Ian Smith, co-owner of a New Jersey gym that fought Gov. Phil Murphy’s coronavirus regulations to keep his business open, says politicians like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “are out of control and need to be put in their place.”
“These people need to be put in their place. They are out of control. They think that they are rulers. They forget that they are elected public servants. Things need to change, and now,” Smith told the Washington Examiner.
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Pelosi faced public backlash following a visit to a shuttered San Francisco hair salon, when video of the California Democrat leaked on Tuesday showing her without a mask walking around inside the business with wet hair while wearing a smock.
According to the owner, Pelosi had made an appointment on Tuesday, the day when a local ordinance went into effect that allowed for outdoor services only, but the appointment went on inside the salon as scheduled.
“It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” Erica Kious, the owner of eSalon SF said. “We’re supposed to look up to this woman, right?”
Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill defended Pelosi, saying the speaker “always wears a mask and complies with local COVID requirements.”
Smith, however, is not buying it. He and his fellow co-owner Frank Trumbetti of BellMawr, New Jersey’s Atilles Gym found themselves in a 5 months long legal battle to remain open when Gov. Murphy closed all gyms in the state during the pandemic.
Smith told the Washington Examiner Pelosi is no different than Murphy or other politicians demanding the public abide by COVID-19 restrictions, but break the rules on the sly
“[Murphy] dines indoors. The Philadelphia mayor is doing the same. The governor of Michigan is telling people that they can’t go to their lake houses but is going to hers. The mayor of Chicago is defunding the police. The mayor of NYC is not wearing a mask outdoors but telling people they have to,” Smith said.
He added, “This is not about public health. It’s about control and power. These people think they are above the law.”
