Investigation sought over DRPA e-mails

The chief counsel to Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner has called for an inquiry into whether Delaware River Port Authority Vice Chairman Jeffrey Nash misused a DRPA e-mail list in soliciting donations for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato.

The accusation comes as pressure for change mounts on the DRPA following the disclosure last week that the authority's chief of public safety had allowed his daughter to use a DRPA E-ZPass for 18 months, as well as accusations from DRPA Commissioner and union leader John J. Dougherty about a lack of transparency at the DRPA.

Rob Teplitz, chief counsel at the auditor general's office, said he received an invitation through his work e-mail and postal address from Nash in February inviting him to a fund-raising event for Onorato at a Philadelphia hotel. At the time, Wagner, Teplitz's boss, was running against Onorato for the Democratic nomination.

Teplitz said he did not raise the issue with the DRPA until a board meeting June 16.

"I waited until after the primary because I didn't want there to be any confusion for what my motives were, which are purely good government," Teplitz said.

Nash denied using DRPA resources to obtain Teplitz's e-mail, explaining that the two crossed paths frequently through political circles. Teplitz had been on his list as a potential political donor and, as a Wagner associate, was mistakenly sent the Onorato invitation, Nash said.

"Clearly he was not going to be a person who was going to support Dan Onorato," Nash said. "This is turning into a feeding frenzy."