DRPA Commissioner Defends Payments To His Law Firm
By Mike DeNardo
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- The Delaware River Port Authority has reportedly paid thousands of dollars to two law firms to represent the DRPA commissioners in a federal probe -- law firms where two DRPA commissioners work.
The legal work was reportedly to represent two commissioners in a federal grand jury investigation into politically connected economic development spending by the DRPA.
Invoices obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer through a right-to-know request show that $70,000 was paid to commissioner William Sasso's firm, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, and that DRPA board vice chairman Jeffrey Nash's firm, Cozen O'Connor, was hired for $2,400.
Sasso says his firm was doing legitimate DRPA business.
"No, I don't see any conflict of interest," he said today.
Sasso says the government wanted to see why he was bothered by the now-ended practice of handing out money for non-transportation projects.
"(The legal work) was turning over documents that I had uncovered and investigated, that the US attorney wanted to see what it was all about," Sasso explains.
Nash declined to comment.
