Diana Becton, the district attorney of California’s Contra Costa County charged with enforcing state and local coronavirus regulations, allegedly violated those rules over the summer to host a wedding reception in her Bay Area backyard, according to local reports.
She left notes for her neighbors warning that there would be “20 to 30” extra cars parked in the area during the Aug. 1 celebration, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It happened while the county was being monitored for a high risk of COVID-19 transmission.
She told the paper she’d held a “small, outdoor wedding and adhered to state and county restrictions” – although those rules did not permit wedding receptions. Although witnesses reportedly saw guests wearing masks and socially distancing, food and alcohol were served, and music allegedly played well into the evening.
SANTA ANA, CA – AUGUST 21: Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton during a press conference about the Golden State Killer in Santa Ana, CA, on Tuesday, August 21, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
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“She would have to be deaf, dumb and blind to not know that our governor and our state health officials have strongly discouraged, and at times banned, gatherings of any size,” Harmeet Dhillon, CEO of the Center for American Liberty, told Fox News on Sunday.
Especially since Becton set up a task force last year to crack down on violators of state and county coronavirus guidelines.
“We do take these complaints very seriously,” she told county officials in mid-November, according to local news site Danville San Ramon, as her office was “noticing an uptick” in complaints about people flouting mask and social distancing rules.
Becton’s office did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment. She told the Chronicle that she hoped she “did not do anything that was in violation of any rules” and that no one at her event contracted the virus.
“Her tone deaf, crass remark about how ‘we don’t just get married in my community, we have a celebration,’ that’s literally every community in the world,” Dhillon said. “Literally every civilization celebrates marriage with a gathering. It’s human nature.”
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“It blows my mind,” Dhillon said. “I just celebrated my 10th wedding anniversary this weekend. It did not occur to me, as a person who respects the law, though I disagree with it, to have a celebration — notwithstanding the fact that it’s very clear that some celebrations are barred by law right now.”
The Contra Costa DA is not the only prominent California Democrat to draw criticism for alleged hypocrisy in breaking the party’s coronavirus guidelines.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, currently the target of a recall effort amid backlash over his handling of state affairs, ignited uproar in November for attending a maskless lunch party at the pricey French Laundry restaurant in California wine country, where meals can cost thousands of dollars even before alcoholic drinks are factored in. The CEO of the California Medical Association was among the guests.
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Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the Becton incident, although he did issue an apology after his own incident, saying he needed to “preach and practice, not just preach.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed went to a similar meal there, likewise prompting criticism, and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo may have violated his own COVID restrictions after traveling for Thanksgiving dinner with his parents while publicly urging city residents not to do that.