The recent Punchbowl News video of Congressional representatives refusing masks while huddled in a crowded safe room during the invasion of the Capitol is circulating widely. (I’m sorry, I’m not sure how to post that video.) Well-known clowns such as Marjorie Greene and Markwayne Mullin are seen yukking it up, while violence on behalf of them and their president is being committed just steps away.
The news reports thus far identify a handful of these representatives, but ignore the bearded guy in the foreground with red tie and goofy grin. You see him off and on during the video as Representative Rochester is offering masks and as she walks behind him. He does not accept or request a mask, but it is obvious to him they are available. That’s the Republican Congressman from CA-1, Doug Lamalfa, my “representative”. He’s seeming to enjoy the gathering, while waiting to vote Yes! later that night on the Arizona and Pennsylvania electoral college challenges.
So why isn’t he mentioned in the reports? Probably because he is a fly under the radar unknown, a generally inconsequential representative to say the least, even though he is starting his 5th term in Congress. He is consequential in this regard: while a climate change denier, Lamalfa has served on the House Natural Resources Committee and the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. We have a huge wildfire problem in CA-1, the home of Paradise, CA. Put 2 and 2 together...
But I digress. Here is Lamalfa refusing a mask, in a room full of representatives on January 6. From January 4 to 6, five Congressional representatives tested positive for COVID-19. Today the Attending Physician for Congress issued a warning that representatives in the safe room(s) were likely exposed to COVID-19. I don’t think that is unexpected by any means, and was known to be likely by all of the people in that room. I condemn my Congressman for refusing to take proper precautions and for very possibly leading to further Congressional infections that may ultimately interfere with the people’s business. I am concerned about all the people who have had to do official business with Lamalfa and I particularly am concerned for his staff, both in D.C. and at home in CA-1. These people have possibly been needlessly exposed to an unmasked potential COVID-19 contact who simply won’t make the simplest of kind gestures. He. Won’t. Wear. A. Mask.
So, please don’t overlook Doug Lamalfa, CA-1. Just as unknown and insidious as the clowns who invaded the Capitol, until now.