Absentee on the Ballot: Fetterman Skipped Committee Meetings For Media Interviews and Vacation

John Fetterman has few official duties as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor. Still, the Senate hopeful has failed to show up for nearly every meeting for two economic development committees on which he serves, skipping the sessions to conduct media interviews, go on vacation, or do nothing at all.

Since 2019, Fetterman missed 11 out of 13 meetings for the Pennsylvania Military Community Enhancement Commission and Local Government Advisory Committee, according to meeting records and calendars obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. He missed several meetings in October 2020 on days he gave interviews to MSNBC, Australia’s Sky News, and the progressive “Pod Save America” podcast, the records show. He missed a military commission session in October 2019 to travel to his hometown for “family stuff” the following day. He skipped a local government advisory committee meeting in June while on vacation on the Jersey Shore. On some days he skipped committee meetings, Fetterman’s calendars are blank.

It’s the latest example of Fetterman’s truancy in public office. As mayor of Braddock, a town of less than 2,000, Fetterman missed more than one-third of city council meetings, the Free Beacon reported. As lieutenant governor, Fetterman failed to show up to one-third of Senate sessions. His absenteeism has drawn scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats alike. State Senator Tony Williams, the Democratic whip, told Politico that Fetterman often failed to show up to preside over the Senate, hampering his ability to develop relationships with state lawmakers. Jesse Brown, a former Braddock borough council president, said in 2015 that Fetterman “should have been at all council meetings,” but stopped showing up after several confrontations over his duties as mayor.

Fetterman has only four official duties as lieutenant governor, a job with “limited responsibilities” for which he is paid around $180,000 a year. In addition to the military commission and local government committee, which he chairs, he is chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons and oversees the Senate when it is in session. Fetterman has attended all of the Board of Pardons meetings, where he has cast numerous votes to free first-degree murderers.

Fetterman has missed five out of six meetings for the Military Community Enhancement Commission, which seeks increased federal support for military installations to protect jobs in Pennsylvania. Fetterman has missed six out of seven meetings for the Local Government Advisory Committee, which coordinates with local leaders, businesses, and other stakeholders to assess the