Bucks County Sheriff, Others Send Letter To U.S. Senate Candidate Fetterman With Concerns Over Policy

A group of Republican sheriffs are asking questions of the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate to represent Pennsylvania.

Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran, a Republican, signed onto a letter last week with 12 other Republican Pennsylvania sheriff’s asking Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democrat running for U.S. Senate, about his policies that would impact law enforcement.

The letter was shared by Mehmet Oz’s campaign. Oz, a TV talk show host and surgeon, is the Republican running against Fetterman in November.

The Republican sheriffs, citing past statements from Fetterman, ask him about comments he made about decriminalizing drugs, taking some military-style items away from police, reducing the prison population, criticism of a judge in September 2020 for setting high bail for rioters, and his 2021 support of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a progressive prosecutor who has drawn criticism as Philadelphia’s homicide rate has risen.

“Will you reverse your past positions on all of these issues? We would greatly appreciate your clarification on how your policies would keep our communities safer. This race is crucial for our community as crime continues to skyrocket and progressively continue to plague our streets,” the sheriffs asked in the letter.

Fetterman’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment on the letter.

Sheriffs and their deputies serve a different role than police officers, and have a more limited role in daily policing in Pennsylvania. Sheriffs oversee the row office that dates back hundreds of years. The office handles the transport of prisoners to and from Common Pleas court, serves warrants and makes arrests, deals with civil matters, oversee sheriff’s sales, and is authorized to keep the peace.

Recent polls from Fox News and the Center Street PAC show Fetterman with a significant lead in polling against Oz, who has earned former President Donald Trump’s backing.

The timing of the sheriffs’ letter comes as Oz, who recently earned the endorsement of the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police, is stepping up his attacks on Fetterman. The doctor’s campaign has said Oz would be tougher on crime than Fetterman, using a video ad to compare him to Krasner.

“The focus on crime in the campaign’s first ad shows Oz’s team believes the issue could be a winning message headed into the fall, though it’s one of several lines of attack Oz has debuted in recent weeks,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Thursday that Fetterman’s campaign has asked TV stations in the state to stop airing ads paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and approved by Oz that spread “blatant lies and misinformation” about Fetterman’s positions on criminal justice.

PolitiFact wrote last week that Oz’s claim in the ad that Fetterman wants to “eliminate life sentences for murderers” is untrue. The fact-checking organization found Fetterman has advocated changing the state law that mandates life-without-parole sentences in second-degree felony murder cases where the person accused was an accessory to murder, but he has not called for ending life sentences for killers.

The ad comes as Fetterman has worked to frame Oz as wealthy celebrity who returned to Pennsylvania from New Jersey to run for office. Fetterman’s efforts have gained attention.

Throughout the campaign, Oz has faced questions about dubious medical advice given on his popular syndicated TV show, his residency in the state, past statements that conflict with current Republican policy points, and his dual Turkish citizenship.

Feterman has faced questions over an incident where he chased down an unarmed Black jogger in 2013 after he thought he heard gunshots, his progressive stances on some issues, and recent reporting by the Philadelphia Inquirer that he received money from his well-off parents through his 40s, which Republicans say clashes with his blue collar image. Oz has also hit Fetterman for not being out on the campaign trail in the wake of a stroke in May.

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