Unsurprisingly, Local 98 and John Dougherty continue to try to fight common sense, court rulings and Pennsylvania campaign finance law. From the Inquirer:

In court documents filed Friday, the city Ethics Board accused Local 98 of the electricians union of engaging in a "nine-month pattern of delay and stonewalling."

The broadside came as the Ethics Board went to Common Pleas Court to force the union to comply with its administrative subpoena, issued in July, ordering the union to turn over documents related to two anonymous flyers attacking Michael Nutter during the 2007 Democratic mayoral primary.

Basically what that means is this: Doc and Co. are filing court documents that are absurd, that ignore Supreme Court precedent, etc. And for that reason, they lose, and will keep losing. (Unless they somehow get this all the way to the Supreme Court, where who knows what could happen with Roberts and Alito leading the way. Maybe, along with Wisconsin Right to Life, Doc and Co. could be heroes to conservatives everywhere by getting all kinds of campaign finance laws overturned.) Anyway, despite being smacked down by the Courts, they just keep appealing.

We pretty much knew all of the above. It was also long assumed that the ethics board was going after flyers made by a guy named Tommie St. Hill. Those flyers stated that Mayor Nutter supported racial profiling (and, of course, were dropped in African-American neighborhoods only.) But, magically, St. Hill had his laptop stolen, so, he couldn't let the Ethics Board look at it. Nice.

The new wrinkle is that we get an even better idea of the destructive and incendiary politics of Dougherty and 98:

In its petition to Common Pleas Court, the Ethics Board for the first time stated in public that Ed Kirlin, a longtime Local 98 consultant, was responsible for the religious-attack flyer.

The flyer was distributed on Mother's Day last year, outside at least two Catholic churches.

"Remember that Democrat Tom Knox is a practicing Catholic," the flyer read. "Michael Nutter? He was Catholic when it was convenient for him, so he could get a quality Catholic education. Now? He quietly left the Catholic Church to become a Baptist, probably because his polls told him it would be a smart move."

According to YPP commenter MikeL, this was the full flyer:

"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!"

A quick update for all Catholics on this beautiful Mother's Day 2007! Remember that Democrat Tom Knox is a practicing Catholic.

Tom regularly attends Sunday mass at St. Patrick's on South 20th Street and is a decent and moral man. And, as you heard in the recent KYW debate, Tom is the only candidate for mayor who supports Catholic school vouchers.

Michael Nutter? He was Catholic when it was convenient for him, so he could get a quality Catholic education. Now? He quietly left the Catholic Church to become a Baptist, probably because his polls told him it would be a smart move.

Bob Brady? He admitted that he never attends mass.

There is only on true, practicing Catholic in this Democratic Primary.

TOM KNOX Push Button #59.

That is repulsive. The real issue, of course, is that it is supposed to imply Nutter was a 'good one,' before he joined one of those other, mostly black churches (at least in Philly). With one fell swoop, they didn't just try to divide people by religion, but by race, as well.

The history of racism and racial tension in our City is, to put it mildly, very real. And despite obvious and significant progress we have made, it still sits- at best- only slightly below the surface. Way back in the Mayor's race, I was so worried that race was going to be used as a cudgel the bludgeon our City for political purposes, that I freaked out over Tom Knox's signs that he plastered all over white neighborhoods that said he was a Catholic. In the context of these court filings, I don't feel so bad about that now. Because whether Knox was explicitly aware or not, it was all part of a pattern of their campaign to burn down Philadelphia to save it.

If Tom Knox ever runs for office again, he will have to answer for the flyers his then-supporters put out to get him elected. And if John Dougherty, Local 98 and Co. ever want to be taken seriously again, they will have to stop trying to overturn campaign finance laws, and explain why they use tactics designed to divide and inflame Philadelphia by the same tired lines that serve none of us well.