On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbot held his daily press conference at a DPS warehouse some distance from his Capitol offices and official residence. This resulted in the press pool, the governor, and staff, traveling to somewhere they did not need to go for the sake of a press conference. Yet, in full it-is-good-for-thee-but-not-for-me arrogance, Abbott was quoted as saying: “On my travel to this location today, I was surprised at how many vehicles I saw on the road. It’s clear to me, we may not be achieving the level of compliance that is needed.”
Abbott’s daily virus presser at a DPS warehouse 24 March 2020 (note the pointless white coated folk behind him, that line stretched way across, well beyond this shot.)
Governor, you could have remained at your offices but for the benefits of the optics, you chose to take your staff and reporters out into traffic, travel to a DPS warehouse, and do the press conference. A photo of the supplies that were stacked up behind you could have easily been given the media pool so don’t lecture others about unnecessary traffic on the roads.
There is much hand-wringing by some in the media and by local officials that some citizens are not heeding their advice, proclamations, exhortations, and orders.
If more local officials want to be taken seriously, they should remember they work for us, not the other way around, and as part of that respect should include with all local extraordinary orders, including the details inside those orders, specific citations to the statutes and regulations which empower them to take the actions ordered.
If officials are not willing to provide specific justifying legal citations, as opposed lazily citing the entire giant disaster or health and safety code, to justify their orders and actions, citizens are reasonable in taking the position that such orders may not be lawful and treat them as such. That is certainly what the lack of specific citations suggests.
“On my travel to this location today, I was surprised at how many vehicles I saw on the road. It’s clear to me, we may not be achieving the level of compliance that is needed.” = “Let them eat cake.”