Pennsylvania's newly elected lieutenant governor said Wednesday he does not plan to move into the lavish state-owned official residence and hopes to make it available for some type of public use.
Democrat John Fetterman, a mountain of a man with tattoos and goatee, said that he may rent a place in Harrisburg, but that he's definitely not moving his family to Harrisburg or to the residence at Fort Indiantown Gap.
"We're not going to reside in the mansion," Fetterman said during a post-election visit to the Capitol newsroom. "My wife and I envision, and the governor supports, some kind of public usage of it. Particularly swimming for children."
He said his family will remain in Braddock, a western Pennsylvania steel town where he is mayor.
"Not that Harrisburg's not a wonderful town," Fetterman said, noting he grew up outside York, about 25 miles from the capital. But he added his family has "a real strong allegiance both practically but also symbolically to the community that I've been lucky enough to lead for the past four terms."
Fetterman, born to teenage parents, received his master's degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, "where he focused on finding solutions in social work, business, and public policy to confront urban challenges and economic inequality," according to his candidate website.
He went on to beat Lt. Gov. Mike Stack, a former state senator, and three others in the Democratic primary this year to become Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's running mate.
Wolf and Stack were never particularly close, but that was exacerbated last year when the governor stripped Stack of Pennsylvania State Police protection and limited cleaning, groundskeeping and maintenance at the State House, as it is called, after an investigation that wasn't made public into how state employees were treated there and the use of the state police troopers.
Stack's office later disclosed his wife had entered treatment for an undisclosed mental health issue.
Stack spokesman J.P. Kurish said the residence's location may present a problem for plans to convert it to a more public purpose.
"It would be difficult, because it sits on a military base," Kurish said. "So it's really not public land."
The property includes a couple houses and a pool that was closed at the end of the season for a pump repair, the General Services Department said. The state's staff and maintenance costs have run about $400,000 a year recently, said agency spokesman Troy Thompson. He said officials will work with Fetterman on the property's future.
The staff had once included a cook, a full-time cleaning person, a maintenance worker and a manager, Kurish said. But since Wolf imposed changes, it has consisted of a full-time maintenance worker. The three-story, stone exterior State House comprises about 2,400 square feet.
Stack's future plans remain unclear, he said.
"As far as I know, he's still entertaining offers and hasn't made a decision on that," Kurish said.
As lieutenant governor, Fetterman will preside over sessions of the state Senate.
Lieutenant governors chair the state Board of Pardons, sit on the emergency management council and typically take a leading role in working with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
Wolf has not moved into the governor's residence along the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, instead commuting 20 miles to the Capitol from his home in Mount Wolf, a York County borough named for an ancestor.
