Governor

TRENTON - Sometime before the Saturday Night Live appearance, before Shaq stopped by to say hello, before the second nod on Time's "most influential people in the world" list, the governor of New Jersey morphed into something else. He became a bona fide 21st-century celebrity. To America, Chris Christie isn't the governor of the 11th-biggest state, who ushered in a controversial benefits reform plan for public employees. To America, he's the dude from Jersey who almost got into a fight on a boardwalk, as captured by the gossip-mongerers from TMZ.com.

NEWARK, N.J. - Answering questions about weight-loss surgery he had kept secret for 12 weeks, Gov. Christie on Tuesday rejected a political motivation but squelched most other inquiries about the details. He declined to say how much he weighs now and how much weight he has lost. It's none of anyone's business, he said. He conceded he used an alias at the hospital, but declined to say what it was. "I turned 50 years old, and it made me think - [you get] confronted with your own mortality as you start to age," Christie said.

TRENTON - Those New Jersey conservatives who believe that Republican Gov. Christie is a tax-and-spend liberal may soon have an alternative in the June gubernatorial primary. Seth Grossman, a Somers Point lawyer and Linwood resident, was elected to the Atlantic County Freeholder Board and Atlantic City Council in the 1980s. In 2003, he founded an organization, Liberty and Prosperity, that espouses many tea-party principles. "Chris Christie is not a conservative, never was a conservative, and all he wants is the power and celebrity," Grossman said in an interview.

HARRISBURG - Another member of Gov. Corbett's cabinet is on his way out. Education Secretary Ron Tomalis is looking for another job and does not intend to stay past summer as Corbett's education czar, two senior administration officials have told The Inquirer on condition of anonymity. An official timetable has yet to be set for his exit, but the sources said Tomalis would likely stay in his $149,804 job until after the July 1 deadline for getting a state budget passed and signed into law. He would become the fifth cabinet member to leave since Corbett took office in January 2011.

Governor deserves respect I must heartily disagree with the perspective of the writer of "Governor's behavior shameful" (Tuesday). I wonder if the letter writer heard the exchange between Gov. Christie and William Brown? Brown gave an editorial of his own before asking a question, and when the governor attempted to answer, Brown repeatedly interrupted Christie. Brown was not interested in an answer to his question. He was there to further an agenda and try to shout over any reasonable explanation the governor had to offer.

The conservative Republican governor and the liberal Democratic senator do not agree. On anything. At all. And they want you to know it. Consider the flurry of news releases from Sen. Frank Lautenberg's office over the last several months eviscerating Gov. Christie for cutting money for women's health, refusing to raise taxes on millionaires, pulling out of a regional greenhouse-gas initiative, and signing a bill that forces public employees to...

Maybe we ought to just let those two bozos duke it out. The winner gets to be governor. We can then forget about the other guy and leave him to the tender ministrations of his cornerman. If the issue is who's the toughest, why the hell isn't Mr. T the governor of some place? This current mud-wrestle for governor of Pennsylvania only demeans the candidates, the voters, the residents and anybody who's flown over on their way to another place. Are the expensive spin doctors Tom Ridge and Mark Singel have hired right that We the People are so damn stupid we think the issue is really which of these two is the nastiest?

Tom Corbett has been governor for six months, and in many ways, if you agree with his agenda - provided you understand what his agenda is - he's been a success. For the first time in almost a decade, the budget passed on time. Facing a $4 billion gap, he reduced state spending. True to his word, and his signed pledge to Grover Norquist, he didn't raise taxes, although why he feels it necessary to be beholden to a Washington management strategist is beyond me. But Corbett has been terrible - flat-out awful - in meeting with the general public and in communicating his agenda, not only to voters but also to his party brethren.

HARRISBURG - A state agency for drug and alcohol issues has been put on hold by the Corbett administration, which cited unexpectedly high costs to set it up. Gov. Corbett has not announced his choice for secretary of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, which was created by a law passed last year and took effect July 1. It would be the first new Cabinet-level department in Pennsylvania since 1995. The Health Department, which performs many of the department's projected functions, has been making plans to get the new department up and running.

If a Mount Rushmore for actors were erected, you'd expect to see the legends etched in stone, right?? Bogart, Tracy, DeNiro,?Brando, Streep. But wait. Don't put that chisel away just yet. DiFrancesco is feverishly working his way toward being included in that exclusive group. DiFrancesco? Sure, you know him - Donald T., the acting governor of New Jersey. Got the gig when the real governor, Christie Whitman, bolted to Washington for a Bush job. He's taking the acting part seriously, too. The acting governor is inescapable, flexing his acting chops by touting the Garden State's attractions in commercials.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak said Tuesday that he planned to run for the Senate in 2016, setting the table for an eventual rematch with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. The decision helps shape the Democratic race for the nomination to challenge Gov. Corbett in 2014, removing from the field a potential contender with high name recognition and a statewide network of supporters. Party insiders say Sestak, the Democratic Senate nominee in 2010, had considered running for governor.

TRENTON - Sometime before the Saturday Night Live appearance, before Shaq stopped by to say hello, before the second nod on Time's "most influential people in the world" list, the governor of New Jersey morphed into something else. He became a bona fide 21st-century celebrity. To America, Chris Christie isn't the governor of the 11th-biggest state, who ushered in a controversial benefits reform plan for public employees. To America, he's the dude from Jersey who almost got into a fight on a boardwalk, as captured by the gossip-mongerers from TMZ.com.

HARRISBURG - Former Pennsylvania Gov. George M. Leader, the son of a chicken farmer who was elected to the state's highest office before he turned 40, died yesterday after a brief illness. He was 95. Two grandchildren were at Leader's side when he died at his home at Country Meadows assisted-living center in Hershey, a spokeswoman for the facility said. The center was the first in a network of 10 such facilities that Leader and his wife founded in 1985. A Democrat who was the second-youngest person to be elected Pennsylvania governor, Leader fought to rid government of patronage jobs and improve social services.

The Pennsylvania Constitution says the state must "provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth. " And yet, for the third year in a row, we look to the Corbett administration to help us fill a sizable hole in the School District of Philadelphia budget. The district's "ask" is $120 million from Harrisburg and $60 million from the city to prevent the elimination of art, music, sports, school nurses, guidance counselors, assistant principals, all after-school activities, and more.

NEWARK, N.J. - Answering questions about weight-loss surgery he had kept secret for 12 weeks, Gov. Christie on Tuesday rejected a political motivation but squelched most other inquiries about the details. He declined to say how much he weighs now and how much weight he has lost. It's none of anyone's business, he said. He conceded he used an alias at the hospital, but declined to say what it was. "I turned 50 years old, and it made me think - [you get] confronted with your own mortality as you start to age," Christie said.

Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. declined Tuesday to challenge Gov. Corbett in the 2014 Republican primary, citing the difficulty of such a "massive undertaking" given his other obligations. His decision came after months of seeking to translate grumbling about the governor's performance from some GOP activists into support for an insurgent candidacy. It removes one potential headache for Corbett, whose anemic approval ratings in recent polls have Democrats lining up to run against him. "Simply put, my duties as Montgomery County commissioner, a lawyer with Elliott Greenleaf, and the responsibilities to my family make a massive undertaking such as running for governor impossible for me this election cycle," Castor said in a statement posted Tuesday afternoon to his Facebook page.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Former Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford revived a scandal-scarred political career by winning back his old congressional seat Tuesday in a district that had not elected a Democrat in three decades. The comeback was complete when he defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, Sanford had 54 percent of the vote. Sanford, who turns 53 later this month, has never lost a race in three runs for Congress and two for governor.

When challenged, Gov. Christie sometimes yells like a Marine gunnery sergeant, calling reporters, citizens, and opponents alike stupid. Judging by his stratospheric poll ratings, voters love that shtick. He's "Jersey Strong. " And how often did former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell say something outrageous, such as opining in 2006 that many old people love casinos because they "lead very gray lives"? After a brief flare, the outrage faded, as it always did; it was just Ed being Ed. Last week, Gov. Corbett mentioned in a radio interview that he had heard some employers say they have trouble finding workers who can pass a drug test - and for that moment of candor, he caught three days of hell, both from Democrats running to replace him in 2014 and from media commentators.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Opponents of capital punishment marked a milestone Thursday as Maryland became the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to abolish the death penalty. The passage was a significant victory for Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Roman Catholic who opposes capital punishment and is considering seeking the 2016 presidential nomination. Death penalty opponents said the governor helped maintain the national momentum of repeal efforts by making Maryland the sixth state in as many years to abolish capital punishment.

Now there are five. Kate McGinty, a former Pennsylvania environmental protection secretary and adviser in the Clinton White House, is the latest candidate to declare for the 2014 Democratic nomination for governor. McGinty's entry into the race means U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz of Montgomery County will not have an uncontested shot at the support of activists and voters who yearn for a woman as governor. "I quit my day job," McGinty, daughter of a police officer from Northeast Philadelphia, said.