We’ve been reporting that after many weeks of Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) having a healthy lead in the race to fill Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R-Penn.) seat, the race is now a dead heat. Recent polls show Fetterman leading Dr. Mehmet Oz, but by mere points and even within the margin of error.
Politicians often dismiss polls that don’t make them look good, but it looks like Fetterman’s campaign realizes that he’s in big trouble and is now walking back his statement from last year in which he appeared to call for the mass release of second-degree murderers from Pennsylvania’s prison system.
Last year, Fetterman, who heads the state’s Board of Pardons (BOP) commission, issued two reports that recommended merit-based clemency for second-degree murders in the state’s prisons and reforming state law that mandates life sentences without parole for second-degree murder convictions.
Fetterman referred to the reports as a call for “mercy for the deserving and rehabilitated.”
In March 2021, he spoke at a Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) press conference where he expressed hope that as many as 1,200 convicted murderers would be released.
“I hope that it could lead to a conversation that would free close to 1,200 people of a legacy that never made sense, that encompasses victims’ input, encompasses their conduct and behavior in prison, it takes a look at the resources that are wasted,” he said.
This is a position he has long maintained but is now trying to walk back. His campaign is now insisting that Fetterman believes that there are murderers who should remain in prison and that his remarks at the PLSE press conference have been taken out of context.
“John supports common sense criminal justice reforms that keep Pennsylvanians safe and protected while saving taxpayers money,” Fetterman campaign spokesman Joe Calvello told Fox News Digital. “He believes there are people who deserve to spend the rest of their life in prison for the crimes they’ve committed. But the decision to do this should be left to judges and parole boards not politicians in Harrisburg.”
It’s a cute story, but it sounds more like the Fetterman campaign realizes that his soft-on-crime policies are a major liability for him, and now that the race appears to be a dead heat, the flip-flops are rolling in.
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