September 07, 2020 10:09 AM UTC

"Q*Bert's" Aspen Fundraiser Busted For Willful COVIDiocy

• 9 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent reported Friday, a recent fundraiser in Pitkin County for Republican CD-3 train wreck nominee Lauren Boebert did not obey the county’s required pandemic safety protocols, even though Boebert’s campaign had agreed to them in advance of the event:

Prior to the Aug. 31 event at a home off Cemetery Lane in the Aspen area, the public health department worked with the Lauren Boebert for Congress campaign to develop a safety plan because the event was for between 11 and 50 people, said Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, formal gatherings of up to 50 people must file a safety plan with the public health department beforehand that addresses protocols to reduce Covid virus transmission. That plan, which included the wearing of facemasks and social distancing protocols, was approved by the county, Peacock said.

However, after the event, a more than 8-minute clip of Boebert’s speech to supporters gathered inside the home was posted on an Aspen resident’s Facebook page and came to the attention of county public health officials. The clip showed that no one in attendance, including Boebert, was wearing a facemask or practicing social distancing, Peacock said.

“(The video showed) elements of the plan clearly weren’t followed,” he said.

It’s not a surprise that Boebert’s campaign viewed the COVID safety plan for their fundraising event as a formality to be dispensed with as soon as the party faithful arrived. In the current climate of Republican political resistance to what should be uncontroversial public health measures, it would have been uncool for anyone to put a mask on in that space–just like it was at Bandimere Speedway at last week’s “COVID Chaos” rally. Peer-pressured groupthink against common sense itself is creating innumerable such unsafe environments across the country every day. Although we haven’t seen a study of this specific question yet, we think it’s reasonable to assert that not just ignorance, but willful contempt for best practices like Boebert showed at this event is a major reason why the United States leads the world in deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.

And yes, for anyone who has followed the quixotic rise of Lauren Boebert, after her brushoff of the Garfield County health department when her unlicensed service of tainted pork sliders sickened dozens of people at a 2017 Rifle rodeo, there’s definitely nothing out of character with this development. Be it keeping her donors (like her diners) safe from COVID, or keeping her pork cold until it’s time to heat it all the way up to the required 145 degrees, Lauren Boebert’s not playing by “government bureaucrat” rules.

Disregard for public health rules Boebert’s campaign had agreed to follow doesn’t make Boebert look edgy or rebellious. It’s dangerous, unprofessional, and stupid–and despite the carping of a noisy few, the vast majority of Americans are not on Boebert’s side. It would have been far better for Boebert’s increasingly sketchy image to simply follow the rules she agreed to follow than to inflict this kind of terrible press upon yourself by willful noncompliance. If you can’t manage that, just host a Zoom call.

The only winner in all of this, of course, is the coronavirus. But Lauren Boebert seems determined, in every way she can, to test the hell out of this district’s Republican loyalties.