Officials in spotlight again for not following own rules

It’s becoming almost a weekly thing—some government official in one of several states out dining or traveling to other areas when they are admonishing their citizens not to do that.
    One of the latest was the mayor of Austin, Texas Steve Adler, who messaged his residents back in the Lone Star State urging them to stay home while he was in Mexico celebrating his daughter’s wedding. He told his residents now was “not the time to relax.”
    Then there was San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo who apologized last week after he gathered at his parents’ home for Thanksgiving, violating California’s COVID restrictions on gatherings.
    And who can forget California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was celebrated for ordering the country’s first statewide stay-at-home order, only to be photographed later dining with 11 others at a fancy San Francisco restaurant, as they sat close together—and without masks to boot.
    San Francisco Mayor London Breed is another one. She was caught dining at the same expensive restaurant as Newsom with seven others, after she also was applauded for the strict COVID rules in her city. Those rules capped any gatherings to people from three households. A representative from Breed’s office thought it would be helpful to say she was out just trying to support local restaurants in San Francisco.
    That sounds a lot like the LA County Board of Supervisors member Sheila Kuehl, who was caught at an outdoor restaurant not long after admonishing residents that it is “most dangerous” to eat outdoors. She indicated she was just there “supporting” the restaurant before the closing date went into effect.
    The hypocrisy is not limited to California and Texas, however.
    Right next door to Nebraska, Denver’s Mayor Michael Hancock had to apologize recently after being caught. “Forgive decisions that are borne of my heart and not my head,” he pleaded, after traveling to Mississippi for Thanksgiving to visit family while he told others to stay home.
    And how about Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney—another one at the mic apologizing after a photo caught him dining in Maryland in September? Meanwhile, restaurants and bars in Philadelphia were closed inside to customers.
    Restaurant owners in LA County, at least, had a win this week when a judge ruled against the ban on outdoor dining there. When asked to provide the science behind closing eating establishments outdoors, their lawyers couldn’t do it.
    The “do as I say not as I do” politicians, all Democrats by the way, make one wonder if these “leaders” really believe what they are asking their constituents to do. Their hypocrisy smacks in the face of business owners and residents trying to do the right thing.
    These officials certainly don’t seem to be too worried about the danger of spreading or contracting COVID themselves.
    Why should they be surprised when their citizens and business owners rally against them?