John H. Estey emerges from the background as a power broker

He is a lawyer of choice for those who want to do business with state government.

He heads three politically powerful agencies, and sits on the board of another.

He has influence over Philadelphia's port, its Convention Center, and its tourism industry. And he is a major ally and fund-raiser for the Democratic candidate for governor, Dan Onorato, a law school classmate.

But until this summer, John H. Estey may have been the most well-entrenched power player the public had barely heard of.

Now, though, Estey finds himself at the center of several public controversies - most notably the ongoing furor over waste and insider dealing at the Delaware River Port Authority - that together raise the question: Has this partner at Ballard Spahr politically overextended himself?

Former chief of staff to Gov. Rendell, Estey for years was well-known in the corridors of power. But when the TV lights came on, he usually stepped into the background, a trim figure in Oxford shirts with brown hair and rectangular glasses.

Since leaving Harrisburg in 2007, he has continued while working at Ballard to serve as Rendell's point man in promoting his major economic-development initiatives for Philadelphia, including port development and completion of the Convention Center expansion.

At the same time, Estey has started a new government relations and regulatory affairs practice at the law firm, aimed at capitalizing on his Harrisburg connections.

Because of his Rendell ties, he was picked by Ronald D. Castille, chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, to represent the court system in successfully lobbying the governor for $200 million to construct a new Family Court in Center City.

It was his oversight of that deal for Castille that first brought Estey into the spotlight this summer.

The Inquirer reported July 11 that he failed to sound the alarm that another lawyer hired to represent the courts - Jeffrey B. Rotwitt - had made a deal with the project developer, a potential conflict that raised questions about who was guarding whose interests. The FBI is now investigating.

The newspaper reported that Estey had reviewed, at almost $600 per hour, a draft development proposal that indicated Rotwitt's dual role.

Clifford E. Haines, a lawyer for Estey, said in a July 20 letter to the newspaper: "This leaves the reader with the false and misleading impression that Mr. Estey was deficient in his performance as a lawyer. That suggestion . . . could not be further from the truth."