We had a fun week and so did some politicos. Others, not so much. Here are the Ups & Downs.

If you missed it, here is the rundown of our April Fools mischief.

Good Sports. April Fools brings a mixed bag of responses from the people we spoof. Sometimes we even get demands for corrections from jilted flaks. Seriously. But this year saw its share of good sports who took the joshing in stride. Sen. Pat Toomey tweeted, State Rep. Marty Flynn (D-Lackawanna) got in on the comments, and gubernatorial hopeful John Hanger actually zinged us right back. Bravo!

Jack Wagner. Rarely has PoliticsPA seen a single week where so many things went so well for one candidate. The former Pa. Auditor General went from second place to clear front running in the race for Pittsburgh mayor when Michael Lamb, the man who threatened to split Wagner’s base, dropped out and endorsed him. As did Darlene Harris and some big trades unions. A judge suspended Pittsburgh’s campaign finance limits for the race, allowing Wagner to transfer $300K of state cash for his mayoral bid. And a poll released Thursday showed him up 38%-30% over Bill Peduto, an 18% jump for Wagner and a 0% jump for Peduto since the field of candidates became set.

AJ Richardson. A school bus monitor and activist, Richardson never had a serious chance to win the mayoral primary. But this week he gave up any chance of being anything other than a joke. He was found slumped over the steering wheel of his car early Wednesday and failed several field sobriety tests and refused a blood alcohol test. Who’d have thought someone with face tattoos would be capable of such poor judgment?

Ron Goldwyn. Rep. Chaka Fattah’s press secretary won’t need to return reporters’ calls pretty soon. The longtime veteran of Philly politics and press is retiring after a career that includes 7 years with the Congressman and 22 with the Philadelphia Daily News. Happy trails, Ron.
.

TV stations. As if the Democrats’ impending gubernatorial primary didn’t already promise big bucks to the folks selling TV ads, now they can look forward to another $10 million. So says Tom Wolf, the former Pa. Revenue Secretary and businessman from York County. He said he plans to spend $10 million of his own wealth to win the nomination over folks like Allyson Schwartz and Rob McCord. As the only serious candidate west of the Susquehanna, he will join the top tier of the race if he’s serious.

Tweet of the week: Sen. Pat Toomey. See the “good sports” arrow above.

To paraphrase LBJ, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for governor… tinyurl.com/cuujevf

— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) April 1, 2013

Facebook Post of the week: State Rep. Jesse White (D-Washington), who amuses all with his strange fixation on a trashy pop star.