Republican Is Thrown Out Of Legislative Session For Not Wearing A Mask And Showing A “Callous Disregard For Life”

There's always at least one a**hole who refuses to follow the rules.


609
609 points

A Republican lawmaker in Illinois refused to wear a mask during a legislative session, so his colleagues on both sides of the aisle banded together and voted to boot him out.

President Donald Trump and many of his Republican supporters refuse to wear a mask to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus, which is a reason why the virus has surged in many parts of the country that have begun to reopen.

Illinois is working hard to not make the same mistakes, which is why the state legislature is meeting at the Bank of Springfield Center to put more space between each other — and they voted overwhelmingly to require all lawmakers and their staff members to wear a mask.

“In a bipartisan vote, the Illinois House adopted rules earlier Wednesday that include a requirement for members, staff members and visitors to the special session to wear a face-covering over their nose and mouth, if they are medically able to do so,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin even agreed with the measure.

“We cannot ignore nor compromise the health and safety of every member of the General Assembly, their family members, every one of our staffers who works tirelessly for us,” Durkin said.

That’s a remarkable statement from a Republican during this national crisis that stands in stark contrast with Trump and his supporters.

Of course, there had to be one a**hole in the building who refused to comply.

GOP state Rep. Darren Bailey showed up for work but would not wear a mask in accordance with the new House rule, resulting in a motion to oust him from the session.

“Bailey was asked to come into compliance with the requirement and replied, ‘I will not.’ Democratic Rep. Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch made a motion to remove Bailey from the House proceedings,” the Tribune noted.

And the vote was not even close as Republicans joined Democrats in an 81–27 vote to kick Bailey out for choosing to put everyone’s health and lives at risk with his stupidity.

Bailey has been critical of Governor J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order and thinks the state should reopen like other states, even though those states are now suffering a second wave of the virus and the death toll stands at more than 93,000.

In response to Bailey being thrown out of the legislative session, Pritzker blasted his “callous disregard for life.”

“The representative has shown a callous disregard for life, callous disregard for people’s health,” he said. “You just [ask] a doctor [to] tell you why people wear masks in the first place. It’s to protect others. So clearly, the representative has no interest in protecting others.”

Bailey could have the coronavirus and not have any symptoms, which means he could easily infect others by not wearing a mask. It’s reckless and he should not be welcome at legislative sessions until he agrees to follow House rules as long as this pandemic continues.

Featured image via screen capture

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