A Pennsylvania state representative was caught on a hot microphone joking about how she would keep her mask on during a press conference as a bit of “political theater.”
Rep. Wendy Ullman and Gov. Tom Wolf, both Democrats, held a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the future of the Affordable Care Act as the Supreme Court is poised to take up a legal challenge to the healthcare law later this fall. Before the event began, a livestream caught Ullman and Wolf discussing their plans for wearing masks.
“So Wendy, I’m going to take, I’m going to take my mask off when I speak,” Wolf said.
“I will as well. I’m waiting so that we can do a little political theater,” Ullman said as the two laughed. “So that it’s on camera.”
When the event got underway, Ullman removed her mask and loaded up on hand sanitizer before she began speaking.
The hot mic moment was caught by ReOpen Bucks County, a group that has been demanding that Wolf remove his coronavirus restrictions to allow businesses to return to normal operations. The group shared the video on Twitter and thanked Ullman and Wolf for their “confirmation” that masks were being used as “political theater.”
@RepUllman and @GovernorTomWolf caught on a hot mic referring to masks as “political theatre” that they want to get “on camera”.
We already knew that, but thank you for the confirmation!@CourierTimes @DoylestownPatch pic.twitter.com/HCn9jk8WoR
— ReOpen Bucks County PA (@reopenbucks) September 29, 2020
The Washington Examiner reached out to Wolf’s offices for comment.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the use of face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Wolf signed an executive order requiring that everyone wear a face covering when they are outside their homes in July. Ullman told the Washington Examiner that she regrets the hot mic moment but that she does not regret wearing a mask.
“While ‘political theater’ may not have been the best turn of phrase, I’m not going to apologize for wearing a mask. We’re in the midst of a global pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 8,000 Pennsylvanians, and we know that masks work,” Ullman said. “They are a signal to our fellow Pennsylvanians that we care about their health and well-being and are taking COVID-19 seriously. As an elected official, I’m going to continue to use my platform to model good behavior that we know helps prevent the spread of the virus and work to bring relief to the hundreds of thousands that have been impacted by COVID-19.”
