HYPOCRISY: LA Supervisor votes to ban outdoor dining then dines outdoors

A Los Angeles County Supervisor, Sheila Kuehl, was caught dining at an outdoor restaurant on Monday night, just hours after voting to ban outdoor dining.

The official was spotted in Santa Monica, dining at an Italian restaurant called "Il Forno" as Los Angeles entered its second coronavirus-inspired lockdown.

At a meeting of the LA County Board of Supervisors, Kuehl said, "This is a serious health emergency and we must take it seriously. The servers are not protected from us, and they're not protected from their other tables that they're serving at that particular time, plus all the hours in which they’re working."

The vote to ban outdoor dining passed by 3-2, with Kuehl arguing vehemently in favour of it. The ban will take commence on Wednesday evening in all of Los Angeles County. Kuehl apparently wanted to get her Italian dinner in before the ban she imposed went into effect.

A spokesperson for her office issued the following statement:

"She did dine al fresco at Il Forno on the very last day it was permissible. She loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue. She ate there, taking appropriate precautions, and sadly will not dine there again until our Public Health Orders permit."

Michael Voltaggio, a local restaurant owner, responded with a statement of his own, which said, in part, "For me it’s just proof of the continuous hypocrisy and just the lack of leadership and education as to what’s happening right now in this sort of shoot from the hip mentality that’s not doing anybody any good."

Josiah Citrin, who owns various restaurants affected by the new ban, said, "I’m like wait a minute, restaurants are so dangerous, but you're gonna go eat in a restaurant? I mean it just blows me away."