Virus outbreaks stoke tensions in state capitols
Members of the Missouri House – some wearing masks and other not – huddle closely in conversations before the beginning of session Feb. 3 in Jefferson City, Mo. The House chamber has no mask mandate and has not modified its seating during the coronavirus pandemic. The House canceled all work for a full week in January after a COVID-19 outbreak. (AP photo/David A. Lieb)
Tensions are high these days among lawmakers meeting at many state capitols – including in Oklahoma – not because of testy debates over taxes, guns or abortion, but because of disagreement over coronavirus precautions.
.... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... ....
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. After only their first few weeks of work, tensions already are high among lawmakers meeting in-person at some state capitols not because of testy debates over taxes, guns or abortion, but because of a disregard for coronavirus precautions.
In Georgia, a Republican lawmaker recently was booted from the House floor for refusing to get tested for the coronavirus. In Iowa, a Democratic House member boldly violated a no-jeans rule to protest the chamber’s lack of a mask rule.
And in Missouri, numerous lawmakers and staff some fearing for their health after a COVID-19 outbreak in the Capitol scrambled to get vaccinated at a clinic before legislative leaders warned that the shots weren’t actually meant for them. GOP Gov. Mike Parson denounced the lawmakers as line-jumpers.
Coronavirus outbreaks, lax rules stoke tensions in state capitols
Some state legislatures are failing to take pandemic precautions, resulting in outbreaks of COVID-19 and finger-pointing.
Â
Â
In this Jan. 5 photo, Speaker of the House Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, left, talks with incoming House Minority Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, on the House floor before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives are sworn-in at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa. After only their first few weeks of work, tensions already are high among lawmakers meeting in-person at some state Capitols â not because of testy debates over taxes, guns or abortion, but because of a disregard for coronavirus precautions. [ LAURENCE KESTERSON | AP ]
Larry Elder
A 2020 Joe Biden campaign ad described the pending election as an “opportunity to leave the dark, angry politics of the past behind us.” After Biden’s election, he, Democrats and media urge a “return to civility.” But when did the Democrats practice the very civility to which they seek to return?
Let’s go to the videotape:
When Barry Goldwater accepted the 1964 Republican nomination, California’s Democratic Gov. Pat Brown said, “The stench of fascism is in the air.”
Former Rep. William Clay Sr., D-Mo., said President Ronald Reagan was “trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from ‘Mein Kampf. ”
Updated: 4:55 PM EST Feb 3, 2021 The Associated Press An Ohio Democratic state senator said Wednesday he left a committee hearing because so many members of the public weren t wearing masks.Sen. Cecil Thomas, a second-term lawmaker from Cincinnati, tweeted a picture showing several people in the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee without masks. At the time, the committee was hearing a Republican proposal to limit the governor s powers to issue public health orders.“We are in the middle of a pandemic with a virus that is highly transmittable,” Thomas said in his tweet. “My daughter has a severely compromised immune system and I won’t sit there and put her health at risk.”Though the committee room was set up for social distancing with some chairs turned around to make them unavailable, some members of the public just turned the chairs around and sat down, said committee chairperson Sen. Kristina Roegner, a Republican from Hudson in north