Former Trump White House official elected to lead port authority board
Gov. Josh Shapiro appointed James D. Schultz to the board of the bistate agency. In 2022, Schultz publicly endorsed Shapiro, labeling his GOP opponent a conspiracy theorist and "disaster."
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James D. Schultz, a Republican who worked as senior associate counsel in the Trump White House, on Wednesday took over as chairman of the Delaware River Port Authority, the bistate agency that runs four toll bridges and the PATCO transit rail line connecting Camden County and Philadelphia.
He had the backing of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, who appointed Schultz last August to the DRPA Board of Commissioners.
Schultz, 51, an attorney, public policy adviser, and business executive, has deep connections to both political parties in the region. He was the Commonwealth general counsel under Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, the administration’s top lawyer.
“I am grateful to Gov. Shapiro for the trust he has placed in me and to my fellow commissioners,” Schultz said. “The goal of the authority is to be good stewards of the bridges and trains — we have a number of projects on the horizon to maintain them and expand service.”
In an interview, Schultz also said he hopes to work toward increasing ridership on PATCO. “Post-COVID, commuter traffic is down, but we are seeing an uptick,” he said.
In 2022, Schultz was one of the prominent Republicans to endorse Shapiro, dismissing GOP nominee Doug Mastriano in an op-ed as “pushing anti-American rhetoric and conspiracy theories.”
Schultz succeeds Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who resigned as chairwoman of the board last month to begin her term as the city’s 100th chief executive.
Currently, Schultz is executive vice president for global public policy and government affairs at Scientific Games, a multinational producer of lottery and sports-betting systems that is headquartered in the Atlanta area. He lives in Philadelphia.
He worked as a partner with the Philadelphia law firm Holland & Knight and also led the government and regulatory practice for Cozen O’Connor in Philadelphia and Washington.
Schultz was senior associate White House counsel and special assistant to the president during the first year of the Trump administration in 2017. He oversaw compliance with federal ethics laws for White House staff and agency political appointees.
Until last year, when Shapiro named him to the DRPA board, Schultz served on the board of the Philadelphia Shipyard Development Corp., an appointee of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
He remains a board member of Visit Philadelphia and vice chairman of the board of trustees of Rosemont College.
A native of Galloway, N.J., Schultz earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Temple University and his law degree from Widener University Commonwealth School of Law.