Pa. senator presses John Fetterman to disclose information about his health crisis

The chairman of the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee is pressing Lt. Gov. John Fetterman to share records detailing the timing and means he used to inform Gov. Tom Wolf about the stroke he suffered in May.

Sen. Dave Argall, R-Schuylkill County, sent a follow-up letter on Friday to one he sent last month asking for Fetterman to produce communications transmitted to the governor.

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He also repeated his invitation to the lieutenant governor to offer testimony to his committee to help inform its review of the 1974 law governing the procedures to follow when a governor or lieutenant governor cannot discharge the duties of their office.

In his latest letter, Argall asked Fetterman to respond no later than this Friday so arrangements can be made to receive his testimony.

Several attempts to contact a spokeswoman in the lieutenant governor’s office on Monday were unsuccessful.

In the letter, Argall stated, “this subject matter is of immense importance to our commonwealth as maintaining continuity of government has never been more important.”

When Argall first asked for the lieutenant governor’s cooperation in a letter sent last month, Fetterman’s spokeswoman Christina Kauffman said that office would “provide whatever information we’re able to provide to help out.”

But Argall’s more recent letter, obtained by PennLive, said “to date, we have not received a response to this inquiry.”

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Sen. Sharif Street of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, previously told PennLive he was satisfied with Fetterman’s handling of his hospitalization for his health situation.

Former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel offered written testimony to the committee, saying the state’s Governor and Lieutenant Governor Disability Procedure Law is not in need of fixing.

Under the disability law, Singel became acting governor for six months in 1993 when Gov. Robert Casey underwent a heart and liver transplant. Before Fetterman’s disability, that law has only been implemented on one other occasion – in 2014, when former Gov. Tom Corbett had surgery for a hernia repair and his lieutenant governor Jim Cawley served as acting governor for 85 minutes.

But Argall maintains that given the gravity of Fetterman’s health situation, during which the lieutenant governor said he almost died, there should be an examination of gaps in the existing law. The committee is looking at defining the length of time a governor or lieutenant governor can be incapacitated before a post is declared vacant and what conditions qualify as disabling.

Argall said interest in hearing from the lieutenant governor also grows out of news coverage of Fetterman’s illness which offered conflicting accounts “as to when the law applies, how the law applies, whether the governor was notified or not.”

A spokeswoman for Gov. Tom Wolf told PennLive Fetterman followed the process in place as dictated by law “appropriately and properly.”

Fetterman last month returned to the campaign trail where he is vying to fill the open U.S. Senate seat against Republican Mehmet Oz.