Carson has also quit his law and lobbying firms

Timothy J. Carson, who resigned as vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission last week after admitting to two drunken-driving convictions, also has quit his law firm of 32 years and is leaving the lobbying firm he cofounded in 2003.

Those job changes were decided before his turnpike resignation and had nothing to do with his revelation of the DUI convictions, Carson said yesterday.

Carson, a former president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and former finance chairman of the Republican State Committee, said he left the Center City law firm of Saul Ewing on Dec. 31. He had been a partner there since 1981.

Carson said he resigned on amicable terms after he and the Saul Ewing compensation committee could not agree on his compensation for 2010.

Leslie Gross, a spokeswoman for Saul Ewing, agreed.

"Tim's leaving the firm had nothing to do with the DUIs," Gross said. She said firm management had been unaware of the convictions until Carson made them public in his resignation letter to Gov. Rendell.

She said Carson and firm management agreed last summer that he would end his association with the firm Dec. 31. But there was no public announcement at the time, and Carson's biography remained on the firm's Web site until after his turnpike resignation.

Carson also ended his role as a partner of the lobbying and government-relations firm CHH Partners L.L.P. on Jan. 1, said Richard W. Hayden, the Saul Ewing lawyer and former state legislator who founded CHH with Carson and Lois Hagarty, another former state legislator, who is also a Saul Ewing partner.

Carson, 61, is serving as a consultant to CHH until about March 1, Hayden said.

CHH operates out of Saul Ewing's offices, but is a separate corporation that has a "strategic alliance" with the law firm, Hayden said. The firms refer work to each other, he said.

Carson's place as an owner of the lobbying firm has been taken by Jeffrey Sharp, a veteran Harrisburg lobbyist and former legislative aide, Hayden said.

"I'm reducing my commitment there," Carson said of the lobbying firm, but added that he hoped to remain active in public-finance issues, especially transportation finance.

"I have no interest in retiring," said Carson, a former board chairman of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. "At a certain point in the future, I expect I'll announce some new affiliations."

Carson resigned Feb. 8 from his $26,000-a-year job on the Turnpike Commission. In his letter to Gov. Rendell, he divulged that he had had two drunken-driving accidents while operating official vehicles.

Carson said in the letter that he had not reported the incidents in 2003 and 2006 to turnpike officials as required by turnpike rules. He said he paid all repair costs and received two DUI convictions.

He said he had not had a drink since the 2006 incident.

Carson said yesterday that he had been required to spend five days in an alcohol-treatment facility, in lieu of jail, and that he lost his driver's license for a year. He regained his driving privileges last month, he said. The suspension had not occurred at the time of the 2006 accident because of court appeals, he said.

While his license was suspended in 2009, he traveled between his Rosemont home and Harrisburg by train or in a car driven by turnpike coworker Mimi Lindelow, he said.

Lindelow is a "public-involvement specialist" for the turnpike's public-relations department. She previously served as a legislative aide to Hagarty and other lawmakers. Lindelow lives in Haverford, near Carson's home, and he said, "We had carpooled before my suspension, too."

Lindelow's boss, turnpike public-relations manager Carl DeFebo, said that the driving arrangement was informal and that Lindelow was not directed to be Carson's chauffeur while he was unable to drive. DeFebo said Lindelow drove Carson to Harrisburg "on eight to 10 occasions."

"She was never assigned to that role," DeFebo said. "They would on occasion ride up together. But if it was not convenient for her to drive, she wouldn't do it. More often than not, he took the train."

Carson said yesterday that "obviously, this isn't the way I wanted to go out the door . . . but I'm trying to do what I tell my kids to do: admit I made a mistake and address the behaviors that led to it."