Pennsylvania official trolling Patrick

Keystone State’s lieutenant governor says vote fraud tied to Republican should win $3M bounty

WASHINGTON — All John Fetterman wants for Christmas is the $3 million he says Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick owes him.

The Democratic lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania has been trolling his Republican counterpart for weeks to collect on the $1 million Patrick offered in November for evidence of fraud in the Nov. 3 election.

Three supporters of President Donald Trump now have been charged in separate voter fraud schemes in Pennsylvania.

Fetterman says they all should count for bounty purposes.

The most recent charges came this week — against the second

Pennsylvania man to be accused of casting a ballot for Trump in the name of his deceased mother.

“We hit the jackpot with this last one,” Fetterman said. “There are three documented cases — three.”

“All I want for Christmas is my handsome reward from Dan Patrick,” Fetterman tweeted Dec. 18 with a Christmas tree and pleading face emoji.

Fetterman says he’ll donate the proceeds to food banks in the form of gift cards to Sheetz and Wawa, competing Pennsylvania convenience stores with die-hard followings.

Patrick has respondedtoFetterman just once, in a tweet in November that read: “Faith in the electoralprocess is a serious issue. Transparency is critical. PA Dems brought this on themselvesw/ last minute changes to election laws and counting ballots behind closed doors. Respond to the reports. Answer the questions. Stop the snide put-downs and #getserious”

Fetterman says he is serious — about debunking the false allegations being thrown at his state.

He has taken the lead in Pennsylvania pushing back on bogus claims of voter fraud circulated by Trump and his allies.

Patrick — honorary chairman of Trump’s campaign in Texas — and his million-dollar reward are helping to disprove those claims, Fetterman says.

“While it’sundoubtedlyandundeniably hilarious these cases involved Trump voters and their dead mothers, it’s irrelevant because it documents howtruly rare voter fraud is and how impossible it is to truly pull it off,” Fetterman said.

Fetterman has spent the past six weeks hounding Patrick, who he says is “just such aTrumpsimp, it’s just pathetic.”

“The thing that’s so especially galling is that people like himwere smearing our state when we actually had an impeccable election,” Fetterman said. “They keep trying to malign and smear the quality work done by both sides — we’ve gotwaymoreRepublican counties than Democratic counties. He’s smearing Republicans and Democrats alike when he impugns the electoral integrity.”

“If you’re going to smear my state, then you need to pay up, because we delivered what you asked for,” he said.

Sherry Sylvester, a spokeswoman for Patrick, responded: “It is not clear why Lt. Gov. Fetterman continues on this topic since Democrats don’t believe in voter fraud — unless it’s the Russians.”

“Fetterman should actually read Lt. Gov. Patrick’s offer before calling reporters,” Sylvester said. “Lt. Gov. Patrick saidhewouldpay $25,000 to $1 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of voter fraud — the same standard used for rewards from Crime Stoppers programs across the nation.”

She wouldn’t say whether any tips have led to payments.

Fetterman said he’s never met Patrick, who first came across his radar in March when Patrick appeared on Fox News during COVID-19 lockdowns and suggested grandparents might be willing to sacrifice themselves to reopen the country.

Patrick’s commentswent viral.

ThencamePatrick’s offer Nov. 10 to pay up to $1 million for “information that leads to an arrest and final conviction of voter fraud.”

“I’d like to collect your handsome reward for reporting voter fraud,” Fettermanwrote on Twitter. “I got a dude in Forty Fort, PA who tried to have his dead mom vote for Trump.”

He was referring to a case from September in which a 67-year-old man was charged with forging the name of his deceased mother to get an application for an absentee ballot.

Then, in November, police filed criminal charges against a 71-year-old Willistownmanwho they say cast a ballot for Trump, then returned to the polling place 45 minutes later, this time wearing sunglasses and claiming to be his son, and voted for Trump again.

Police on Monday announced charges against a 70-year-old Delaware County man they say cast a ballot for Trump in the name of his long-dead mother.

Fetterman started a Twitter poll asking his followers which case is their favorite: “Dude in Forty Fort,” “Returns in sunglasses” or “It’s Bartman!!” referring to the name of the most recent voter to face charges.

“2/3 involve dead moms … ALL 3 Trump voters,” Fetterman said in a text. “All improbably hilarious.”

On Tuesday he tweeted: “Hopefully NOW @DanPatrick will pay the people of Pennsylvania the handsome reward it deserves for rooting out voter fraud.”