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July 19, 2020 09:03 AM UTC

Pat Neville's Mask Lawsuit All About The Benjamins

  • 26 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Colorado House Minority Leader Patrick Neville (R).

As we we discussed last week and Colorado Public Radio reported, Republican House Minority Leader Patrick Neville threatened a lawsuit on Thursday in response to the statewide face mask executive order issued by Gov. Jared Polis, which came after weeks of pleading by public health authorities to take this additional step as COVID-19 cases grow in the state:

House Minority Leader Patrick Neville tweeted that Polis was “on a power trip,” and said he had hired attorneys with “the intent to sue” for an alleged violation of civil liberties, though he didn’t give any further details about the potential lawsuit.

In a separate written statement that didn’t mention legal action, Neville asserted that the order is unnecessary because Colorado’s COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths are still lower than their April peak.

Although Neville “didn’t give any further details” about his impending lawsuit against Gov. Polis’ mask order, yesterday on Facebook what’s probably the most important component of the whole operation went live.

The fundraising page!

You knew this was coming: “lawsuits aren’t cheap,” and in this case as unlikely to be successful as any of the Neville political clans other recent failed stunts (see: recall of Rep. Tom Sullivan, et al)–but as the organizers of the stillborn recall attempt against Gov. Polis last year can tell you and P.T. Barnum can tell you, there’s a sucker born every minute! The Nevilles have figured out that win or lose, usually the latter, there’s cash to be raised by slapping Polis’ picture on an ad with the words “stop this guy.”

Democrats should of course celebrate Neville’s anti-mask crusade, since it further divorces the Republican brand from the mainstream majority of Coloradans who support masks and any other measure needed to slow the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Given the money spent by fellow Republicans during the recently-concluded primary to take out Neville’s favored House candidates, and a significant reduction in money flowing into the House GOP’s Neville-owned “independent” messaging group Values First Colorado, we don’t doubt that the Neville clan needs to get creative to make payroll.

As always, it is our sincere hope that nobody sends Pat Neville their welfare check.

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26 thoughts on “Pat Neville’s Mask Lawsuit All About The Benjamins”

  2. Seriously, has anyone seen actual legal reasons why the mask order might be "unlawful?" Citations preferred, will laugh at high-quality smartass answers though.

    1. Poynter has a clear run-down saying governors can require masks.

      https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/can-the-government-legally-force-you-to-wear-a-mask/

      "Reasons" I've seen say mask orders are illegal because

       * the governors are ordering something which is ineffective to mitigate the threat.  

       * the mask laws do not have adequate exceptions built in, and other laws ought to take precedence ("disability law" is a popular out).

      * [my favorite] – The Supreme Court hasn't said states can require masks.

      1. Polis' statewide mask EO has an exception for people who can't "medically tolerate" wearing a mask. So, I feel as if I could use my TV lawyer degree (I think they call it a TVJD) to successfully argue against all three of these reasons. (and I know they're not your reasons, JiD)

        1. If you REALLY want to enter into the Alice in Wonderland set of arguments about mask ordinances, I recommend the essay on REASON.com. A sample:

          Kemp’s emergency COVID-19 orders include a prohibition on local governments issuing rules that are inconsistent with the ones coming from state authorities. His latest July 15 executive order also explicitly suspends any face mandates “to the extent they are more restrictive” than the governor’s order.

          Bottoms’ most recent mask mandate—Atlanta law sunsets emergency orders every 72 hours, requiring them to be reissued—acknowledges this suspension. But the order argues that only a prohibition on wearing masks should be considered “more restrictive.” The city’s requirement to wear a mask, Bottoms’ order asserts, isn’t in fact a restriction on mask-wearing and therefore doesn’t conflict with the governor’s order.

          This logic is a little wacky.

  3. And furthermore, saying the order's unnecessary because "infections, hospitalizations and deaths are still lower than their April peak" is a perfect example of one-dimensional thinking, if you can call it thinking. What about current increases in CO indicating a potential trend, alarming numbers of cases in neighboring states, nationwide numbers, or time proximity to scheduled openings of K-12 and higher ed campuses?

  4. Ol' Pat might feel better about himself if he detached from the public teat, stopped bilking stupid wingnuts, and became productive instead of parasitic.

    Then again, probably not. Moral bankrupts aren't exactly renowned for their capacity to feel shame over being parasitic grifters.

  5. I can’t understand why Neville wouldn’t use the courts for something truly useful . . .

    . . . you know, like maybe suing the fucking coronavirus??

    That, and removing Ttump from office, would have to be about the easiest thing on this planet to fundraise right now . . .

     “Me and these two heavily-armed guys with the empty cases of Bud, we’re gathering donations to sue Covid, right now!  We hope to have a cease-and-desist order against the cirus from the court in place by the end of the week.  We can save thousands of lives and small budinesses, but only if you care enough call our toll free number, right now, and donate to this important cause.” . . . 

    Like they say in today’s Ttumpublican circles, “If When you’re gonna’ grift the rubes, grift yuge!”

  7. I swear to God, there has got to be some point where he and his family of grifters gets investigated for bilking people.  I guess not if these people are willfully stupid enough to keep taking the bait again and again.

    1. One Ponzi scheme begets another.  That's why they collected emails on their ballot signature drives which were paid for by the people they were collecting data on.  What a game of suckers.

  9. Take Back Colorado's registered agent is Joe Neville.  With a whopping balance of just over $20,000 as of its June 29th SOS report.  Gonna have to do better than that to hire a decent litigator.  Sadly, a lot of the donations are from retired people, apparently wanting to give money to make life less safe for themselves.  

    1. It's ideas like this that make me think that there are too many older people that are hellbent on irrevocably fucking up this country and world for all the young and middle aged people that will have to live in it years and decades after they are gone.  

      1. unnamed, retired folks and boomers still make up half of the membership of any activist liberal group you care to look at. Why? We remember the 60s and 70s rights and protest movements; we believe change is possible; we had years of "peace and prosperity", however flawed, under high-taxing deficit-killing Clinton.

        So don't vent your spleen on the elders. Or at least target it to the elders who are hellbent on irrevocably fucking up the country. BTW, there are also plenty of under-50s in that latter category. Most of them are white, male, and ridiculously well-armed.

         

        1. Ridiculously well-armed. My BIL 8 weapons, 8 different calibers and this clown can't walk up 3 stairs from the garage to the house without almost blacking out. He's no threat. He's die if he picked up anything heavier than a fork. I keep inviting him out hiking and he keeps declining. Dammit. 

           

        2. kwtree.  I know that.  But it's just how things seem when it comes to age demographics.  I didn't mean to imply that this is how it is.

    1. Does being an on-call 24-7-365 full-service shithead count? . . .

      (. . . not sure, however, if his gig pays as well as that “my neighbor’s ex-wife . . . on the computer” at the bottom of the Weekend Open Thread?)

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