An old political axiom says this:
When a politician is straining really hard to say that a certain vote is not about a certain topic, that vote is most certainly about that topic.
So it is with the St. 亚洲无码 County Council and the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by County Executive Sam Page at the advice of the St. 亚洲无码 Pandemic Task Force. On Monday, after a bizarre series of meetings that mostly consisted of reading hundreds of comments from citizens for or against the proposal, three Republicans 鈥 Tim Fitch, Mark Harder and Ernie Trakas 鈥 and one Democrat 鈥 Rita Heard Days 鈥 voted to pass two bills that would allow previous pandemic restrictions, such as a mask requirement and building capacity regulations, to expire. The other three council members 鈥 Democrats Lisa Clancy, Rochelle Walton Gray and Kelli Dunaway 鈥 voted to keep the restrictions in place.
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Before the vote, Days in particular, as the only Democrat joining the Republicans, denied vociferously that her vote had anything to do with getting rid of COVID-19 restrictions, even though that鈥檚 precisely what the bills would do, without further action from the council, or Page, to re-impose them.
鈥淚t is not about masks, it is not about social distancing 鈥 it is about inclusion, and collaborating with your legislative branch of government,鈥 Days protested.
In reality, it鈥檚 about all of those things, because that鈥檚 what the simple words of the say the votes are about. The bills specifically say the public health orders 鈥渢hat are more restrictive than the state鈥 shall expire in 15 days. St. 亚洲无码 County has a mask mandate in place. The state doesn鈥檛. It鈥檚 about the masks.
But never mind that. The bills will never become law because Page will veto them and the council doesn鈥檛 have the votes to override his veto.
What a waste of time.
And the timing couldn鈥檛 be worse.
On the very day the council took its meaningless vote in a childish attempt to damage Page, Dr. Alex Garza pointed to once again rising COVID-19 metrics, particularly the seven-day hospitalization average, that are again entering dangerous territory in the St. 亚洲无码 region. 鈥淎ll of our indicators are in the red,鈥 Garza said. At the same time, new restrictions are going into place in Illinois because of rising COVID-19 numbers, as well as in other places around the country.
You know what all those places have in common, be they cities, counties or states? The decisions during a pandemic are being made by elected executives based on the advice of scientists and public health directors. So it has been in this country since at least 1918 when the Spanish flu wreaked its pandemic devastation. That鈥檚 why the pandemic task force issued its own letter opposed to the two measures, because it supports an executive being able to impose 鈥渆vidence based, timely and effective measures to protect the public.鈥
So it is now, in the city of St. 亚洲无码, in surrounding counties, even the ones controlled by Republicans, and, of course, in the state, where Gov. Mike Parson has similar power to that of Page to issue mask mandates but won鈥檛 use it. Parson, with the apparent support of Fitch et al, has consistently followed the example of President Donald Trump, who called COVID-19 a 鈥渉oax.鈥 On the same day the council voted to try to overturn Page, Trump called Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation鈥檚 leading scientist battling the pandemic, 鈥渁 disaster.鈥
That鈥檚 a good description of the council鈥檚 machinations over the past couple of weeks.
If Days and the council Republicans really want us to believe these votes weren鈥檛 about mask mandates and 鈥渓et them play鈥 bromides, then there is plenty of opportunity for them to use their authority to question, limit or just criticize Page, if that is their wish. Focus on his lack of transparency on COVID-19 spending, for instance, or his failure to improve conditions at the St. 亚洲无码 County Jail, where deaths spiked under the previous county executive and have continued under Page鈥檚 watch. Ask him to pick a side in terms of who the police chief should be, rather than blowing in the political winds. Announce your candidacy against him for the election two years from now. Have at it.
But for the sake of the health of our region, let the man manage the pandemic by listening to Garza and the experts. People are dying, our hospitals are stressed, and political gamesmanship isn鈥檛 helping.