With the federal government shutdown prone to enter a 3rd week and Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) refusing to name legislators again to Washington to type it out, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is bravely taking a stand in opposition to… airports.
Particularly, Denver Worldwide Airport, which, together with 20 or so of the nation’s largest airports, is refusing to play a propaganda video at safety checkpoints that includes Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem.
The video in query options Noem blaming Democrats for the shutdown and, by extension, for no matter journey hiccups could observe. (Because of the shutdown, air-traffic controllers and TSA brokers are being requested to work with out pay.)
“It is TSA’s top priority to make sure that you have the most pleasant and efficient airport experience as possible while we keep you safe,” Noem says within the video. “However, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay.”
Boebert referred to as DIA’s refusal “completely unacceptable” in a social media assertion on Wednesday.
“This is completely unacceptable. I will be contacting the Department of Transportation to demand action on airports refusing to show Secretary Noem’s video at TSA checkpoints,” she wrote.
“It is a fact that the Democrat shutdown is causing travel chaos,” she continued, badly misconstruing what a “fact” is. “The American people deserve transparency, efficiency, and an end to this shutdown—now.”
Boebert’s wrath is likely to be slightly misplaced, even by her requirements. A spokesperson for Denver Worldwide Airport informed HuffPost that TSA by no means even requested to play the video “as we do not have monitors capable of playing video at our checkpoints.”
The close by Colorado Springs Airport, in the meantime, informed Denver’s 9News that Noem’s video was just too partisan to air.
“As a publicly operated facility, the Airport adheres to policies that prohibit the display of materials that could be interpreted as political or partisan in nature,” the airport stated in an announcement. “In accordance with our Advertising Policy, content of this nature is not eligible for display within airport facilities.”
Tom Williams through Getty Pictures
Noem’s video violates the Hatch Act, consultants say. The 1939 legislation bars government department workers, together with cupboard secretaries, from utilizing authorities sources for partisan political actions.
The video “completely runs afoul of the Hatch Act,” John Berry, a lawyer with 26 years of expertise in Hatch Act circumstances, informed CNN.
“[Noem] filmed it, most likely, using government resources,” Berry defined. “Even though it’s being played at the airport, which is like a separate entity, it’s definitely a political activity.”
Spokespeople at different airports which have refused to play the video referenced its political nature in explaining their determination.
The Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport informed KIRO it gained’t air the video “due to the political nature of the content.”
Ditto for Las Vegas’ Harry Reid Airport, the place a spokesperson informed 8NewsNow the video “did not align with the neutral, informational nature of the public service announcements typically shown at the security checkpoints.”
In accordance with a tally by Public Citizen, a nonprofit client advocacy group, all however three of the nation’s 25 busiest airports have equally refused to play the video.
“The overwhelming refusal by the nation’s airports to air this partisan and illegal video is a welcome sign of civil servants performing their jobs with honor and defending basic democratic norms,” the group’s co-president Robert Weissman stated in an emailed assertion.
“The Trump administration is trying to cram its authoritarian agenda down the throats of the American people. Each action refusing its unlawful demands, each insistence on upholding the rule of law, each affirmation of common sense, decency and fairness builds the next one and works to protect and strengthen our democracy in this.”
