Rep. Jesse Young and Rep. Michell Caldier have been vocal supporters of the President’s Covid19 misinformation policy.
We can only hope the events of this week can become a teachable moment for Rep. Jesse Young and Rep. Michelle Caldier, who have openly defied Washington State Public CoVid-19 Guidelines from the very beginning. They both have been seen not wearing masks in public. Both Caldier and Young have been at odds with Gov Inslee about the CoVid-19 shutdown and reopening plan from the beginning. Is their non-masking wearing a symbol of their political arguments against the Governor or do they simply not believe in Public Health science?
Caldier and Young have expressed their disapprovals in different manners consistent with their own personalities. Young has been both loud and “in your face”, demonstrating at many public rallies while Caldier has taken several different passive-aggressive tactics to defying Public Health Guidelines. Both severely undermining the health and safety of all Washingtonians
In January 2019 Jesse Young, standing with his accused domestic terrorist “ride or die” buddy Matt Shea, said “Representative Shea or I would take a bullet for the Lt Governor; we would take a bullet for any one of our constituents. We are here to defend you as well as our service for you”. Constituents are not so demanding as that -- we only ask that he simply wear a mask and encourage others to do the same.
Michelle Caldier at Gig Harbor Chamber Public Affairs Forum - July 2 2020 District 26, was asked “With the spread of CoVid-19 spiking, do you agree that masks should be required in public?” Her short answer was “I do not support a mandate”. The balance of her answer was trying to explain how “Mask Wearing” was not enforceable and just human nature to resist. Many laws have been passed changing our behaviors to improve on public health and safety such as seat belts, motorcycle helmets, drunk driving, and smoking in public. These behavioral changes have become social norms with expectations of cooperation, and that people tend to obey the law if they expect many others to do so.
Caldier claims to be a leader but refuses to lead. Mask wearing during this CoVid-19 pandemic certainly will save many lives and should also become a social norm. Claiming something is a personal right regardless of the situation is not what living in a free society means. In a free society we do have an obligation to our fellow citizens. Exposing ourselves or others to undue danger would seem to be something that can and should be regulated. Hence, seatbelts requirements, laws against driving under the influence, smoking bans, and wearing masks to avoid getting or giving a deadly disease all make sense. We wear pants in public. We wear shoes and shirts in restaurants.
During the pandemic Caldier has been visiting businesses bringing care packages to front line essential workers, a noble gesture if done safely. As a former Doctor of Dentistry, she should understand the risk of posing for publicity photos un-masked with little physical distancing. The employee in this photo (June2) stated he removed his mask for the photo. Was this an altruistic gesture or a cheap political stunt?
In June Caldier had her team of young volunteer pose UNMASKED & NOT SOCIAL DISTANCED for a FB post recruiting more volunteers to do doorbelling. No responsible politician should be going door to door during a plague. This activity expose both the constituents and volunteers to this virus. Just posing for the photo endangered her team.
On May 9th in Olympia Jesse Young spoke to 1500 people who attended an unpermitted rally (Hazardous Liberty) rally against Governor Inslee’s shutdown to stop the CoVid-19 spread. Jesse did not wear a mask and rambled for seven minutes about religious freedoms, first amendment violations, and not needing a law degree to read the Constitution.
Democracy-hating Gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp held protest rallies in Gig Harbor on Sept 27 and in Port Orchard on Sep 30, drawing large crowds of non-mask wearing supporters. Young was a speaker at the former and Caldier at the latter. They both have made masks a major theme of their campaigns. Claims of mask wearing infringing on personal freedoms during a global pandemic are absurd. A true leader armed with the best current public health information should be trying to help convince the public to wear mask. To fix the economy we must take control over the virus. It is not a choice between the economy and public health, there is a mutual interdependence.
Clearly Jesse Young and Michelle Caldier do not understand the situation. It is overdue, we MUST make a change in our leadership in Olympia.