A main theme of the GOP’s platform ahead of November is an attempt to connect Mr. Fetterman’s proclivity for giving convicts a second chance to letting criminals back on the streets at a time Pennsylvania is facing rising violent crime rates.
In a Republican aiming to sway voters in Pennsylvania’s all-important U.S. Senate race, the headline flashes across the center of the screen over a grainy video of a man brandishing a gun at a gas station: “5 men recently released from Pa. prisons are charged in 6 homicides.”
But in this race, the line between fear mongering and reality is often blurred, and the truth about the candidates’ approaches to crime and criminal justice is far more complicated, according to a Post-Gazette analysis of specific claims made so far in the contest. Fox News host Tucker Carlson has done segments on Mr. Fetterman’s crime positions. Donald Trump Jr. has chimed in. And the National Republican Senatorial Committee argues that Mr. Fetterman is soft on crime at a time when Pennsylvania is “already on edge.”As evidence, Mr.
GOP operatives, given oppositional research sheets, back up the claim that Mr. Fetterman supports defunding the police by citing an op-ed Mr. Fetterman wrote in 2020 in which he discussed the need to build trust between police and community across Pennsylvania.
If elected to the Senate, Mr. Fetterman would support legislation like the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, Mr. Calvello said, to “build more trust between police and the communities they serve and to expand accountability and transparency in police departments.” The legislation — which, among other things, includes prohibitions on no-knock police raids and creates a national registry for past-disciplined officers — passed the House but has stalled in the Senate.
The Oz camp said Mr. Fetterman has floated this idea 11 times, and they jab at the Fetterman campaign for claiming that just because he floated the idea doesn’t mean he’s an advocate for it as a policy. Still, Mr. Fetterman never moved to do this as lieutenant governor and wouldn’t have the authority as a U.S. senator to do it.
The site, for one, points to the story of George Trudel, who it says was “convicted of murder following the attempted robbery and fatal stabbing of Casimir Borowiec at a party in Philly.” Mr. Trudel now works in the lieutenant governor’s office, the site correctly notes. Mr. Oz also hits Mr. Fetterman with the case of Wayne Covington, who was ultimately not released from prison despite Mr. Fetterman’s vote to commute his sentence. The lieutenant governor was the only “yes” vote on the Board of Pardons.
“I’m all for giving someone a second chance to allow folks to apply and get jobs. That’s what we want to have happen because we want to reduce recidivism. But those are people who paid their price — their debt to society,” Mr. DeMarco said. “Murder is a whole different thing.” “He’s not soft on crime. He believes that some individuals made mistakes that may have cost them this life sentence,” Mr. Garland said, “and some — because of the things they’ve done while in penitentiary — they show redemption. He’s going to let them go.”
The Oz camp and allies point to FBI crime data to show that violent crime spiked in Braddock between 2013 and 2018 — stats that coincide with Mr. Fetterman’s record of supporting policies that “prioritize criminals over victims, families and law enforcement.” Mr. Fetterman was mayor from 2006 to 2019.
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