The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
State House extends Lamont’s powers
HARTFORD — The Democratic-dominated state House of Representatives voted Monday to extend Gov. Ned Lamont’s emergency powers until mid-February amid Republican claims that the measure put in place to stem the COVID pandemic is no longer needed.
The sixth extension of emergency powers would keep in place a number of mandates stemming from the COVID pandemic, including the face mask requirement in schools. The legislation, which passed 80-60 with 10 Democrats voting along with the GOP minority, will be debated in the Senate on Tuesday.
“I haven’t gotten one phone call or one email asking to extend these emergency powers,” said conservative Rep. Gale Mastro-francesco, R-Wolcott, starting off the afternoon-long debate. “There is no publichealth emergency. Let’s give the power back to the people.”
She began a cascade of Republican grievances that stretched through the afternoon, claiming that Gov. Ned Lamont is overriding the power of the General Assembly. None of the 10 Democrats who voted against the bill spoke during the debate.
“Gov. Lamont, I think you deserve some time off,” said a sarcastic state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme. “I think you need a vacation and I think we need to go back to work.”
State Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford, the top Republican on the law-writing Judiciary Committee, noted that while lawmakers were told the extension would continue Lamont’s powers until Feb. 15, the actual bill doesn’t mention the date.
Another lawyer, Rep. Tom O’Dea, R-New Canaan,
noted that Lamont recently bragged that Connecticut leads the nation in vaccinations. “Thankfully we are not as dysfunctional as Washington, D.C.,” he said. “That’s a low bar, I know. There is no reason to extend these executive powers.”
Shortly after 2 p.m., O’Dea submitted an amendment that would have required public hearings withing three days of any future emergency orders. House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, pointed out that the proposal did not fit into the scope of the special session and it was rejected in a 84-49 vote when Republicans contested the ruling.
“We are the Constitution State,” O’Dea said. “I do not believe we should be extending these executive orders,. We are a long way from where we were in March of 2020. I believe we should be having public hearings on these orders.”
First-Term Rep. Kim Fiorello, R-Greenwich, praised the dozens of people who testified in a hearing last week sponsored by conservative House Republicans, and she defended those opposed to vaccines and masks. “It’s not the government’s job to pass judgment on these people,” Fiorello said. “Those who are making their own decisions on vaccines, a reasonable mind can understand their hesitation.”
“There’s a lot of questions and a lot of anxiety,” House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said at the end of the debate, citing the toxic political atmosphere. “With anxiety comes fear, comes anger. I think we have the ability to take the temperature down by being deliberative again. And that’s why today, I think a no vote is appropriate.”
Candelora said the state has reached the list of goals that Gov. Ned Lamont outlined in May of 2020, and warned that the legislature needs to create a standard on what is an actual emergency. “I feel as if now the emergency is: COVID exists and therefore the declaration needs to exist,” he said. “I would say that democracy is stronger than COVID.”.
“What has become painfully apparent to all of us is that the COVID virus is unpredictable,” said Rojas said at the end of the debate. “We’ve seen multiple variants that act in different ways.” He warned that much of the partisan rhetoric around the issue has been inappropriate, while Lamont’s response has been steady, and the state has benefited.
“He has not acted like a king,” Rojas said. “He has not acted like a tyrant, nor have we abdicated our responsibility as a equal branch of government to work with the governor to meet the challenges we have faced since March of 2020. I’ve grown weary myself of the rhetoric, denying what we all know to be true; denial that we still face the threat of disruption to our lives from COVID. That denial is irresponsible.”
“Our democracy is in tact,” State Rep. Stephen Meskers of Greenwich, one of the few Democrats to speak among the dozen or more conservative Republicans. “We are not threatened by that.” Meskers said Lamont has been exemplary at a time when the state needed to leadership, and the emergence of the delta variant warrants his continued flexibility.
“With all due respect, I am doing my job in supporting this request for an executive order,” Meskers said. “We may disagree, but that is the nature and inherent bias of a democracy. But I challenge anyone to question my integrity and my decision making as a duly elected member of this body.”
Outside the historic State Capitol, about 100 protesters held conservative flags and signs including the “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden flag and “Represent, not Mandate.” They were divided between those watching a giant TV with the House proceedings on the north side, and those shouting on the south side. By mid-afternoon they began to disperse.
The bill on the governor’s powers was introduced by state Rep. Dan Fox, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the Government Administration & Elections Committee.
In the late morning, a group of unmasked protesters tried to enter the Capitol in a side entrance and were turned away by security teams who pointed to rules requiring masks.
In a strange juxtaposition to the chanting outside the Capitol, formal tours went on as usual for masked visitors, including busloads of elderly people, although they were limited to the first floor and could not get upstairs to the House or Senate chambers, or the governor’s second floor suite.
Democrats who voted against the legislation included Rep. Raghib Allie Brennan of Danbury, Rep. Andrew Baker of Bridgeport, Rep. Jill Barry of Glastonbury, Rep.Pat Boyd of Pomfret, Rep. Michael Di Giovancarlo of Waterbury, Rep. Jack Hennessy of Bridgeport, Rep. Anne Huges of Easton, Rep. David Michel of Stamford, Rep. Robyn Porter of New Haven and Rep. Travis Simms of Norwalk,
Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, began off the early afternoon gathering by reminding the nearly full chamber that rules require masks unless when lawmakers are speaking. “A mask must be worn over your mouth and your nose,” Ritter said. “There will be no medical or religious exemption from this mask requirement.” He said that if the rule was not complied with, he would make legislative history and allow the final vote to occur immediately, ending the precedent of unlimited debate.
“By not wearing a mask, you are also depriving people the right to feel safe in the chamber and to speak and represent their constituents,” Ritter said.