Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Dr. Mehmet Ozcan’t seem to catch a break this year — unless it involves taxes.
The Pennsylvania Senate candidate, who’s lived in New Jersey for most of his life and previously made the Garden State a large part of his identity, has struggled to paint himself asanything but an outsideron the campaign trail. Now, news of a hefty tax exemption this year on his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion are making matters worse, and shedding light on previously overlooked ties to the coastal town.
Town of Palm Beach/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty
While critics of Oz have focused mostly on his New Jersey properties throughout the race, eyes have recently turned to the other non-Pennsylvania places he’s called home. After Oz said that he only owns two “legitimate” houses, The Daily Beast dug into public records and reported thathe owns 10 residential properties— one of them, of course, being the oceanside mansion in Palm Beach.
Oz’s connection to Palm Beach appears to be extensive. In 2019,Palm Beach Illustratednamed him the top physician in Palm Beach County. The year prior,Boca Ratonmagazinedescribed him as a “part-time Palm Beach resident"when unpacking his routine in South Florida.
“Palm Beach is my ‘chi’ source, a place I come to regroup,“he explained toPalm Beach Lifemagazinemore than a decade ago.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with Oz spending time along the Florida coast, the Palm Beach news cycle feeds the characterization that his Senate opponent, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov.John Fetterman, has successfully been pushing: That Dr. Oz is an out-of-touch American who has little in common with Pennsylvanians.
That point became more clear than ever in recent weeks, when a campaign video of himshopping for crudités at a Pennsylvania supermarketwent viral — partly because he was shopping for a posh-sounding appetizer and partly because he misnamed the local grocery store he was in, calling it Wegners instead of Redner’s.
Fetterman capitalized on the moment, releasing a limited edition campaign sticker that read, “Wegners: Let Them Eat Crudité.”
In an attempt to turn negative publicity around, the Oz campaign’s communications director dug a deeper hole, telling Insider, “If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly.” (Fetterman, 53,suffered a strokeas the result of a heart condition earlier this year, days before winning the Democratic nomination for Senate.)
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source: people.com
