looks like this guy bloodied one of doc’s goons. hard to come out on top when it’s four on one though.
A scab with a union sticker on his truck? He should be thankful this isn’t the 1950s. They’d have found him at the bottom of the Schuylkill.
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/11/05/milton-street-da-seth-williams-is-ambitiously-evil/
So what if I hung up on a reporter trying to figure out what was really going on with Dougherty case. I was trying to bury it. What am I supposed to do? Be honest about it?!? Please …
My husband and Frank Fina are suing the AG’s Office Looking for more taxpayer $$$. He got me this sweet job with Seth Williams. My husband also represents Tyron Ali, He was the cooperator in the sting case Seth Williams took to try to make Kane look bad so he could be AG. It’s in the papers. And here on this site. Williams wanted to be AG. But that was before the Feds started investigating him.
Right before Kane was set to take Office, my husband got Frank Fina to let Ali keep the $400,000.00 he stole from a non-profit set up to help children and drop all the criminal charges against Ali.
If a reporter calls and asks me if it’s just a coincidence that my husband represents Ali AND Fina, Or if it’s a coincidence that Williams just hired me – of all people – to this new, high-paid position at the DA’s Office — I will just hang up on him/her. It’s that simple. What am I gonna admit that I have just about ZERO experience? Admit that I have never been “general counsel” anywhere before here at the DA’s Office? Stop …
Looks like someone is going to jail. Doc you will be crying yourself to sleep in an orange jump suit. Thank god there putting this harassing thug to prison. I live in South Philly and this guy is the worst corner store wanna be gangster ever. The made up stories are unreal. He compares himself to Al Cappone. Your a joke Doc.
Thank god the FBI are rolling in. Bye Bye Doc. Maybe they will lock you and McNesby up. What about the cop who was putting part time work in as a electrician then you and your goons tried to strong arm him on 2nd street and then when it got crazy he told u he was a cop you backed off, but that wasn’t good enough so you turned him in on lies to McNesby and the Internal Affairs. FBI please take a look into that one. It’s absolutely 100% true.
Seth Williams should be ashamed of himself. This is a clear-cut assault. He is the DA. There is no conflict. And Williams, who has received $$ from Dougherty, is looking the other way. Message to Seth: DO YOUR JOB or resign and let some one in there who will.
It’s bad enough you are protecting Frank Fina. But now another white guy too? You are a disgrace.
This guy is a joke and will destroy the Unions