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Mercer's boy mayor quietly walks away

Mercer's boy mayor quietly walks away

For a man who thrived on attention -- he was featured in Cosmo Girl and was on an Academy Awards telecast -- one of America's youngest mayors has disappeared from public life.

Keith Srakocic, Associated Press
Christopher Portman was 19 when he stood outside the Mercer County Courthouse after being sworn in as the new mayor of Mercer three years ago. One of the youngest mayors in the country, Portman has resigned, saying he wanted to pursue opportunities outside of Pennsylvania.
Click photo for larger image.

Christopher Portman resigned his post last week, and has since left no forwarding address or phone number.

Instead, Portman, now 22, told the Mercer Borough secretary if council members needed him, they should call his parents' home and leave him a message. Attempts to reach Portman were unsuccessful.

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Though Portman did not return e-mails, he did release a lengthy goodbye statement that was posted online yesterday morning. By the afternoon, though, the entire Web site had been removed, leaving nothing in its wake except advertisements selling domain names.

In his letter, Portman said he had received a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to progress in his career goals that he couldn't turn down. He never says in his letter what that opportunity is, other than to "serve in a corporate capacity that will enable me to effect true change for all of the youth that follow me in their quest for political leadership, not just in the state of Pennsylvania, but on a nationwide scale."

Hugh Ringer, Portman's mentor and debating club coach at Mercer Area High School, said Portman left to go out West to pursue some kind of sales job, but he couldn't be more specific.

"I'm sure it was a tough decision for him to make," Ringer said. "The best laid plans don't always come to fruition."

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Portman's mother, Cynthia Portman, who scolded the borough council at a public meeting last year because it started late and she thought council wasn't well-prepared, said she'd prefer not to comment on her son's resignation.

Christopher Portman ran in the primary election during his senior year in high school at age 18 and was unopposed in the general election. He took office at age 19.

Jim Carnes, a Mercer councilman for the past 10 years, said initially the council thought Portman would bring a new enthusiasm to Mercer.

"We hoped he'd have some new ideas to bring some energy to the mayor's office," Carnes said. "Unfortunately, it didn't happen."

Instead, Portman missed 13 meetings in 2004 alone, Carnes said.

Portman didn't do much as mayor, the councilman said, but most mayors in Mercer usually don't. The borough of about 2,300 people, located 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, has a weak-mayor form of government. That means, the mayor's job is not to make policy, but to break ties in council votes and oversee the police department.

"He didn't understand what kind of mayor we have," Carnes said. "He never really adjusted to that."

One of the problems that arose during Portman's service was his interest in riding along with police officers, Carnes said. Because of liability issues, and officer safety, the council told Portman he could not do that.

"Chris just couldn't accept that," Carnes said. "He took it personally."

Borough council President Suzanne Carter Barner didn't want to say much about Portman's departure.

"His greatest accomplishment was to promote himself while being mayor of Mercer Borough," she said.

He had film crews follow him around, and a photograph on his Web site included a caption that said MTV shot the pilot of a reality television program about him.

Other photographs showed him posing with President Bush; Walter Cronkite; Mikhail Gorbachev; and the governor of Utah.

"He did a great job as ambassador of the borough," said John Zohoranacky, who is in his first term on council.

But over the last year, Zohoranacky saw Portman's attention slipping.

"I had a sense he had a lot of other things pulling at him."

Zohoranacky, who has a daughter the same age as Portman, figures college, relationships and finding a first job were likely competing for Portman's attention with the mayor's office.

"I think there were a tremendous amount of things going on in his life which made him miss a lot of meetings," Zohoranacky said. "It takes an inordinate amount of time -- much more than I thought."

The borough council plans to appoint a search committee to find a new mayor, who will serve out the rest of Portman's term, which expires at the end of this calendar year.

A new mayor should be in place within 30 days.

First Published: January 4, 2005, 5:00 a.m.

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