Clout: Time to reform the DRPA?

THINGS HAVE BEEN a little crazy here lately, with the indictment of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah sapping our limited resources.

But there has been some fallout from our Wednesday story about Whitney White, the mysterious entrepreneur fired from a Chester government post in 2012 who resurfaced at the Delaware River Port Authority this year when Gov. Wolf appointed him as a DRPA commissioner.

We reported that White's "think tank," the Global Institute for Strategic Investment, actually is located in the basement of a Northern Liberties rowhouse with four tax liens. White, who has filed for bankruptcy at least four times, is behind a network of apparently failed companies that had sought to purchase bio-preferred goods and resell them to the government for a profit.

Standard-issue shadiness, basically.

After the story ran, DRPA spokesman Kyle Anderson got on the horn and wanted to put as much distance as possible between White and DRPA Chairman Ryan Boyer, another Wolf appointee who serves as business manager for the Laborers' District Council.

We were told by Wolf's spokesman that Lt. Gov. Mike Stack had recommended White as commissioner. Stack also supported Boyer as chairman of the debt-ridden agency, which operates toll bridges between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Stack's spokesman told us that "White and Boyer have known each other for a long time, so Lt. Gov. Stack thought they would work well together."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Anderson said. A long time? Known each other? White and Boyer do know each other, Anderson said, but they don't know each other.

Anderson said Boyer doesn't have a strong relationship with White and didn't recommend White for the commissioner's spot. They're more like acquaintances, he said.

Just so we're all clear, then, these two are not BFFs. They're not, like, knocking back beers in White's basement . . . er, think tank.

Yesterday, the Daily News story on White made waves in New Jersey, where Senate Republicans were waving it around to build support for a bill to reform the DRPA.

"Today's Daily News expose is yet another example of why the DRPA, with its continuing history of corruption, cronyism, waste, abuse and billions of dollars in debt, simply cannot operate unchecked," Assistant New Jersey Senate Republican Leader Joe Pennacchio said in statement.

Correction, sir. Not "billions." The current debt is $1.6 billion.

If you've been skimming the business briefs, you might've noticed that the law firm Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel recently hired Derek Green, the soon-to-be City Councilman.

"We are excited that Derek has joined the firm," Obermayer Chairman Thomas Leonard said in a statement. "His strong background handling a variety of litigation matters will be an asset to our clients."

How strange, we thought.

Why would a law firm that does business in Philadelphia want to hire a guy who is going to have a new full-time job in City Hall next year? What possible benefit is there to having a lawyer on your staff with direct influence over city policy and access to all kinds of movers and shakers?

Just goofy. We can't figure it out.

Then you got Councilman Brian J. O'Neill, who is counsel at the Fox Rothschild law firm. And Bill Green, the former councilman and current School Reform Commission member, who is of counsel at Dilworth Paxson. Hey, that's where corrupt ex-Sen. Vince Fumo was of counsel, using his political influence to bring in tons of government business to the law firm.

Surely, Obermayer wouldn't want Derek Green to do anything like that, right?

The 85-page Fattah indictment also ensnared Herbert Vederman, a lobbyist who served as the finance director on Fattah's failed 2007 mayoral bid.

Vederman is accused of giving Fattah an $18,000 bribe in return for an ambassadorship or an appointment to a federal trade commission.

If you're of a certain age, you might remember that Vederman once was linked to another Philly political scandal: Boobgate.

Back in 1995, Vederman - who at the time was a deputy mayor under Ed Rendell - made headlines after he arranged a bachelor party for his cousin at a Center City restaurant, and another Rendell staffer asked Frank Antico, then-enforcement chief at the Department of Licenses and Inspections, to provide some strippers.

Antico, who had an infamous reputation for spending a lot of his free time at local strip clubs, happily obliged.

The episode outraged a number of female City Hall staffers, who complained about an unchecked boys-will-be-boys culture in Rendell's administration.

Vederman laid low for a while but didn't resign, even as the Inquirer reported that a stripper had "dropped her breasts atop his head 'like a hat.' "

Rendell defended Vederman at the time, telling the Daily News: "I think because of the high tension and stress and the constant pressure we work under, people have a good time."

Philadelphia, everybody!

- Staff writers William Bender

and David Gambacorta

contributed to this report.