HARRISBURG -- State Auditor General Jack Wagner is calling for an investigation of $65,000 in pension benefits received by former Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Paul Skoutelas.

Mr. Wagner, a Democrat up for re-election next month, wants Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett to determine whether "the extraordinary amount of public funds provided to him based on his actions" was legal.

"I urge your office to investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute any criminal or civil wrongdoing by Mr. Skoutelas," Mr. Wagner wrote in a letter to Mr. Corbett, who also is up for re-election.

The attorney general's office would say only that the request is under review.

Mr. Skoutelas was the authority's CEO from 1997 to 2005 and had previously served as a transit planner and engineer there.

In 2002, the Port Authority established the Deferred Retirement Option Program to entice retirement-eligible employees such as Mr. Skoutelas to stay. He was receiving $5,947 a month through that program plus $3,114 through a separate Qualified Governmental Excess Benefit Agreement set up in 1998 to pay benefits to management beyond caps set by the Internal Revenue Code.

In 2007, the transit agency board ended the excess benefit agreement, determined the payments Mr. Skoutelas had received under it were illegal and demanded he repay about $65,000 he already had received.

Mr. Skoutelas filed suit claiming the board violated the U.S. Constitution when it cut his pension without due process, but U.S. District Judge David Cercone dismissed the case in April.

Mr. Skoutelas was not available for comment yesterday, his wife Denise said.

Current Port Authority CEO Steve Bland said yesterday that the changes to his predecessor's pension were part of a broad series of cost-saving measures taken in March 2007.

He declined to comment directly on Mr. Wagner's request for an investigation.