Ordinance seeks to block mask mandate
“This bill is about letting individuals make decisions pertaining to themselves and their businesses. It’s about freedoms that we enjoy that are uniquely American.” Greenwich RTM member Carl Higbie
GREENWICH — A proposed ordinance that seeks to block enforcement of mask mandates in the town of Greenwich will go before the Representative Town Meeting later this month, according to the RTM member
who wrote it.
The agenda item comes at a time that the debate over wearing masks has grown nationwide, with President Donald Trump hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19, and his wife and many of his aides also diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“I wish the president and first lady a speedy recovery,” said Carl Higbie, the RTM member from District 8 who is behind the bill. He named it, “My Body, My Choice/My Business, My Choice.”
“The issue has not changed,” said Higbie, a former Navy SEAL. “Can government shut down your business? Can government mandate you wear something over your face?”
Higbie’s proposal says the town does not have the authority to mandate people or businesses require masks. The ordinance has received some pushback but it will be on the RTM’s agenda at its Oct. 26 meeting.
Town Attorney Vincent Marino has said he does not believe it is in legal order because a local RTM cannot overrule Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order on masks.
An attempt to put the issue before the RTM in September fell short, with not enough votes to put it on the agenda.
Higbie has said previously that he is not anti-mask and that the proposed ordinance would not ban masks — but he said mask-wearing is a choice better left to individuals to make than to be ordered by the government.
The ordinance also said that the town “will not require or force upon any business or commerce to cease or slow operations or close in response” to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This bill is about letting individuals make decisions pertaining to themselves and their businesses,” Higbie said at the September meeting of the RTM. “It’s about freedoms that we enjoy that are uniquely American.”
At that meeting, Higbie spoke briefly as he introduced the motion. But when he attempted to get into its merits, he was cut off by RTM Moderator Tom Byrne since debate was not yet permitted under RTM rules. During his brief speech, Higbie referred to the coronavirus as the “China virus,” a term condemned by many as racist.
Higbie is a the host of a show on the right-wing NewsMax channel and worked in the Trump administration as chief of external affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service. He resigned after bigoted and sexist comments he made on an online radio show were brought to light. Higbie has apologized for the comments, which he said were an attempt to be a radio “shock jock.”