Report: Fetterman Convicted of “Abuse of… Mayoral Authority” for using Local Police to Find Dirt on Political Opponents

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic candidate against Dr. Mehmet O for the open seat in the United States Senate, is previously charged with abusing his “mayoral power” as mayor of Braddock. He used local police to find dirt about his opponent.

While running for re-election in 2009, Fetterman was accused by Braddock solicitor Lawrence Shields of “abuse of your mayoral authority” for requesting a local police officer pull a 2004 police report on his opponent, Jayme Cox.

Cox told the Washington Free Beacon that he had gotten into an altercation with his wife, who passed in 2017, but that claims he had hit her were not true. After completing a domestic abuse class, the charges against Cox were dropped.

“[Fetterman [will] stab anyone in the back who gets in its way,” Cox stated.

City Council members requested Fetterman be detained for trying to obtain a police report on Cox. Because Pennsylvania laws limit such information, when charges against someone are dropped, they can’t.

Officials told the Free Beacon that

Braddock was almost sued by Fetterman for his actions.

As lieutenant governor, Fetterman has proposed rewriting the very same law he was accused of violating in 2009, the Criminal History Record Information Act. According to him, the act had “unfairly” excluded “many Black or Brown Pennsylvanians from employment. Braddock solicitor Shields said in 2009 that Fetterman’s release of the police report on Cox, who is black, opened Braddock up to a potential lawsuit for violating the act, which bars the release of criminal information three years after an arrest when no conviction occurred. Pennsylvania’s Bucks County was fined $67 million in 2019 for violating the act by publishing protected criminal information. [Emphasis added]

Following this incident, Fetterman helped to cast the decisive vote to fire Shields from his position as Braddock solicitor.

Breitbart News reported that Fetterman, the mayor of Braddock at the time, oversaw a rise in crime and a decline in population despite promises to revive the region.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.