PHILADELPHIA— With city tourism leaders actively seeking state funding to expand the convention center here, Robert Judge Sr., the man who was going to spearhead that effort, withdrew his appointment June 19 as the centers new chief executive. Judge told the Convention Center Authority that he was declining the appointment because it violates anti-nepotism rules contained in a 1986 state law governing the center. He was to have started July 1. Judge told authority chairman Bernard Watson that “if the law were changed that I hoped I would be reconsidered for the position.” Current chief executive officer Robert Butera is retiring July 1. Judges decision comes at an awkward time. Wooed by city tourism leaders, the General Assembly is considering backing half of a proposed $464 million expansion of the center. The authority wants lawmakers to include the project in a massive capital budget bill that it is expected to vote on in the next two weeks, before lawmakers adjourn for the summer. Several officials said they did not think Judges withdrawal would influence that vote. If it doesnt get funded now, the reason would be the centers high-profile labor-management problems, according to the Inquirer. Authority members named Judge, a current Delaware River Port Authority executive, chief executive of the convention center last month, after a four-month search. But under state law, Judge could not become CEO unless his father, Thomas Judge Sr., resigned as chairman of the Delaware County Republican Party and as Delaware Countys recorder of deeds, and unless his brother, Thomas Judge Jr., gave up his job as chief administrative officer for Upper Darby Township. SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer
