Jon Levine writes for the New York Post about the latest common sense emerging from one Democratic senator.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman ripped the idea of “squatter’s rights” during an exclusive interview with The Post this week.
“Squatters have no rights,” Fetterman said, adding that the issue was one he often dealt with when he was mayor of working-class Braddock, Pa. “How can you even pretend that this is anything other than you’re just breaking the law?”
“I am not woke,” he warned.
“We always tried to push back against that,” he said, adding that he had been horrified by what he’s read in The Post’s extensive coverage of the squatting issue.
“It’s wild, that if you go away on a long trip, for 30 days, and someone breaks into your home and suddenly they have rights,” he sad. “This is crazy. Like if somebody stole your car, and then they held it for 30 days, then somehow you now have some rights?”
Fetterman also tore into soft-on-crimes policies that critics said contributed to the fatal shooting of NYPD Detective Jonathan Diller.
“I have gone to police funerals,” Fetterman said. “If this individual is convicted, then he should spend the rest of his life and in prison, and never have an opportunity to get out.”
The accused killer, Guy Rivera, had at least 21 prior arrests, mainly for drugs and assault, before he fatally shot Diller during a traffic stop in Queens last month.
Fetterman said he still believed in second chances — but not 20.
“If you have those kinds of established records, It doesn’t serve any greater goal to allow people that are offending, offending, offending and allow them to not be held accountable,” Fetterman said.
“We have to be very smart and aggressive on crime,” said Fetterman who has taken heat by critics who accuse him of being soft on crime.
