While our governor is capturing the headlines for the Women for Trump bus tour in Minnesota--witness the headline in the Forum Communications chain article SD governor leads 'Women for Trump' bus--another guest elected official might warrant a bit of scrutiny.
Let's take a look at Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. We quoted one of her tweets from the road today, along with a question:
Arkansas Attorney General Rutledge attended Sept 23 White House discussion with state attorneys general on protecting consumers from social media abuses.Nine days later, Trump was hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. Has she tested for COVID-19? https://t.co/NXshoemIiI
— Sally Jo Sorensen (@sallyjos) October 12, 2020
Rutledge had retweeted that day:
🚨State AGs are meeting TODAY at 3pm w/ @realDonaldTrump to discuss state consumer protection laws, social media censorship & protecting freedom of speech.@JeffLandry@GeneralBrnovich@LynnFitchAG@MorriseyWV@KenPaxtonTX@SeanReyesUT@LeslieRutledge@Eric_Schmitt@AGAlanWilson
— RAGA (@RepublicanAGs) September 23, 2020
The White House Flickr photostream of the event reveals no mask wearing around the table by the Republican state attorneys general at the meeting. Fact Check included one of photos from the meeting in Trump Campaign Aide’s Dubious Claim on Protecting the President.
The Washington Post reported on the meeting itself in Trump eyes ‘concrete legal steps’ against social media sites for alleged bias against conservatives.
The meeting has raised questions in West Virginia, as its Attorney General was at the meeting. The Charleston Gazette Mail reports in Morrisey says he's not quarantining after Trump White House meeting:
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is neither quarantining nor taking other precautions after attending a Sept. 23 meeting hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House, a spokesman said.
Morrisey was among nine state attorneys general to attend the roundtable discussion on “Protecting Consumers from Social Media Abuses.” Nine days later, Trump was hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. His doctors indicated he had begun experiencing symptoms of the disease earlier in the day.
Morrisey “was not in close proximity of the President during that meeting fifteen days ago,” the attorney general’s press secretary, Curtis Johnson, said in a statement.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the incubation period for COVID-19 — the period from exposure to the virus to first symptoms — may range from two to 14 days. That makes it possible that Trump was infected when he met with Morrisey and other attorneys general Sept. 23, three days before what is believed to be a super-spreader event during a Rose Garden ceremony to announce Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee.
The White House has refused to disclose when Trump last tested negative for COVID-19, raising speculation about the timeframe when Trump contracted the virus.
Has Rutledge been tested? We haven't found anything online about that.
At the Arkansas Times, Max Brantley observes about her presence in Coronavirus today and the open line: Big COVID count for a Sunday, plus 17 more deaths:
PS: And then there’s [our] attorney general, continuing her maskless tour of COVID petri dishes.
Hitting the road with @WomenForTrump with my good friend Gov. @KristiNoem! Fantastic to see so many patriotic Americans who are excited about #FourMoreYears of @RealDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/KjbVRNOalu
— Leslie Rutledge (@LeslieRutledge) October 11, 2020
Brantley also called out Rutledge in Shameless Leslie Rutledge goes after ‘lawless’ Kamala Harris. Her pal Ken Paxton? Crickets.:
She should stick to cheerleading her deputy from the sidelines at the U.S. Supreme Court over a case she’s carrying.
She and a couple of other Republican attorneys general plan a news conference today to talk about “lawless liberal” Kamala Harris before her debate Wednesday* with Mike Pence. They’ve got a list of items to pin on her, not necessarily honestly, but hollering “defund the police” in concert with the name of a Democrat seems to be the go-to Republican campaign strategy this season. We don’t know yet if, like French Hill, they have a photograph they can manipulate to make Harris look like a dangerous Black person.
OK, they don’t like Harris’ politics. Fair enough.
But “lawless”? For that, they need look no further than their lawless comrade in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton. He’s an ally with Rutledge in a lawsuit to kill the Affordable Care Act, which has only saved thousands of lives and brought better health to millions.
