Delaware River Port Authority must comply with N.J. subpoenas, judge rules
The New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller's subpoenas seek documents and testimony about DRPA's procurement policies, contracts, and leases.
A New Jersey judge has ordered the Delaware River Port Authority to comply with subpoenas issued by a state watchdog seeking documents and testimony about its procurement policies, contracts, and leases.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy on Monday granted a request by New Jersey’s Office of the State Comptroller to compel the DRPA to produce documents and witness testimony by April 10. The bistate agency owns and operates four bridges and the PATCO commuter line between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Among the records sought by the comptroller are documents related to a decades-old lease agreement for land underneath the Walt Whitman Bridge in connection with port operator Holt Logistics’ wharf.
The judge acknowledged he likely won’t have the final word on the matter. The port authority is already appealing a federal court order in a related case that could affect the outcome in this one. And DRPA could appeal Lougy’s state court order.
It also remains to be seen how Acting Comptroller Shirley U. Emehelu, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill, will handle her office’s DRPA probe going forward.
Last fall, lawmakers in Trenton unsuccessfully tried to weaken the watchdog office amid then-Acting Comptroller Kevin Walsh’s politically sensitive investigations. That included one that accused an insurance brokerage led by Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III of violating public contracting laws and failing to disclose conflicts of interest to regulators.
Norcross’ representatives denied the allegations and accused Walsh of abusing his power.
The DRPA probe began in 2020 under Walsh, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy whose confirmation was blocked by state senators from Camden County. Under the Senate’s unofficial courtesy rule, cabinet nominees must gain the support of their home county senators to proceed to confirmation.
Walsh had described the probe as a follow-up to a 2012 comptroller investigation of the DRPA under then-Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, which found political cronyism and financial mismanagement. DRPA says those problems have long since been addressed.
A spokesperson for Emehelu did not directly answer a question about whether the Comptroller’s Office would continue with the investigation.
“The Office of the State Comptroller is pleased that the state court enforced its lawful subpoenas requiring the DRPA to provide information about its expenditure of public funds,” said spokesperson Laura Madden. “The Office will continue to carry out its statutory responsibilities.”
DRPA had urged the judge to block the subpoenas, which were issued in 2024, arguing that the Comptroller’s Office lacked the legal authority to conduct the investigation.
That’s because when the two states created DRPA, lawyers for the authority said, they agreed to surrender certain rights to the bistate entity itself — including the power to audit its operations.
The judge didn’t buy that argument. “[T]he subpoenas seek only information and do not otherwise attempt to impose Plaintiff’s broad statutory authority over [DRPA],” Lougy wrote in a 20-page opinion.
The Comptroller’s Office “does not seek to impose any liability or regulatory restraint upon” DRPA, he wrote.
A DRPA spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.