On Monday, seven GOP lawmakers in the Maine House of Representatives were stripped of their committee assignments after they were recorded confronting police officers before entering a legislative building without masks despite rules requiring them, The Associated Press reports.
According to The Associated Press, the seven conservative lawmakers lost their committee assignments on Monday over the issue.
The incident that led to the lawmakers losing their assignments was recorded in
A video posted to Facebook by GOP state Rep. Laurel Libby shows her and six other Republican lawmakers walking into the state house in a group moments before being stopped by an officer.
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“In order to be in the legislative space, your leadership said that you need to wear a mask, so we are asking that you wear a mask,” the officer says in the video.
“After you leave, beyond me, I don’t care what you do, but you can’t go beyond here without wearing a mask,” he adds.
“What happens if I do?” one of the men in the group asks the officer.
“Then you go beyond here, and the leadership will be responsible for whatever you do,” the officer says.
The video, which is edited, then cuts to one of the lawmakers asking to see the Speaker of the state house, Democratic Rep. Ryan Fecteau.
As noted by the AP, the Legislative Council, which serves as the state legislature’s administrative body, voted last week to mandate mask wearing for the state house when lawmakers were set to come back to work,.
But the lawmakers ignored the mandate and walked past the officers and into the building.
Rep. Fecteau reportedly said the rules were made in a show of “respect for our shared workplace.”
Following the removal of the GOP lawmakers from their committee posts, Facteau reportedly warned in a letter to other members of the state house that he “simply will not tolerate attempts to devolve our institution into showmanship and political theater.”
Watch the incident below:
