Gov. Wolf: Jerk and jagoff have same meaning; neither word is profane

Gov. Tom Wolf said state Republicans "should spend more time in Western Pennsylvania" if they think Braddock Mayor John Fetterman's use of the word jagoff is profane.

Wolf, who appeared at the Community College of Allegheny County on Thursday to talk with nurses about safe nurse staffing levels, said jagoff is not a profanity.

"Someone wrote if somebody butts in line at Hershey Park, that person's a jerk. If someone butts in line at Kennywood Park, that's a jagoff," Wolf said while talking to reporters after his discussion with nurses. "Neither one of those are swear words, I think."

The Pennsylvania Republican Party last week criticized Fetterman, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, for what they described as "profanity laced attacks on President Trump." Fetterman during his primary campaign sold T-shirts that said "Trump is a jagoff."

The GOP tweeted a picture of Fetterman holding one of the shirts.

The Pennsylvania Primary Election determined John Fetterman as the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor; Fetterman is endorsed by Bernie Sanders and his rise included selling t-shirts with profanity-laced attacks on President Trump!MORE: https://t.co/1kOou24P7N pic.twitter.com/l6M7zUJivR

— PA GOP (@PAGOP) May 16, 2018

Republicans later said they stand by their opinion of the word.

Wolf described Fetterman as a "fine person" and said he and the mayor had lunch after the election. They talked about Fetterman's desire to expand the role of lieutenant governor.

Fetterman has said he would use the position to champion progressive causes including legalizing marijuana, addressing the opioid problem and expanding health care.

"The constitution is fairly silent on the role of a lieutenant governor and in fact what happens is the role of lieutenant governor is whatever the governor and lieutenant governor make it," Wolf said. "I think John's a fine person ... and I look forward to working with him."

He said he and Fetterman share the same policy preferences.

In other matters, Wolf said he was surprised Commonwealth Court issued an injunction Monday putting a halt to the licensing of medical marijuana research facilities. He said he plans to figure out how to work around the injunction.

He also promised to pump $130 million into pothole repairs and work to increase nurse staffing levels. Nurses from the region who met with Wolf described how one nurse could be in charge of as many as 50 patients at a time in an extended care facility.

"This has been a tough winter throughout Pennsylvania and road surfaces are as bad as I've ever seen them," the governor said. I want to accelerate this and I think we're focused on getting everything done by September."

Bob Bauder is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-765-2312, bbauder@tribweb.com or on Twitter @bobbauder.