The union is led by John J. Dougherty, now a candidate for the state Senate. During last year's mayoral race, Dougherty was a prominent backer of Tom Knox, the insurance tycoon who finished second to Nutter in the Democratic primary.
The Black Panther flier was one of two anonymous leaflets, both criticizing Nutter, to appear in the closing days of the campaign.
It shows six black males stripping off their clothes in front of two white police officers, with their guns drawn.
"Welcome to the Reality of Mike Nutter's 'Stop and Frisk' Philly," the flier says. "If he's elected mayor of Philadelphia, Mike Nutter will institute a controversial 'stop and frisk' program that will give police unlimited powers to stop and search any citizen, for any reason - or no reason - at all. A vote for Nutter is a vote for racial profiling. A vote for Nutter is a vote against our civil rights."
The leaflet itself contained no information on its origin. But the Ethics Board found the company that printed it and traced the leaflet to St. Hill, who now runs RCS Diversified Consultants, and was an aide to the late U.S. Rep. Lucien Blackwell .
In sworn testimony last summer, St. Hill told the Ethics Board he spent at least $8,800 of his own money to print 125,000 copies of the flier and pay 25 or 30 people to distribute it on Election Day, in North and West Philadelphia.
In a filing yesterday in Common Pleas Court, the Ethics Board identified $22,500 in payments from the electricians' political-action committee to St. Hill and RCS within two months of the flier's printing.
On the PAC's financial reports, the payments were described as "GOTV" - the term normally used to describe "get out the vote" activities on Election Day.
