Fetterman Wants To ‘Invest More’ in Public Schools. He Once Owed His School District Tens of Thousands.
Senate hopeful John Fetterman has cast himself as a champion of Pennsylvania's public schools, telling voters he will "make sure our public schools have the funding they need." But his tax records tell a different story. In fact, as mayor of Braddock, Pa., Fetterman failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes on time to his local school district, one of the poorest in the state.
Woodland Hills School District, which serves Braddock, placed nearly three-dozen tax liens against Fetterman totaling $18,692 for unpaid property taxes from 2006 to 2019, according to records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. The district sued Fetterman twice over the unpaid bills, resulting in default judgments against Fetterman totaling $3,769. Fetterman has since paid off the liens, but in some cases it took him more than six years to satisfy the debt.
The delinquent tax payments undercut Fetterman's claim to be a champion for public schools. In 2018, he said he opposed school vouchers, claiming they would divert funds from public schools to charter and private schools. Fetterman says on his campaign website that he will fight for public school funding if he’s sent to Washington so that "teachers aren't shouldering so much of a burden." He recently called on state lawmakers to "invest more" in Pennsylvania's public schools.
In failing to pay taxes to Woodland Hills, Fetterman deprived funding for one of the poorest and academically challenged districts in the Keystone State. The district's three elementary schools are in the bottom 15 percent of academic achievement tests. Seventy-one percent of Woodland Hills students in the 2021-2022 school year were low-income, one of the highest rates in Pennsylvania, according to state education department data. The state legislature this year gave Woodland Hills $1.4 million in "level up" funding, which goes to school districts with a "higher at-risk student population."
In all, agencies in Fetterman's Allegheny County placed 65 liens totaling $30,463 against Fetterman and Braddock Redux, the community nonprofit he founded with funding from his wealthy father. Woodland Hills placed $6,422.11 in tax liens against Fetterman and another $12,250.38 against Braddock Redux, court filings show. In Pennsylvania, taxing authorities like school districts, counties, and waste management providers send out separate tax bills to property owners.
Woodland Hills filed multiple lawsuits against Fetterman after months of failed attempts to collect the delinquent tax debts. One lawsuit filed in September 2008 shows the lengths to which the school district went to collect the money before suing Fetterman.
Woodland Hills sued Fetterman on Sept. 9, 2008, for $1,278.38 he owed in taxes for the 2006 tax year. The district mailed Fetterman notices on May 9, 2008, and July 30, 2008, regarding the unpaid debt, and the sheriff's office served him a lawsuit at his residence on Sept. 25, 2008, records show. The court issued a default judgment against Fetterman on Aug. 11, 2009, in the amount of $2,442.67. The debt was "satisfied" on Oct. 18, 2012, according to records.
Fetterman has given several explanations for not paying his taxes on time. He said in 2016, when the issue surfaced in his first Senate campaign, that the liens "were never substantial" and were for properties he "saved for the community." He said some of the taxes "shouldn't have been paid" due to clerical errors, while others "just fell through the cracks." He has said that some of the properties were vacant houses he refurbished and gave to residents of Braddock.
Fetterman's delinquency didn't sit well with some Allegheny County residents.
"It's not very responsible, especially for somebody in a political position like that," Lisa Musta told a news station in 2016. "It's not a good example for other people, and it doesn't sit well with me."
Fetterman has been accused of hypocrisy before on the public school issue. The progressive darling supported school closures and other lockdowns during the pandemic in 2020, but took a family vacation to the Jersey Shore with a taxpayer-funded security detail in tow.
Fetterman since 2015 has sent at least one of his children to Winchester Thurston, a private school in Pennsylvania where tuition is as high as $34,250, the Free Beacon reported. David P. Hardy, the founder of a charter school in Pennsylvania, accused Fetterman of hypocrisy for opposing school vouchers in poor districts, telling the Free Beacon that "the poor people there are stuck going to those schools, and [Fetterman] doesn't give them any way out."
