Representative Jamila Prayapal is furious. She and 75 year-old cancer survivor Rep. Bonnie Watson appeared to have gotten infected with Covid while hunkered down in close quarters with unmasked Republicans in the Capitol bunkers during the insurrectionist riot. “… several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one…. (they) should be fully held accountable for endangering our lives because of their selfish idiocy,” tweeted Prayapal.
Meanwhile, in Minnesota, Republican Senate Leader Paul Gazelka opposed a motion to require that masks be worn in the State Capitol complex, introducing an amendment to instead “strongly encourage” mask wearing. Our erstwhile DFL Senators Tom Bakk and David Tomassoni appeared to have had their fingers put into a vise by Gazelka and went along with Republicans even though their votes weren’t needed to kill a mask requirement.
What a wonderful concept, “strongly encourage.” We could save a lot of money by sending our legislators home and, instead of passing laws and regulations, just “strongly encourage,” as in:
We strongly encourage you not to drive 90 mph through town.
We strongly encourage you to pay your taxes.
We strongly encourage you not to empty your raw sewage into the city water supply.
We strongly encourage… well, you get the drift.
We’re rapidly heading for half a million Americans dead from COVID-19, and Gazelka wants no mask mandate? He got COVID; his mother-in-law and a member of his caucus died of it. He said he wanted to be sensitive to people in Greater Minnesota, who have a “different attitude.” Meanwhile, over in Outer Minnesota, also known as The Dakotas, no mask mandates resulted in the highest infection rate in the nation.
Gazelka has been wrong over and over and over on this and many issues, and it disturbs me that Bakk and Tomassoni are toeing his line. We didn’t elect them to be Gazelka’s lap dogs.
Fred Schumacher, Gheen,
Minnesota
Leave a Reply