Kansas City mayor attends Jefferson City event where few wear masks or social distance
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas spent Monday night in Jefferson City at an event where attendees ignored social distancing guidelines meant to curb the spread of coronavirus — even as Kansas City remains under a mask mandate.
Lucas attended the Missouri Times “30 Under 30” event. A photo from the event shows Lucas seated at one of the tables wearing a mask. Almost no one around him is wearing one. Another photo, taken from the stage, shows a crowd of more than 50 with only a handful wearing masks.
“Consistent with public health advice, Kansas City’s guidance, and the approach used weekly at City Council, the mayor wore a mask for the entire event, only to remove if eating or drinking or speaking to the crowd while adequately socially distanced,” Lucas’ communications director, Morgan Said, said in a statement.
In Kansas City, Lucas has mandated masks in all indoor public spaces until at least mid-January to help limit COVID-19. On his Twitter account, he has actively encouraged people to wear them and did a social distancing spot check of several bars last month.
“I think it’s a small price to pay for us to be able to get back to some level of normalcy by just saying, put on a damn mask,” Lucas said last month.
Those dining out in Kansas City are required to wear masks going in and out of restaurants — or while waiting to be seated — but may take them off when they are seated. Restaurant servers must wear them. But not only were those seated at the Jefferson City event largely mask-free, so were attendees standing and mingling near the back, a photo the Missouri Times’ publisher, Scott Faughn, posted to Twitter shows.
“I’m just a simple hillbilly and probably not as wise to all of the rules and regulations about COVID, but I believe we followed all of the state and local regulations regarding COVID,” Faughn told The Star in an email.
Faughn may be best known for figuring in the downfall of former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. He paid $120,000 to an attorney representing the ex-husband of a woman Greitens was accused of abusing and attempting to blackmail with a nude photo.
Cole County, where Jefferson City is located, recommends that face masks be worn, but county officials said in July a mask order wasn’t necessary, according to the Jefferson City News Tribune. Jefferson City requires masks at indoor public meetings held by the city. The county health department also recommends social distancing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends masks and social distancing.
Faughn added: “While I’m sure it’s a quite different approach than you would choose, I simply believe in allowing people to make their own decisions about their health and safety. Anyone was welcome to wear a mask or distance themselves or make any precautions they chose including to not attend.”
Faughn said Lucas gave “very eloquent and self-deprecating remarks” at the event benefiting Ozarks Food Harvest.
“Our events are a place where liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats can come together and get to know people on a personal level that they might not otherwise get the chance to know,” Faughn said.
In a statement, Said said the mayor had worked hard since he was inaugurated last year to build relationships with elected officials in Jefferson City.
“Although there were many other things the mayor could do including spending time with his own family on a Monday evening, the mayor traveled to Jefferson City to speak with leaders from the Missouri Senate and Missouri House, and with our state’s lieutenant governor and attorney general,” Said said, adding that the last year has shown the Missouri General Assembly’s actions have a significant effect on Kansas City’s resources.
She said he traveled there and back the same day.
“The mayor will continue to take all steps necessary including building relationships and advocating for causes that can bring dollars and support to Kansas Citians in our challenging times — because that’s his job,” she said.
Faughn’s news organization was booted from the Missouri Capitol News Association, a group representing journalists covering state government, because of Faughn’s payment to Al Watkins, an attorney representing the ex-husband of the woman Greitens was accused of abusing and blackmailing.
Greitens admitted to an extramarital affair with the woman but denied allegations of abuse and an accusation that in 2015 he tied her to exercise equipment in his basement and took a nude photo of her, threatening to release it to keep her from talking about the affair.
Lawmakers deemed her credible in a report released in April 2018 that detailed the allegations, including that Greitens coerced her into oral sex while she cried.
Faughn, months earlier, paid $50,000 to Watkins, which he claimed was intended to purchase audio recordings of Greitens’ alleged victim. In January 2018, St. Louis television station KMOV broadcast a recording provided by the woman’s ex-husband where she detailed the 2015 encounter and Greitens’ alleged threat of blackmail.
In all, Watkins would receive $120,000 that Faughn claimed was his own money. Lawmakers investigating the scandal didn’t believe it.
Faughn did not further address the scandal in his email.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 1:52 PM.
