John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, is running for the seat that Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is vacating. He is currently comfortably ahead of the GOP candidate, Mehmet Oz, by 7-10 points.
Fetterman has gotten a lot of mileage out of his carefully crafted persona as an “everyman” — a tough-talking, burly, working-class hero who will take his opponents by the scruff of the neck and boot them out of the state.
Or something.
This is a race for the future of every community across PA.
For every small town or person that's felt left behind. For every job left + factory closed. For every person that works hard but can't get ahead.
Pennsylvania is our home, and it's worth fighting for. 💯 pic.twitter.com/ihQerrsKvN
— John Fetterman (@JohnFetterman) June 7, 2022
In truth, John Fetterman is a child of privilege who was supported by his wealthy father, a partner in a big insurance company. That’s not unusual for the upper classes.
Except, John’s father Karl was giving his son tens of thousands of dollars a year when the younger Fetterman was well into his 40s.
There was nothing illegal about this. When Karl Fetterman gave cash to his son’s campaigns for lieutenant governor, he duly reported it to the FEC and, we assume, he reported any assistance he gave his son to cover personal expenses to the IRS.
Fetterman has made no attempt to hide any of this. He’s just asking voters to ignore reality and vote for the image of him crafted by professional public relations flacks.
Fetterman now earns $217,610 as lieutenant governor, a job he started in 2019, and his family’s assets top $700,000. His parents supported him financially for nearly all of his 13 yearsas mayor, aid that he says allowed him to devote himself to public service.He no longer receives that assistance,his campaign said. The campaign did not answer when asked if the $54,000 disclosed from 2015 was typical of his parents’ aid.
Fetterman has long acknowledged his parents’support. He has said he could have continued living a comfortable life with a lucrative job but made an abrupt change to dedicate himself to people who were less fortunate — including mentoring an orphaned child, leading a program to help high school dropouts, and eventually becoming mayor of Braddock, a hard-hit steel town. He made little money doing so and disclosed his parents’ aid during his 2016 Senate run, even when he wasn’t required to.
This is a guy who’s had his eye on high public office for most of his adult life. There’s nothing wrong with a young man being ambitious. But trying to manipulate voters by pretending to be something he is not should rankle the average Pennsylvanian. He can support all the radical left and liberal causes he wants — as long as he runs as a radical left, liberal politician and not as a “friend of the working class,” as he’s been attempting to do.
“John Fetterman is not who he seems to be. He is a sheep in wolf’s clothing,” said David Urban, a longtime Republican strategist in the state. “Nobody’s ever laid a glove on him.”
Added Bill Bretz, chairman of the Westmoreland County GOP in Southwestern Pennsylvania: “We need to debunk the mythos that he’s created about himself and talk about the platform that he has.”
It might help if GOP candidate Dr. Oz would find the energy to go toe-to-toe with the faux everyman. But Oz has been strangely quiescent and has run a somewhat lackluster campaign to date.
He’s going to have to pick up the intensity if he wants to come back and defeat Fetterman.
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