AUSTIN, Texas, December 4, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – In November, Austin Mayor Steve Adler released a video message urging residents to “stay home if you can,” in the interest of curbing the spread of COVID-19. What residents didn’t know at the time was that the message was filmed not from the Democrat’s home but from a vacation spot in Mexico.
“We need to stay home if you can,” Adler said in the address, first posted to Facebook on November 9. “Do everything you can to try to keep the numbers down. This is not the time to relax. We may have to close things down if we're not careful.”
However, KVUE reported that Adler has now admitted that he had filmed the message from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where he was vacationing with eight people, consisting of both immediate and extended family members. Two days before that, he hosted a 20-person wedding ceremony and reception for his daughter at Hotel Saint Cecilia.
At the time, Austin health officials were urging residents to limit gatherings to 10 people and to avoid non-essential travel, dining or shopping.
The group went to Mexico via private jet, and the mayor maintains that he and his guests practiced precautions throughout, including rapid testing, masking, and social distancing, and that the wedding was outdoors. “We aren’t asking people never to venture out,” he said Wednesday; “we ask everyone to be as safe as possible in what they do.”
Later that day, Adler issued a more contrite follow-up statement: “I regret this travel. I wouldn’t travel now, didn’t over Thanksgiving and won’t over Christmas. But my fear is that this travel, even having happened during a safer period, could be used by some as justification for risky behavior. In hindsight, and even though it violated no order, it set a bad example for which I apologize.”
Adler joins a growing list of Democrat politicians, liberal personalities, and left-wing activists who have flouted their own coronavirus rules to enjoy fine dining (California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl); riot and/or protest (Black Lives Matter activists); get their hair done (Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi); disregard masks (CNN’s Chris Cuomo), commit adultery (UK researcher and early lockdown proponent Neil Ferguson), hold political celebrations (Joe Biden supporters), mourn the dead (attendees of the funeral of Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia), or engage in “non-essential” holiday travel (Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker).