CHRISTEN--KERR, EDS -- Two NAT governors have sent a letter to President Jim McCaren, asking him to end COVID-19 restrictions and expedite a "return to normal."
Val Hennemott and Brett Ratenzy, governors of East Deschire and South Ceona, respectively, not only sent a formal letter to McCaren asking for an end to mask mandates and shut-downs, they have also publicly called on the president to do so.
"We are respectfully asking President McCaren to end the shut-downs, end the mask mandates, re-open schools and public domains, allow concerts and sporting events, and return to normal," Ratenzy said Saturday in a speech at the South Ceona Primrose Society's annual ball.
In a radio interview with K-LIVE, a Hansboro radio station, Hennemott had similar comments.
"We are asking the McCaren Administration to please focus on getting our country back to normal," Hennemott said.
When pressed by radio host George Coleman what exactly 'back to normal' means, Hennemott gave specifics.
"It means ending mask mandates for schools, ending mandates for government workers, it means re-opening our public parks, allowing football games and concerts again, it means improving the supply chain and getting manufacturing back to normal levels. It's all of those things," said Hennemott.
The governors' stance is a sharp turnaround from earlier in the pandemic.
When COVID-19 first struck, Hennemott and Ratenzy both issued widespread shut-downs, limited large gatherings, forced schools to go remote in urban areas, and mandated the use of masks in public places, as well as mask mandates for government employees.
Both governors imposed vaccine mandates on state employees too.
The two leaders, who are both moderates and have a history of working together, faced fierce opposition from Conservatives in both states.
The appeals to President McCaren come as both incumbents are seeking to shore up their political standing amid difficult re-election prospects. Polls have shown Hennemott and Ratenzy both either tied with leading Conservative candidates or trailing them.
And Conservative critics seized on Hennemott and Ratenzy's sudden change of heart on pandemic politics.
"It's funny how Val Hennemott was all about masks and mandates early on in the pandemic, and even as recently as a few months ago," said Curtis Bartlett, a Conservative state representative from southwestern Lewaina County.
"All of a sudden, when the polls show her tanking and likely to lose re-election, she changes her tune. Now masks are bad. Now mandates are bad. Now she wants large gatherings again and school kids to go mask-less."
"It's funny how poll numbers drastically change her stance on the pandemic issues," said Bartlett.
Ratenzy faced similar criticism in neighboring South Ceona.
Conservative Senator and gubernatorial candidate Mike Lembcke's campaign released a stinging written statement hitting Ratenzy for flip-flopping.
"Liberal Nationalist governors like Brett Ratenzy didn't have a problem imposing draconian mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and outlandish shut-downs on the South Ceona economy when COVID-19 started. But now that his poll numbers have taken a nose-dive, Brett Ratenzy and other NAT politicians like him have suddenly changed course and are now calling for a return to normal. Is it follow the science? Or follow the poll numbers?" the statement said.
Ratenzy and Hennemott hit back at their Conservative critics, though.
The pandemic has "evolved," Ratenzy said.
"What worked at the start of the pandemic doesn't necessarily work now. What was needed at the beginning of the pandemic isn't necessarily helping now. This pandemic has changed, the situation has changed, and therefore our approach has to change. That's not flip-flopping, that's just being a good leader who changes course with the changing conditions," Ratenzy said in a press conference Monday morning.
Hennemott also responded to her critics with her well-known pragmatism.
"There's a time for masks and going virtual with schools and canceling events. That time was earlier in the pandemic. Now it's time to gradually, incrementally return to normal. We need a plan, we need a strategy to offer the Grassadellian people, and we need to chart a path forward, that's what we're asking President McCaren and his team to do," said Hennemott.
In response to Hennemott's calls for a return to normal, her top CNS opponents for governor weighed in.
Phil Qwenberry, former mayor of Christen-Kerr, said it was "past time for Governor Hennemott to end her restrictions."
Attorney General Mark Ellsworth called Hennemott's latest comments "weak," while Hansboro Mayor Bill Engstrom lamented the "serious damage that has already been done to East Deschire's economy because of these unhelpful and unconstitutional COVID restrictions."
University of East Deschire head men's basketball coach Duke Edwards said Hennemott's pandemic politics "ruined our state's economy and took away our freedoms."
Assemblyman Dane Gutmeier (C-Clawfield) said he was "glad the governor is turning course" and easing restrictions.
Iraq War veteran and far-right, white-nationalist activist Tim Hutsell called Hennemott a "dictator who needs to be taken down."
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