Tom Wolf to be sworn in as Pennsylvania’s 47th governor

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The east entrance to Pennsylvania Capitol was transformed into a giant amphitheater with a sea of white chairs filling Commonwealth Avenue before the elevated stage where Tom Wolf was to be sworn in Tuesday as the state’s 47th governor.

State troopers and Capitol police provided tight security as crews performed sound checks and aides taped name tags to chairs on the stage where dignitaries participating in the noon ceremony would be seated.

Wolf, the only Democrat nationally to unseat a sitting Republican governor in the Nov. 4 election, and his wife, Frances, attended a pancake breakfast sponsored by the ladies’ auxiliary of VFW Post 2493 in their hometown of Mount Wolf on their way to Harrisburg.

Wolf, 65, denied Gov. Tom Corbett a second term by winning 55 percent of the vote. Wolf’s running mate, state Sen. Mike Stack of Philadelphia, was to take his oath as lieutenant governor earlier in a state Senate ceremony that is closed to the public.

Stack will relinquish the Senate seat he has held for 14 years, but the duties of his new office include serving as the Senate’s presiding officer.

Wolf was scheduled to take his oath following an introduction by former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who served two terms prior to Corbett’s election. Penny Blackwell, a judge from Wolf’s native York County, will administer his oath while Wolf places his hand on a Bible that has been in his family since the mid-19th century.

Post-inaugural events include an art show at the Pennsylvania State Museum. They will culminate in a $100-a-ticket bash at the Hershey Lodge that will feature live musical performances and a broad array of food and drinks from across the state.