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Corzine appoints, reshuffles DRPA members

Gov. Corzine has appointed three new commissioners to the governing board of the Delaware River Port Authority. They are Martha F. Wilson, a Camden school board member and the wife of Camden City Councilman Gilbert "Whip" Wilson; Richard Sweeney of Marlton, an officer of Ironworkers Local 399 and the brother of Gloucester County Freeholder and New Jersey

Gov. Corzine has appointed three new commissioners to the governing board of the Delaware River Port Authority.

They are Martha F. Wilson, a Camden school board member and the wife of Camden City Councilman Gilbert "Whip" Wilson; Richard Sweeney of Marlton, an officer of Ironworkers Local 399 and the brother of Gloucester County Freeholder and New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney; and Tamarisk L. Jones of Turnersville, the director of health and senior services for Gloucester County.

Corzine also reappointed five current members to new five-year terms.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey each have eight representatives on the DRPA board. The board members are unpaid.

The latest appointments continue a reshuffling of the politically connected bistate board, which has been influential in economic development spending on both sides of the Delaware River and oversees an agency with a $281.5 million operating budget and a $104 million capital budget this year.

Gov. Rendell last month stepped down as chairman of the DRPA board, appointing his former chief of staff, John H. Estey, to take his place. Rendell also appointed another ally, former Pennsylvania Treasurer Robin Wiessmann, to return to a seat on the DRPA board five months after she left. She replaced Philadelphia Republican State Rep. John Perzel on the board.

Wiessmann's husband is Kenneth M. Jarin, a lawyer with Rendell's former firm, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. He serves as the Pennsylvania counsel to the DRPA board.

Two other Philadelphia political figures are lame-duck members of the DRPA board and may be replaced soon by Rendell: electricians union leader John J. Dougherty and Philadelphia City Councilman Frank DiCicco.

The new New Jersey appointees replace Jacquelyn Love of Deptford, Walter Lacey of Lawnside, and Vincent DeVito of Fairfield.

Gilbert Wilson considered running this year for mayor of Camden before agreeing to support State Sen. Dana Redd, the county Democratic Party's endorsed candidate.

Corzine's appointments are subject to approval by the state Senate.

The DRPA operates the Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Betsy Ross Bridges, as well as the PATCO commuter rail line and the RiverLink Ferry.

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