Governors Gone Wild!

New Jersey's governor has dodged some legal trouble for flouting the state's seatbelt laws.

A self-described gadfly withdrew his complaint Tuesday against Gov. Jon S. Corzine for failing to wear a seat belt when he was critically injured in a highway crash. State police have not yet decided whether to ticket the governor. The complaint filed by Larry Angel was withdrawn just as a judge was to decide whether to approve the complaint.

…

Angel's complaint had alleged Corzine violated state law by failing to wear his seat belt when his official vehicle, driven by a state trooper at 91 mph, crashed on the Garden State Parkway.

State law requires all front seat passengers wear a seat belt; Corzine was in the front passenger seat. Violators face a $46 fine, and Tom Shea, Corzine's chief of staff, has said the governor should be ticketed if he wasn't buckled up.

The complainer was a harmless kook who just wanted Corzine to suck it up and take responsibility. Corzine will probably find another fulcrum for passing tougher seatbelt laws when he gets back to his job and tries to save face. (I'm guessing. That's how these things usually turn out, right?)

Meanwhile, a few hours down I-95:

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed an executive order to broaden background checks for gun purchases Monday… Kaine's order effectively draws the Chos of the world into a state database that prohibits people from buying guns. It says that people who are ordered to receive outpatient treatment, as Cho was, should be flagged and their names sent in to a state database. The law had not been interpreted that way, and Kaine's order clarifies it.

One reporter pushed back a little:

But if Kaine's order had been in effect two weeks ago, would it have prevented the massacre?

"That is an awful large question," Kaine said at a press conference. "There are a lot of ways to purchase firearms."

And lots more laws to pass!