HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — In his campaign for a crucial U.S. Senate seat, Democrat John Fetterman takes credit for reinventing Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor’s office, transforming it from a political pit stop into a “bully pulpit” from which he’s advanced progressive causes.
Records from Fetterman’s four years in office, however, offer a different portrait of his time in the $179,000-a-year elected job. They show Fetterman typically kept a light work schedule and was often absent from state business, including presiding over the state Senate, which is one of his chief duties, according to an Associated Press review of his daily calendars and attendance records.
The review found that
Fetterman’s daily schedule was blank during roughly one-third of workdays from January 2019, when he first took office, to May of this year, when he suffered a serious stroke.
Even on days where his schedule showed he was active, a typical work day for Fetterman lasted between four and five hours, the records show.
The findings, which focus entirely on his tenure before his stroke, are notable because Fetterman points to his time as lieutenant governor as a leading credential in his Senate campaign. And as his bid for a seat that could swing the Senate majority becomes more competitive, some Democrats privately worry that Fetterman is proving a lackluster candidate and losing ground in the campaign.
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For months, starting in March 2020, his work days often consisted of a morning meeting focused on the pandemic that typically lasted 45 minutes, sometimes followed by interviews with local and national journalists. Occasionally he would attend virtual events.
But
Fetterman also did not take an active role and seldom participated in the daily Cabinet meetings, even though he was tapped to head a task force on disparities in the COVID-19 response. It produced a 32-page report.
In some cases, he booked national media interviews during times he otherwise had state business to attend to, including presiding over the Senate, or pandemic work group meetings.
During a one-month period beginning in October 2020, the vast majority of events listed on Fetterman’s calendar were interviews with national or Washington-based news outlets, with
a scattering of official duties and events mixed in, the records show.
In 2021, Fetterman’s calendars showed 115 work days with no activities or events listed. That includes a period that stretched from the end of June to mid-September where Fetterman’s schedules were largely blank, listing a total of about 11 hours worked during that period.
In the first half of 2022, lasting up to his stroke, there are nearly 70 days with nothing on listed on his schedule.
Fetterman’s work ethic has been a persistent focus of attack in the Senate campaign by Republicans who characterize the 53-year-old as a trust fund beneficiary who never had a paying job until he was elected lieutenant governor. Fetterman’s father was a partner in an insurance firm.
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Fetterman’s Democratic rivals in past campaigns, whispering that he blew off city council meetings rather than face critics while serving as mayor of Braddock.
Records show that
Fetterman skipped at least 53 city council meetings during his 13 years as the town’s mayor, or roughly one-third of the meetings held during his tenure.
It’s a trend that extends to his duties presiding over the Pennsylvania state Senate.
In 2020, Fetterman did not preside during 27 of the 53 Senate sessions that year, according to Senate journals, a period when the chamber adapted to the pandemic by letting numerous members connect to sessions through video links.
Fetterman did not show up for one-third of the Senate’s 59 session days in 2021.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midt...dc607cb1d13e29
Sloth Fetterman - AWOL from his job much of the time
