The Pot and The Kettle

Wonder what happened to Jim McGreevey's official gubernatorial portrait?

Ha! We didn't think so.

But for those of you who do care, it seems that Governor Jon Corzine's people are in a bit of a pissing match with McGreevey's "people" (which is probably just McGreevey himself) over when the McG portrait should be unveiled:

Last spring, McGreevey's people told Gov. Corzine's people that McGreevey wanted to schedule the ceremonial unveiling of the McGreevey portrait for late in the summer.

No, said the Corzine forces, because the attendant hoopla would be seen as helping to promote McGreevey's book, which was to be released just afterward in September.

Corzine staffers believe McGreevey's people thought Corzine would relent, so the McGreevey team came back again, later in the summer, asking for an OK to unveil the McGreevey portrait in tandem with the release of the book.

Corzine's people — specifically his chief of staff, Tom Shea — said no. Shea went further, instructing that McGreevey could not use the Statehouse to unveil the portrait until after McGreevey ended his book tour.

Well, its now the last few days of November. The book tour is still on. The portrait is still under wraps. And word is that McGreevey wants it unveiled before Christmas. But will Corzine relent?

Who knows? Who really cares? But since we're discussing it, who wants to bet that this standoff (if it can be called one) is less about McGreevey using the Statehouse for book publicity and more about Corzine not wanting McGreevey's picture hanging over his head -- literally -- during the press conferences in the Governor's outer office"?

Oh, and why the title of this post? Well:

[The portraits] seem to have grown larger over the years. Colonial governors' portraits left plenty of space on the mantle for a set of candlesticks or maybe a clay pipe.

Today's portraits consume large sections of walls.

Word is that McGreevey's is among the larger.

That got The Kettle's attention. ;-)