PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Tootie Smith, the incoming chair of the Clackamas County Commission who publicly rebuked Gov. Kate Brown’s 2-week COVID freeze mandate, said “We do not need to be treated as second rate slaves in our own homes” during an appearance on FOX News.
In a response to Brown’s mandated halt to social gatherings, the Republican said on Sunday, “My family will celebrate Thanksgiving with as many family and friends as I can find. Gov Brown is WRONG to order otherwise.”
She went farther in her appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show, as noted in a transcription on Media Matters.
Smith blasted Brown’s “edict statewide” to limit gatherings as the holidays approach.
“Not even Governor Newsom from California has done that. He’s allowed each county an autonomy to make their own decisions. But our Governor hasn’t because she obviously does not trust the elected officials in each of our counties in Oregon,” Smith told Carlson on Tuesday.
“We’ve been in a lockdown for 8 months now, Tucker. People understand what to do to be healthy. We have been browbeat over the head with wearing masks in public — which I do, by the way. With social distancing, to stay home if you are sick. Be clean,” Smith said. “I think our people have the intelligence, the education and the independence to make their own decisions.”
And then she said, “We are adults. We do not need to be treated as second rate slaves in our own homes.”
Carlson smiled and said, “Good for you.”
KOIN 6 News reached out to Smith for comment and has not yet heard back.