Despite the Pennsylvania Department of Health warning against non-essential travel, lieutenant governor and pro-COVID lockdown advocate John Fetterman used tax-payer funds for a Jersey Shore family getaway three months into the coronavirus pandemic.
Records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show Fetterman spent $3,500 on security detail for overtime, food, and lodging from June 24-27, 2020, in Ocean City, New Jersey.
Fetterman’s family vacation came two days after New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a crackdown on maskless beach goers amid a spike in COVID-19 cases at the time.
Joe Calvello, a spokesman for Fetterman’s campaign, confirmed the vacation to The Washington Free Beacon but emphasized he never claimed reimbursement for travel expenses. Calvello added that Fetterman had cut spending on travel, food, conferences, and office supplies during his first two years as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor.
“John and his family do take modest summer vacations like many folks in PA,” Calvello told the Free Beacon.
Calvello said Alleghany County, where Fetterman lives, “was not in lockdown.”
But modest as they may seem, Fetterman’s security detail were guests at the Port-O-Call Hotel, a premier resort located on Jersey’s Ocean City boardwalk, during the vacation. The Free Beacon reports the Fetterman’s have stayed at the resort during other vacations.
Aside from pushing draconian lockdown measures during the pandemic and vowing to practice social distancing, minimize trips, and stay at home and out of the indoor public spaces, Fetterman begged Pennsylvania residents to mask up.
“I just can’t emphasize enough how important if you want Pennsylvania to stay open and the hospital beds to stay empty — please wear a mask,” he said less than a week after his vacation. “A mask has nothing to do with your politics or who you’re gonna vote for. It has everything to do with keeping Pennsylvania healthy and keeping Pennsylvania open.”
However, Fetterman was spotted maskless on the boardwalk.
Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor has a history of pushing COVID-19 mandates and orders.
In May 2020, he blamed COVID-19 outbreaks on “renegade counties” with “a small, tiny minority” of anti-lockdown protestors. He also said keeping schools closed was “an absolute necessity” in slowing the spread of the coronavirus.
Fetterman threw his name in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate Race earlier this year. According to an election forecast model, he stands against the Trump-endorsed celebrity television doctor Dr. Mehmet Oz and currently holds a 2 percent lead in winning the race.
Since suffering from a near-fatal stroke in May 2022, the 52-year-old lieutenant governor and senate candidate has remained off the campaign trail while he recovers.
Last month, Fetterman and his family were seen again on the Ocean City boardwalk.