DRPA code of ethics expanded in 2003, then shelved

An expanded code of ethics written in 2003 for the Delaware River Port Authority, but never implemented, could have saved the DRPA from much of the trouble it's now in, DRPA board member John Dougherty said in a letter to the agency's chief.

Criticism of the agency continued to mount Monday, as Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner said he "will be asking for a change in leadership at the DRPA" if significant improvements are not made quickly.

Wagner is a Pennsylvania member of the bistate agency's 16-member board who, along with Dougherty and Pennsylvania State Treasurer Robert McCord, has been among the chief DRPA critics. Govs. Christie and Rendell also have called for policy changes, which DRPA Chairman John Estey said last week would be voted on at an Aug. 18 board meeting.

The DRPA is a politically connected $300-million-a-year agency that operates four Delaware River toll bridges and the PATCO commuter rail line between Philadelphia and South Jersey.

An 18-page "code of ethics and business conduct" was prepared seven years ago by the DRPA's internal auditor at the time, James Lemley. It amended and expanded the agency's 21/2-page code of ethics, which was issued in 1997.

The 2003 version included a conflict-of-interest section that said, among other things, "We must be free of actual, apparent, or potential conflicts of interest when dealing with persons or business entities on behalf of the [DRPA].

"A conflict of interest occurs whenever a commissioner or an employee permits the prospect of direct or indirect personal gain or political advantage to improperly influence his or her judgment or actions in the conduct of authority business."

The revised ethics code was shelved without action by the DRPA management. It was not distributed to the board for review.

Dougherty, a Philadelphia labor leader who has been attacking the DRPA for weeks over conflicts of interest, insider dealing, and lack of transparency, said the expanded ethics policy could have prevented many of the agency's current woes.

"No one informed me or the other DRPA commissioners of the existence of such documents, the implementation of which may have helped the authority avoid some of its recent public embarrassments," Dougherty wrote to DRPA Chief Executive John Matheussen in a letter dated Friday.