A Fetterman spokesman confirmed that the liens were placed against properties Fetterman bought through the nonprofit he started with his father's money, which the spokesman said was "helping to revive Braddock."
Published under: 2022 Election, John Fetterman, Pennsylvania Senate, Public School, Tax Liens
Fetterman Voted To Free Murderer Who Hacked Innocent Man to Death With Garden Shears
Senate hopeful was 'happy' to release murderer who, while out on bond, ordered hit on top witness
Charles "Zeke" Goldblum was sentenced to life in prison for killing a man with garden shears in a parking garage in downtown Pittsburgh and later trying to hire a hitman to kill his accomplice in the brutal murder. As lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, Senate hopeful John Fetterman voted to set Goldblum free in 2019 and said he was "happy" when the killer was released from prison last year.
Goldblum was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1976 killing of George Wilhelm as part of an insurance fraud cover-up. According to prosecutors, Goldblum and an accomplice, Clarence Miller, lured Wilhelm to a parking garage in Pittsburgh, where Goldblum stabbed the man 26 times. While out on bail, Goldblum tried to hire an undercover police officer to murder Miller, who had fingered Goldblum for the crime.
Goldblum, who has maintained his innocence, was poised to die in prison, having unsuccessfully appealed for clemency seven times. But in 2019, Pennsylvania's Board of Pardons, which Fetterman chairs, voted unanimously to release Goldblum from jail, overriding the wishes of Wilhelm’s family. To justify its decision, the board points to the judge and prosecutor on Wilhelm's case, who have since concluded he was the accomplice rather than the principal assailant.
But in 2007, a federal appeals court rejected Goldblum's request for an evidentiary hearing, writing, "there is just too much evidence here establishing Goldblum's guilt." Both judge and prosecutor have been vague about what information motivated their reversal, and no one has claimed Goldblum is innocent of the hitman charge.
Still, Fetterman cheered when Goldblum was released from jail last year, saying he was "happy that he’s going to be going home to his family" and that Goldblum was "not a threat to public safety." The commutation was part of Fetterman’s pledge to "transform" Pennsylvania’s pardon process and free more prisoners, a record the Democrat has touted on the campaign trail. Fetterman specifically points to his efforts to end life sentences for those who are involved in murders but did not directly "pull the trigger."
Beyond Goldblum, however, Fetterman has voted to free "triggermen" convicted of first-degree murder. Last year, he was the only member of the board to vote to release Wayne Covington, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for killing a man for money to buy heroin. That ordeal has already made its way into GOP ads that argue Fetterman is "too far left" and "dangerously liberal on crime," suggesting Fetterman's record as chair of the board may not be the winning issue he thinks it is.
Following his release from prison in 2021, Goldblum admitted he hired Miller to burn down a restaurant he owned in order to collect the insurance money. The pair went on to arrange a meeting with Wilhelm, who "knew of Goldblum's involvement in the land fraud scheme and the arson" and wanted a payment, according to federal court documents reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. Wilhelm did not leave the meeting alive—he was stabbed 26 times while in a car with Goldblum and Miller, who "agreed to lie to the police in order to provide each with an alibi" and "left the scene together," court documents show.
While out on bond and awaiting trial, Goldblum concocted a "slay-for-pay plot" to kill Miller, who was expected to testify against Goldblum, the Pittsburgh Press reported in 1976. Goldblum, according to the Press, offered an undercover detective $2,000 to whack his co-conspirator but balked at the would-be assassin's request for payment in advance, stating, "I was burned on this before. I'm not fronting anyone." Goldblum has since acknowledged he "put a hit out on Miller," who court documents describe as "the Commonwealth's chief witness."
Goldblum has claimed he was merely a witness to Miller stabbing Wilhelm, who shortly before his death told a police officer "Clarence Miller did this to me." But prosecutors have argued that Goldblum’s attempt to hire a hitman to kill Miller indicated he was guilty of killing Wilhelm, and Wilhelm’s family members strongly opposed his release, insisting he is guilty of their relative’s murder.
