5:29
- ABC News
- December 3, 2020
Leaders slammed for not following own COVID advice
Officials across the country have apologized for not heeding rules or guidance.
5:29
Liccardo noted that he and his family took precautions such as wearing masks when not eating and sitting their own household at distanced tables on a backyard patio.
\"I commit to do better,\" he added.
Another mayor is being called out this week for traveling while urging constituents to say home.
During a Facebook video message posted Nov. 9, while he was in Mexico, the mayor of Austin, Texas, Steve Adler said, “We need to stay home if you can, do everything you can to try to keep the numbers down. This is not the time to relax.”
Adler had traveled to Cabo San Lucas via private jet, according to the Austin-American Statesman, which first reported on the trip Wednesday. One Austin restaurant used that to lambast the mayor.
\"Politicians be like 'Stay home unless you have a private jet,\" El Arroyo wrote on its restaurant signage Thursday.
Do as I say, not as I do - Your “fearless” leaders pic.twitter.com/8ftIO4nUHP
— El Arroyo (@ElArroyo_ATX) December 3, 2020
On Wednesday evening, Adler apologized for his \"confusing\" behavior of traveling while urging others to be cautious.
\"I want you to know that I regret that travel,\" Adler said during a Facebook Live update. He noted that the trip didn't violate any state rules at the time, but that he feared \"it could lead to some taking riskier behavior now.\"
\"I recognize that my travel set a bad example,\" he said. \"I know that in my position, I need to send a clearer message.\"
\"I'm sorry I took that trip. It was a lapse in judgment,\" he added.
The holidays are forcing many people to make difficult decisions -- politicians included. For weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo had implored New Yorkers to celebrate Thanksgiving with only their immediate households. So it came as a surprise to those following his daily briefings when he said during a Nov. 23 radio program that his mother and two daughters would travel to Albany for the holiday.
\"His arrogance and hypocrisy knows no bounds,\" Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik said on Twitter. \"Do as I say, not as I do.\"
At a press briefing the following day, Cuomo discussed a change in his Thanksgiving plans, saying his daughter in Chicago and his mother would no longer be coming.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/governor-andrew-cuomo-ap-jt-201201_1606858043083_hpEmbed_15x11_384.jpg\")
\"It's hard to do, and it's so much easier just to say, 'We'll do it the way we normally do it,'\" he said during the briefing. \"That's the easy way. 'Come over. We'll be careful.' It's a mistake.\"
\"It's hard, but sometimes hard is smart,\" he added.
Dining has also been a source of controversy for leaders. California Gov. Gavin Newsom faced backlash following reports that the Democrat attended a large dinner at a restaurant in Napa Valley. The event was attended by several couples outside his household, said Newsom, who has urged constituents to avoid social gatherings that mix households.
In a statement, he said he and his family followed the restaurant's health protocols but added they \"should have modeled better behavior and not joined the dinner.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/governor-gavin-newsom-ap-jt-201201_1606857862007_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
\"I made a bad mistake,\" Newsom said during a press briefing a few days later.
\"The spirit of what I'm preaching all the time was contradicted, and I got to own that,\" he said during the apology. \"I need to preach and practice, not just preach and not practice, and I've done my best to do that. We're all human. We all fall short sometimes.\"
Another California official has also been under the microscope for dining out during the pandemic.
On Nov. 24, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to prohibit outdoor dining for three weeks, effective the next day. Following the vote, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who voted in favor of the ban, dined outdoors at a restaurant, her spokesperson confirmed with ABC News. FOX 11 in Los Angeles first reported on the meal.
\"She ate there, taking appropriate precautions, and will not dine there again until our Public Health Orders permit,\" her spokesperson said in a statement.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/sheila-kuehl-gty-jt-201201_1606858294478_hpEmbed_14x9_384.jpg\")
During the board meeting, Kuehl said outdoor dining was \"probably more dangerous in terms of contagion than any other kind of business,\" according to a report by Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
\"The hypocrisy on display from Democrat elected officials all across the country is unreal,\" Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said on Twitter following reports of Kuehl's meal.
The outdoor dining ban was in response to a surge in new COVID-19 cases in the county. Hospitalizations have also doubled since Nov. 13, health officials said this week. A modified stay-at-home order went into effect on Monday, additionally prohibiting all public and private gatherings with those not in someone's household and closing playgrounds and card rooms.
As the United States experiences an exponential surge in cases and record hospitalizations, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that this type of mixed messaging can be \"detrimental.\"
\"Wherever the mixed message comes from, particularly when it comes from a person in authority, is not only not helpful, it can actually be detrimental,\" Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a press briefing with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday when asked about Hancock's travels.
In his apology, Hancock said he was acting \"as a husband and father\" and asked people to \"forgive decisions that are borne of my heart and not my head.\"
I fully acknowledge that I have urged everyone to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel. I have shared how my family cancelled our plans for our traditional multi-household Thanksgiving celebration. (1/5)
— Michael B. Hancock 😷 (@MayorHancock) November 25, 2020
ABC News' Jeffrey Cook, Michael Kreisel and Clayton Sandell contributed to this report.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect Sam Liccardo is the mayor of San Jose, California, not San Jose, Texas.
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