Tom Ridge

All of a sudden, Tom Ridge is the man. With the suspense over who will be the Republican presidential nominee down to zero, the big question now is who will be the number two. And the name getting the most attention is Gov. Ridge. Political pundits have carved up the country, given the South to Bush, the West Coast and parts of the East to Gore, and have declared the Midwest, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as the battleground for the presidency. And within that geographic confines, the New York Daily News calls Ridge "the early favorite.

When Harrisburg throws its inaugural parade for Gov.-elect Tom Ridge next month, Republican bigwigs may have to offer thanks to someone they never thank for anything: a Democrat. Specifically, Bob McMahon, the Democratic mayor of Media who was appointed to not one, but two positions on Ridge's transition team. McMahon is the co- chair of the inaugural parade and also serves on the Military Affairs Task Force. "I told people three years ago that Congressman Ridge would run for governor and he was a friend of mine and I would be helping him and I did just that," said McMahon, who was co-chair of the statewide Democrats for Ridge organization.

Tinkering? Gov. Ridge thinks Schools Superintendent David W. Hornbeck's plan to overhaul the city's school district doesn't deserve more state support because it's only "tinkering. " Is it tinkering to want to do the following and more at the same time: Guarantee all-day kindergarten for all children by September 1996? Downsize central headquarters and dramatically decentralize the system? Let teams of parents and teachers make most decisions at their schools? Design one set of rigorous graduation standards for all kids, no matter their income or race?

People who know Gov.-elect Tom Ridge, including quite a few Democrats, expect him to be a fiscally responsible moderate, not someone who'd let Philadelphia - or this region - twist in the wind. That expectation stems from the way the Erie Republican represented a Democratic district in Congress, from his relatively centrist budgetary proposals and the inclusive way he conducted his campaign. In other words, the self-styled "guy nobody ever heard of from a town nobody's ever seen" might turn out all right.

Tom Ridge, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security, and a dozen other experts coached business executives yesterday on how to get ready to survive disasters. Only three of every 10 businesses have business-continuity plans, Ridge said after the program, "and we need to get that to 10 of 10. " "A resilient company can take a hit and move on," said Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor. His luncheon comments were part of a conference attended by 400 and staged by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel in Center City.

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge announced a new five-color terrorism alert system yesterday, but it will be up to local officials to decide what people should do during periods of higher alerts. The colored alerts - which can focus on targeted states, cities or even industries - replace an unpopular and undifferentiated system that has been used almost incessantly since Sept. 11. Experts say those alerts were too vague and never told people what to do. Attorney General John Ashcroft will issue the new alerts, as he did most of the old ones.

More than 300 protesters yesterday demanded cuts in corporate tax breaks and other state programs to stave off threatened slashes in state medical assistance for the working poor. During a noon rally outside the State Office Building at Broad and Spring Garden Streets, the protesters denounced Gov. Ridge's plan to take 260,000 people off medical assistance to plug a $250 million gap in the state budget. "While it's cold out here today, it's not as cold as Tom Ridge's heart," said Ray Martinez of Local 668 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 2,000 state social workers in the Philadelphia area.

GOP outcry over Hagel's nomination is "strident partisanship at its worst," Tom Ridge says in an Inquirer interview. A12.

Unveiling a plaque at Abington Memorial Hospital, is Bruce Toll (right) and his brother Robert Toll. The plaque is in dedication of the hospital's new Toll Pavilion at Woodland Avenue and Old York Road. Gov. Tom Ridge and Sen. Arlen Specter spoke at the affair.

The Kensington Welfare Rights Union, a group of poor and homeless families from Philadelphia, march through city streets yesterday to protest state cuts in welfare and health care. The group will march to the Harrisburg mansion of Gov. Tom Ridge. The trip is expected to take about a week.

Sometimes, electing judges works just fine - in particular, when it's to the county courts. But at the appeals-court level, that method is flawed. That's the wise opinion of four former Pennsylvania governors who want the state to switch from partisan judicial elections to appointing the state's appellate judges. The governors made their observation in responding to critics who oppose switching Pennsylvania to a merit-selection system in which governor-appointed jurists serve an initial term, then go before voters to retain their post.

Former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge is a fan of Chuck Hagel's - and not just because Hagel is a fellow Vietnam War combat veteran. "Chuck Hagel is a man of honesty and integrity," Ridge, a former two-term Pennsylvania governor, said in an interview with The Inquirer. Ridge said Monday that Republican outcry over Hagel's nomination to become defense secretary is "strident partisanship at its worst," that he wishes his GOP colleagues had showed as much zeal in solving the fiscal cliff problem last month, and that U.S. enlisted troops will love having one of their own in charge at the Pentagon.

GOP outcry over Hagel's nomination is "strident partisanship at its worst," Tom Ridge says in an Inquirer interview. A12.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a Tom makes! Gov. Tom Corbett, in his second year in office, isn't getting the kind of attention at the GOP convention that Gov. Tom Ridge did in his second year in office in 1996. Corbett heads the state delegation in Tampa as Ridge did at Bob Dole's convention in San Diego. But Corbett isn't speaking at this convention. Ridge spoke at that one. In fact, Ridge was on a short-list to be Dole's running mate (Dole ultimately picked Jack Kemp). Corbett?

A MAN WHOSE NAME is practically synonymous with "business as usual. " A political insider and deal-maker whose real talents take place behind closed doors, when he's not making sure his friends and allies get a cut. A guy who once found himself in the middle of some morally hard-to-defend activity, and looked the other way. The next president of Penn State - now that Graham Spanier has resigned - can't be another deal-maker. He or she needs to be, pardon my language, a total ass-kicker, someone who will cast the money changers out of this former temple of college football.

IT WAS a tough way to break into reporting on the state capital. Albert J. Neri had been in Harrisburg to report on the state government for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for only a week when he was summoned to a news conference called by state Treasurer R. Budd Dwyer on Jan. 22, 1987. Dwyer had been convicted of accepting bribes from a California company to land a lucrative state contract. He was to be sentenced the next day and was sure to get prison time. As Neri and the other reporters watched in horror, Dwyer produced a pistol, put it in his mouth and killed himself as press and TV cameras recorded the deed.

WITH TERRORIST leader Osama bin Laden dead and buried at the bottom of the North Arabian Sea, Tom Ridge yesterday said that other al Qaeda leaders now should be looking over their shoulders. The former governor, who left office early to become the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, suggested that Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri might be next on the hit list. Al-Zawahiri was bin Laden's second in command. Ridge said that Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born al Qaeda leader suspected to be operating in Yemen, also should be worried.

HARRISBURG - A three-story brownstone where former Gov. Tom Ridge has offices for his lobbying firm became ground zero Wednesday in the fight over Pennsylvania's proposed new budget. About 250 advocates from organized labor, environmental groups, and social services carried out a surprise ambush on Ridge's firm, which represents companies drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale. They delivered this message: If the proposed budget will slice education funding, then it should also make big drilling companies pay taxes on the natural gas they extract.

AdultBasic, the subsidized health-insurance program for low-income working people, was enacted in June 2001 under Gov. Tom Ridge and launched in July 2002 under Gov. Mark Schweiker, the former lieutenant governor who moved up when President George W. Bush appointed Ridge as homeland security adviser after the attacks of Sept. 11. Articles on Wednesday and Nov. 17 incorrectly said the program began eight years ago under Ridge. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357)