Rendell steps down as DRPA chairman

Gov. Rendell has stepped down as chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority, naming his former chief of staff, John Estey, to take his place.

Rendell has appointed another ally, former Pennsylvania state Treasurer Robin Wiessmann, to return to a seat on the DRPA board, five months after she left. Wiessmann, a Democrat, replaces Philadelphia Republican State Rep. John Perzel on the board that oversees the operation of four Delaware River toll bridges and the PATCO commuter-rail line. Perzel's term expired in February.

Rendell also reappointed Robert W. Bogle, the publisher of the Philadelphia Tribune, to another five-year term on the board.

The bistate DRPA has 16 board members, eight appointed by the governor of Pennsylvania and eight by the governor of New Jersey.

The board oversees a $281.5 million operating budget and controls millions in controversial "economic-development" spending that has been used for projects such as Lincoln Financial Field, the Kimmel Center, the National Constitution Center, the Camden Riversharks' minor-league baseball stadium, a soccer-stadium complex on the Chester waterfront, the National Museum of American Jewish History, and, most recently, a President's House memorial near Independence Hall.

As chairman, Rendell rarely attended DRPA board meetings. Estey, his designated stand-in for several years, now gets a five-year term of his own.

Estey, of Ardmore, is a lawyer at Rendell's old firm, Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll. He is also chairman of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and board chairman of the Independence Visitor Center Corp.

Wiessmann, of Newtown, had been a DRPA board member as Pennsylvania treasurer. Wiessmann was appointed state treasurer by Rendell in 2007 to replace Bob Casey, who resigned to take his U.S. Senate seat. Wiessmann was replaced on the DRPA board by current state Treasurer Robert McCord in January; she now returns for a five-year term.

Wiessmann's husband is Kenneth M. Jarin, a lawyer with Ballard Spahr who serves as the Pennsylvania counsel to the DRPA board.

Two other Philadelphia political figures on the DRPA board are slated to be replaced by Rendell soon: electricians union leader John J. Dougherty and Philadelphia City Councilman Frank DiCicco.