JOKE ON THE WATER
Lt. gov. sets poor example going to party at family’s lakeside compound
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito sidestepped responsibility Tuesday for attending a Memorial Day weekend party despite the ongoing coronavirus threat, instead offering a weak defense of the bash and giving a green light to Bay State friends and family looking to let loose.
“I would just say that this is going to happen when people they get together, and as the weather improves it’s a natural thing to do,” Polito said about the graduation party she went to. The gathering was hosted by her brother in a Shrewsbury house only feet away from her home. It was first reported by the blog Turtleboy Sports.
Polito continued, “it should be done in a manner where people come together, practice social distancing and keep it small which is what happened with my brother’s family.”
Polito didn’t say how many people attended the celebration or whether anyone wore masks. But the backyard party seems at odds with phase one of her own reopening plan, which doesn’t allow retail stores or restaurants to reopen.
The Shrewsbury Republican insisted that everyone remained socially distant during the celebrations.
“It was an outdoor gathering when I was there, spread apart, social distancing, which is allowed under the governor’s order and with the social guidance that we issued,” she said.
I don’t remember Gov. Charlie Baker approving small house parties as part of the first reopening week starting May 18. Instead, he spent last Friday imploring Bay State residents to, “be smart,” during the holiday weekend.
“If you’re gonna go out be smart, be careful and respect the virus,” he said during a coronavirus update.
“People have worked really hard and given up a tremendous amount over the past 8 or 10 weeks to bend the trend on this and we’ve succeeded, and it’s because of the work that everybody did … that we can start talking about a gradual, careful data-driven phased reopening,” Baker said last Friday. “Don’t let a few nice days step on that.”
Even if there were only 10 people at the Polito family party and they all wore masks between sips of beer and bites of potato salad, the lieutenant governor and other state leaders need to set an example.
Baker and Polito have asked voters to delay funerals, go virtual with their birthday celebrations and, yes, skip graduation parties.
Is it so much to ask of those leaders to do the same?
“It was an outdoor gathering when I was there, spread apart, social distancing, which is allowed ...”
KARYN POLITO lieutenant governor