DRPA to replace top lawyer

The Delaware River Port Authority will replace its top lawyer next month with a former aide to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

Richard Brown, 68, of Philadelphia, will retire as general counsel, and Danielle McNichol, who joined the DRPA on Wednesday as deputy general counsel, is to take his place.

McNichol, 43, of Glen Mills, is former counsel to the chairman of the PUC and was an associate vice president of human resources for the Temple University Health System and counsel to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.

She is well-connected in Pennsylvania Republican circles, as the wife of lobbyist John McNichol Jr. and daughter-in-law of longtime Delaware County GOP power-broker John McNichol, who died in January.

With Republican Gov. Corbett now chairman of the DRPA board, the agency recently has replaced several executives with Democratic connections with those with Republican ties.

The DRPA operates four toll bridges and the PATCO commuter rail line between South Jersey and Philadelphia.

The agency's board is scheduled to appoint McNichol as general counsel at its April 18 meeting. The change would become official May 8, following review of the meeting minutes by Gov. Christie.

McNichol will be paid $170,000 a year. Brown's salary had been about $190,000 a year.

Brown, who has been at the DRPA for nearly 22 years, will stay until early July "to assist in the transition," the agency said in a statement.