Paxton is so corrupt — allegations of bribery and abuse of office by his own staff — that even top Republicans in Texas are calling on him to resign.
But nutty Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Sean Reyes of Utah and Rutledge think Kamala Harris is lawless.
KSL in Salt Lake City reported on the press conference:
At a press conference in downtown Salt Lake City, the Republican Attorney Generals Association condemned what they say are the California senator’s positions on immigration, gun rights, policing and other issues.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge called Harris dangerous and divisive.
“She had no business being the attorney general of California with her disregard for the rule of law. She has no business being a U.S. senator, and Kamala Harris certainly has no business being the vice president of the United States to a frail and failing president if Joe Biden were to be elected,” she said.
But there's more! Her Wikipedia entry includes these gems which concur with Minnesota values?
In September 2014, County Clerk Larry Crane of Pulaski County canceled Rutledge's voter registration when he discovered that Rutledge had registered to vote in Washington, D.C.[7] She re-registered in Pulaski County.[8]
Notably, during the 2014 AETN Televised Debate, Leslie Rutledge compared smart phones to "the devil". https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lg5h1Av-RcQ
In 2016, Rutledge stated that she would appeal a ruling supporting LGBT anti-discrimination laws enacted in Fayetteville, Arkansas, that is in opposition to a state law prohibiting these ordinances.[10][11]
In July 2017, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton led a group of Republican Attorneys General from nine other states, including Rutledge, plus Idaho Governor Butch Otter, in threatening the Donald Trump administration that they would litigate if the president did not terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that had been put into place by president Barack Obama. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery subsequently reversed his position and withdrew his participation from the proposed suit on August 31. Slatery went further to urge passage of the DREAM Act.[12][13] The other Attorneys General who joined in making the threats against Trump included Steve Marshall of Alabama, Lawrence Wasden of Idaho, Derek Schmidt of Kansas, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Doug Peterson of Nebraska, Alan Wilson of South Carolina, and Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia.[14]
Rutledge seems nice. She's running for governor of Arkansas now. (We earned our M.F.A at the University of Arkansas, so we have no animus toward the Natural State)
Noem's extended road trip
As far as Noem goes, a few recent headlines suggest why it might be prudent for her to come home and govern. From the Sioux Falls Argus: South Dakota can’t keep up with contact tracing in schools, and parents are 'pissed' (contrary to a popular meme, South Dakota does do contract tracing, "The state health department currently has 324 people working on COVID-19 case investigations and contact tracing, and about 60 more are on the way...").
And from Dakota Free Press: Noem Plans Another Florida Vacation, Will Join Republican Liars at Mar-a-Lago:
Governor Kristi Noem is planning a full month of not governing. Having spent last week propagandizing in Florida and spending today and tomorrow flitting about Minnesota urging voters to sustain white tyranny, she plans to go back to Florida at the end of the month to keynote the Palm Beach County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club...
Not that you’d be interested, but don’t try getting tickets; Noem’s stagemate, former ambassador Richard Grennell, a man, like Kristi Noem, underqualified for government work, says the event, like Kristi Noem, has sold out.
Ringleading the proceedings is Charlie Kirk, whose Turning Point USA is domesticating the Russian election interference strategy of paying teenagers to spread lies online. Joining Noem at the mic will be convicted criminal and brazen liar James O’Keefe and credential misrepresenting storyteller Gina Loudon.
I could understand if the Governor were traveling to serve South Dakotans’ shared interests. But bopping back and forth to Florida all month in the midst of public health and economic crises, just to hang out with such a cadre of malfeasants and malcontents, doesn’t speak well to Noem’s character or to her commitment to the oath she took in Pierre less than two years ago. We can only hope she enjoys the national GOP spotlight so much that she’ll make her nationwide campaign her full-time job and leave the door open for others to run for Governor in 2022.
Uff.
Photo: On Sept. 23, Trump meets in the Cabinet Room of the White House with states attorneys general on protecting consumers from social media abuse.
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