"His claims of innocence have no merit," Wilhelm’s niece, Sandra Horton, told the Pennsylvania Capital-Star of Goldblum in 2019. "We thought [his life sentence] would be just that—a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and that he would be made to accept his role in George’s brutal death." Horton blamed Fetterman and Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf (D.) for freeing the killer after his pardon application was denied seven times previously. "It’s Wolf and Fetterman," she said. "That’s how we got here. … The eighth time’s the charm."
Fetterman campaign spokesman Joe Calvello defended the Democrat's vote to free Goldblum, saying "John is proud of his work on the Board of Pardons giving second chances to non-violent offenders and the wrongfully convicted."
"Goldblum was wrongfully convicted and that is why John, along with every other member of the Board of Pardons, voted to recommend clemency," Calvello told the Free Beacon. "The judge and prosecutor that presided over his trial also came to this conclusion and advocated for his release."
Pennsylvania's Board of Pardons is no stranger to controversy. In 1992, board members voted to commute the sentence of serial killer Reginald McFadden. Within months of his release, McFadden killed two people and kidnapped and raped a third woman. The scandal prompted Pennsylvania voters to raise the board's approval standard from a majority vote to a unanimous one, a move that caused life-sentence commutations to plummet.
Fetterman has pushed to lower the board’s vote threshold to 4-1. In January, he appointed his campaign political director, Celeste Trusty, as secretary of the Board of Pardons. Trusty supports many of the same criminal justice reform policies as Fetterman and has called to "disarm the police." She is a supporter and self-avowed "friend" of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther who murdered Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981, the Free Beacon reported.
The John Fetterman Nazi Scandal No One’s Talking About
Hiding in plain sight: Tattooed skinhead and prolific internet troll with ties to anti-Semites shows true colors at eugenics rally
John Fetterman's candidacy for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania has been plagued by a multitude of scandals. On Monday the Washington Post editorial board slammed the Democrat for his reluctance to debate his GOP opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, and for concealing details about the near-fatal stroke he suffered in May. Many voters continue to express concern about the judgment of a "male Karen" who once held an innocent black jogger at gunpoint and willingly exposed his children to an Anime character best known for grooming an enslaved child.
Because mainstream media outlets have generally gone out of their way to shield Fetterman from criticism, the Washington Free Beacon has been forced to act unilaterally when it comes to exposing the truth about the Democratic candidate. Most journalists feel morally obligated to help Democrats win elections, which is why they have refused to cover what is perhaps the most shocking development of the 2022 election: Fetterman giving what appeared to be a Nazi salute at a campaign event earlier this week.
Fetterman made the offensive gesture at a pro-abortion rally in Blue Bell. It's worth noting that early abortion advocates such as Margaret Sanger, who founded the organization that would eventually become the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, was a prominent supporter of the eugenics movement, which aimed to improve the gene pool of the human race by eliminating individuals deemed to be inferior. The Nazis also loved eugenics.
Some anti-bigotry experts have pointed out that Fetterman fits the profile of a modern day Nazi. Like Fetterman, they typically have shaved heads and multiple tattoos. Like Fetterman, they tend to be very active online and frequently engage in obnoxious behavior sometimes referred to as "trolling." Like Fetterman, neo-Nazis tend to associate themselves with individuals who hate Jews. The Free Beacon reported on Tuesday that one of the non-profits Fetterman started (with help from his rich dad) hosted an anti-Israel art exhibit that promoted egregious falsehoods about the Jewish State.
Mainstream journalists claim to oppose fascism, yet have thus far declined to investigate Fetterman's affection for the Nazi regime. Given how they reacted—hysterically—when Fox News host Laura Ingraham appeared to give a Nazi salute at the Republican National Convention in 2016, the media's silence on this matter is tantamount to an explicit endorsement of racial hatred.
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