Governor appoints new DRPA commissioner after Daily News report

GOV. Wolf has quietly appointed a new commissioner to the Delaware River Port Authority following a Daily News story last month that led to the abrupt resignation of Commissioner Whitney White.

Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan confirmed yesterday that attorney Carl Singley - the former dean of Temple University's law school and onetime close friend of John Street - had been appointed to the DRPA's board on Aug. 4.

Unlike Wolf's previous appointments, Singley's was not publicly announced. DRPA's website removed White's name after he resigned, but Singley's has not yet been added.

White, 48, stepped down last month, days after the Daily News delved into his history of bankruptcies and his so-called think tank, the Global Institute for Strategic Investment, which is run out of the basement of a Northern Liberties rowhouse owned by his wife. The city has placed four tax liens on the property for about $14,000 in unpaid taxes.

White is also behind several failed corporations that had apparently tried to purchase bio-preferred products and resell them to the federal government at a profit.

"I thank you for the opportunity to have served the Constitution, People, and Government of Pennsylvania, in a faithful, effective, and honorable manner," White wrote in his resignation letter to Wolf. "I shall again, be available to serve the State of Pennsylvania when called upon."

Wolf's office said Lt. Gov. Mike Stack, a former state senator from Northeast Philadelphia, had recommended White be appointed as a DRPA commissioner.

The DRPA, which has a nearly $290 million budget and about $1.6 billion in debt, operates the PATCO rail line and four toll bridges between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Singley serves as counsel to the Tucker Law Group, a boutique law firm with offices in Center City, New Jersey and Florida. He was a tenured law professor at Temple for more than 30 years, serving as dean of the law school for four years.

Singley, who could not be reached late yesterday, was once a close friend and political ally of Street, but they had a falling out after Street was elected mayor in 1999. Singley ended up backing Republican Sam Katz in the 2003 election.

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